My college roommate never lost a dorm hall water battle….. ever.
Someone would start a fight by throwing cold water on a hallmate headed to the bathroom, to class or headed out on a Friday night date.
All started in good fun but then escalated quickly. As the hall was divided among alliances, soon people emerged from their rooms, joining one side or the other or just participating in the mayhem for the sake of mayhem.
All in good fun and everyone sticking to the rules of a water fight.
Everyone, that is, except my roommate. If Dave was around, things got interesting — quick.
Dave was always willing to escalate to a point that no one else was.
At first, this included introducing weaponry other-than-water. Ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard entered the fray. Then, when others followed suit, out came the BB-gun and people ran for the rooms!
No one else would go to the BB-gun level, so Dave became king of the roost, and everyone knew it. His priority, after all, was winning. How? That was irrelevant. Escalating to whatever level necessary was justified. It was all about power and ruling the dormitory hall.
I love my college roommate, by the way, but this vignette illustrates, I believe, how the enemies of liberty operate today.
They are willing to go quickly where lovers of liberty, followers of the Constitution and the law-abiding are not.
Why is this?
Think three “p’s” — principles, priorities and purpose.
I have experimented with the last three groups to whom I have presented. Each of these center-right groups, with 40- to 70-members, are patriotic, pro-America, educational-types of organizations concerned with the direction of our nation.
Two questions have been posed to each: What are your priorities? What is your purpose in life?
The first question has elicited the same responses from each group.
Priorities included living principles and values. The groups mentioned family, religion or God, country, work, health, achieving established goals, financial freedom and education. Note that this list represents actions primarily in one’s own control. The individual has the responsibility for making these happen.
The second question, too, elicited predictable responses. Purposes included helping children grow, serving others, reaching one’s fullest potential and preparing to meet God.
These answers were within the bounds of what one would anticipate.
Now, think of those on the far-left and what their answers would be to these same questions.
Granted, I have not had the opportunity to query, but we can surmise by actions what their answers would be.
What are their priorities? What is their purpose?
We know that answers to these questions from radical leftists, enemies of liberty, would be quite different.
Their priorities would show principles and values important to their lives.
Included: equity, diversity, inclusion, positive rights — rights that someone else must provide you — censorship, group-think and coercion to their higher path. Note that most of these priorities require government or powerful corporations to implement and are out of one’s immediate control. So, in the end, politics and use-of-government and big business are, in essence, their priority.
Their priority is politics. Winning is justified, no matter the method or cost.
Their purpose, therefore, is power. Without power they lack the power to coerce you into their way of life.
Their family is subordinate and God, religion, work, career, education and goals center around politics and winning. It’s all in, all the time.
Just as my college roommate, Dave, a single person, controlled an entire dorm floor in a “water” battle, there is a distinct minority on the far-left willing to do whatever it takes to control our nation through intimidation, breaking norms, bypassing laws, bullying, and brute force. They are doing things uncomfortable to us, and rightfully so.
They are winning because politics is a higher priority for them, and they are willing to do what-it- takes to win.
So, you ask, how should the patriotic, law-abiding react to take back what is rightfully ours?
Change our priorities and force them to play by the rules.
For too long, there has been a double standard on what those on the far-left can do, and get away with, and what conservatives can do.
Innumerable examples exist but the suppressed true Hunter Biden laptop story compared to fictional Russian collusion set up should suffice in highlighting the media’s double-standard.
To play as they do and escalate the battle by mimicking the far-left would be a mistake. We lose what we are fighting for if we become the perpetrators of false-narratives, gas-lighting, unconstitutional actions and seeking power for the sake of coercion.
No, we should not mimic their methods, but we should mimic their commitment to our politics and in participating in an ongoing culture war. Sadly, our priorities need to change, immediately.
It’s not a friendly water fight, anymore.
Not for a second am I saying we should abandon family, God, religion, work and other priorities.
I am saying that we place each of these in jeopardy if we do not recognize our current state of emergency and handle it accordingly.
This means our politics need to become a priority.
From the school-board to sheriff to state representative, to you-name-it, we need to stop the far-left in its tracks and elect law-abiding, Constitution-adhering officials.
Just as our patriot forefathers heeded the call of impending danger to liberties, we must change our attention to the immediate threat before us, one with the power to obliterate all that we hold dear. If we deem the sacrifice too great, we are doomed.
Freedom is not a spectator sport, so get yourself in shape to participate.
That means taking the time to become educated and determine which position you might play. Maybe it is organizing, or helping a candidate put up signs, or talking with your family and neighbors about critical topics from which many shy away.
Perhaps, it is e-mailing friends and posting opinions online. Whatever it is, however small it appears, it will make a difference if we grow the team of patriots and refuse to surrender county and country to outlaw bandits.
I understand.
You have a life to live, a family to raise and a table to furnish. That goes without saying, but your opportunities to accomplish these simply items are diminishing. The opportunities to be left to our children are fleeing under our noses; what we leave them is entirely up to us.
So, we fight back by getting involved and being even more committed to freedom than they are committed to taking it away.
And, we’ll need more of us than them because we still believe that the way we get there matters; the end does not justify the means.
Unfortunately, we are late to the game.
Until recently, we have not seen how their priorities have affected ours.
Until a plurality of us recognize that their priorities pose an existential threat to ours, we have little chance of turning the tide of an existential political and cultural war.
Until our purpose becomes to take away their power, we will lose.
We seek this power not to destroy, or coerce, but to preserve our nation, our families, our religion, reestablish liberty, rule of law and the foundational principles in the Declaration of Independence.
The time to choose is now.
Later will be too late. The enemies of liberty are at the gate, and we must change our priorities, at least temporarily, or we will lose, in the long-run, what is most near-and-dear to us.
We have seen in our history when times like this arise.
As Americans we have historically heeded the call and defended our way of life. It will yet to be seen if we can do so now. Only time will tell, but the decision is ours to make.
I know what that decision is for me.