Our nation is suffering from multiple-personality disorder. The identity and history of the United States has been revised and rewired to the point where those who speak with authority on the grounds of historical scholarship are laughed off the stage in favor of those who speak with the heart of a revisionist and the scorn of an Alinski disciple. Indeed, they have proven Saul right. Mockery is a powerful weapon when your audience is comprised of low-information citizens.
Personally, I believe someone like David Barton or Mark Levin could hold their own against any number of Howard Zinn-types, but their efforts would be lost on a great swath of Americans today. There is less regard for a verifiable, historical position than for history which fits a desirable emotion. Feeling good about our history seems to be more important than being accurate about our history. The requisite emotionalism of modern Leftism refuses to play second fiddle to historical scholarship and an increasingly apathetic populace gives a collective “meh” in-between episodes on the boob tube. So Thomas Jefferson becomes a Muslim sympathizer, George Washington becomes a gleeful slave-owner, and the Democrats become the party of civil rights. I don’t know about you, but I feel better already, comrade!
Recently, Mark Levin has been speaking about the existence of Two Americas. One America desires the redistributive suffocation of a massive Federal leviathan which will provide and control everything; and one America desires to be left alone. One America understands that hardship is a very real possibility yet is not willing to trade their liberty in the hopes of ameliorating failure. And one America holds their liberty so cheaply as to give it away for a bowl of hot stew across a campfire. One America is a gaping maw whose belly knows no satiation and whose ignorance knows no shame. The other America refuses to take anything for which they didn’t toil, yet willingly opens their homes, wallets, and hearts to help alleviate suffering in their community.
One gives while the other takes. One builds while the other tears down. To which America do you belong? To which America do your friends and neighbors belong? To which America will your children belong?
Political pundits are wont to shake their heads ruefully and verbally pine for the days past when there was less political acrimony. I pine for the days of greater political acrimony. Complacency and cowardice are the appetizers of tyranny. If it means an end to the radical progressive agenda galloping roughshod over our Constitution, then let the political kumite commence.
The time is coming when every American will have to choose which America is their own. For some, it will take the form of the decision made by an Oregonian baker and his wife, driven out of business by homofascists in their community, to voluntarily shutter their business rather than kneel to politikal korrectness and forsake their Christian beliefs on the altar of Mammon.
Or there may come a time in your life when you are presented with prosperity via government intervention. Have you thought about what your response would be to that offer? You should. We all will choose an America, one way or another. And if you think that you can avoid choosing one vision or the other, let me remind you that neglecting to choose is a choice in itself.
I understand that most of this is a sermon for the choir. My objective is not to tell you what you already know, but to encourage you to tell those in your circle of influence what you and I already know. We are a relatively small group of informed and agitated citizens, but we are operating in a nation of sleepwalkers. The willful blindness which I see from my fellow citizens is alarming and frustrating, but I become complicit in that blindness if I refuse to help them see.
If a blind-folded man is walking towards a cliff, who is more to blame for his demise: the blindfolded man or the man by his side who neglected to remove his blindfold? Chances are that there was someone along your path who pulled the blindfold from your eyes and helped you to see the light. It is past time to repay that heroic individual and start yanking some blinders.
As Rush encouraged years ago, you don’t need a special skill or a media outlet to make a difference. Read your brains out and become a resource in your community. Make the case and win the day.
[Editor’s note: this article first appeared at ClashDaily.com.]
