The year 2020 was brutal for the friends of the South. Monuments and statues of Southerners, not just Confederates, disappeared from the urban areas of the Southand beyond. The lockdowns imposed by the authorities weighed heavily upon the region’s and the country’s remaining small farms and small businesses. In larger urban areas such as Atlanta, what the lockdown did not destroy, riots and civil unrest swept away. Meanwhile, our “friends” in Conservative Inc. movement were more than happy to support the jettisoning of better men and women than they from the national memory. Pray tell, if Robert E. Lee was a notorious traitor for not defending his native state, what then of George Washington, a man who swore a solemn and religious oath to his sovereign King George III? In our post rational age, such questions may well be counted as sedition by the emotions police. President Trump, who enjoyed very wide support in the South, suffered an electoral defeat that smelled to high heaven, as over a thousand affidavits, video footage, and electronic evidence indicate. His defeat has been particularly demoralizing for some, more significant over fifty million voters view the election as “rigged,” suggesting that President Biden’s government, indeed the entire federal government, has a legitimacy problem. Not to worry, the Biden people in their great wisdom and mastery of politics have quickly about faced from calls for “healing” to denunciations of Trump supporters as “domestic terrorists.” Why use the healing balm of Gilead when you have gasoline and a match nearby? Overall, a bat guano crazy year.
On the surface the federal leviathan looks to be impregnable. Mr. Trump’s people were blocked by every state and federal court where they hoped to seek redress for what polite society calls “voting irregularities.” The test for a civil case is preponderance of the evidence, a low bar compared to criminal proceedings. One might think that cases in which there were hundreds of sworn affidavits, video evidence, expert testimony, and demonstration it might just be possible that a court might give you a hearing rather than toss your case out on flimsy technicalities. Wish to complain of this, please not on Twitter, You Tube, Facebook—the Bolshevik Borg does not wish to hear it or see it, nor will they tolerate others doing so. Meanwhile, Mr. John Brennan, former Communist and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Why does that no longer seem a contradiction in terms?) has declared war upon everyone who disagrees with his worldview. Be advised, in certain circles of the media and what is euphemistically referred to as the “intelligence community,” Brennan is still big medicine. Discouragement and demoralization are understandable, but as the motto of the great state of South Carolina instructs Dum Spiro Spero.
The political situation is not the only source of discouragement in America. The universities and government schools were lost to the Marxists decades ago, independent schools which were once viewed as a haven from the incompetency and indoctrination of the government schools are no longer. The National Association of Independent Schools has four pillars illustrating the association’s commitments. Academic excellence is buried with other types of excellence in the pillar dedicated to generic excellence. Emotion has its very own pillar, curious for a professional association whose member schools ought to be engage in the primary work of the intellectual formation of its students. One of the consequences of this infiltration and usurpation of the schools is the destruction of families as children have “outed” their parents for their politically incorrect affiliations. The sports and entertainment industry is now fully “woke” and on board with the new cancel culture. Financial companies are shifting investments into corporations who are adopting “progressive” agendas and priorities, Larry Fink at Blackrock, one of the largest investment firms in the world, is leading the effort in this regard. Others will follow. It is certain that individuals will soon be purged from schools and employment due to their political and religious views. Leftist media figures and politicians have been calling for the purge of Mr. Trumps’ supporters from respectable society, politics, media, and employment until some sort of “truth and reconciliation” commission can sort out the sinners from the saints and “re-educate” the unregenerate. I am sure that at least in principle President Xi and Kim Jong Il approve.
Yes, the events of 2020 have demoralized many, allow me to offer some hope. There are many actions people can take to combat the darkness of our time. These actions are peaceful, and they will be effective if we can convince some of our country men to follow our example. They are inconvenient and they will require us to change the way we live, but they will stand as a powerful refusal to the unjust and corrupt regime that has usured the country.
First, get right with God. He is in charge, he has permitted this for a greater and ultimate good, and our three great enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil are already conquered and on a truly short leash. God loves a good fight, it is by His grace that all things are, move, and have their being.
In the political realm, support those political action committees and interest groups that best represent your views. Some political scientists believe this to be a more effective strategy than voting. Interest groups have time, resources, and access to legislators that individual voters do not, and they can mobilize their large memberships to put pressure on their representatives and senators. Vote if you are inclined. Also consider becoming involved in your local and county government. Attend meetings of the town and county councils, run for the local school board, support your county sheriff if he understands his duties under the constitution. If he does not, get together with like-minded citizens and get one elected who does take seriously his obligation to uphold and defend the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights.
On Wall Street there is an old maxim, “Never finance your enemies.” In the spirit of that maxim cancel your cable and streaming services, find alternatives for your entertainment. Move all or at least some of your money out of the large commercial dealer banks and regional banks and place it with solid community banks or local credit unions who are investing in your local community. Become your own bank and hold some hard assets outside of the system such as precious metals. Get out of debt, especially unsecured debt. These are the chains of usury by which the deep state ensnares everyone.
The most effective work being done to preserve the heritage of the South and of America is done at the local level. If a monument is under attack, write a piece in the local paper defending the town’s heritage, at the town or county council meetings, and encourage your neighbors to do the same.
Pull your children out of the government schools and encourage others to do likewise. Home school or if you send your child to a private school scrutinize their faculty and curriculum. If the college or university your child attends or which you attended has embraced Marxism and “wokeness,” and nearly all of them have, cut them off from any donations and let them know why, and encourage other alumni to do so as well. Under no circumstances send your child to a woke college. The degree colleges are awarding costs too much and has lost significant value, this trend will continue. Look for alternatives, many trades are in desperate need of workers, and many excellent free liberal arts programs are available to people who are more interested in an education than a devalued credential. Become involved in your town and county, with its local charities, its festivals, and patronize the local businesses. If you shop online use Amazon as a catalog but buy directly from another retailer’s web site. If you shop brick and mortar, Walmart, Lowes, and the rest should be our last stop after shopping the local merchants. The same goes for restaurants.
Be aware of the enormous amounts of misinformation abounding on the internet. Some of it is manufactured by bad actors, often it is spread by misled people with good intentions. The more complex and convoluted a conspiracy theory is, the less likely it is to be true. Sharpen your analytical skills. Read good literature and history, dust off that old logic textbook and put it to good use. When friend or foe assert their worldviews or their positions on the issues of the day, ask for the evidence underlying their views. We badly need to counter the reliance so many have on emotion, as the old Catholic moralists were fond of saying, “Emotion, unbridled from reason, is the devil’s playground.”
What else? Rediscover the outdoors, hike, hunt, fish, garden. Learn a new skill. Ultimately the time call for a secession of the mind and the heart from the “system.” Let it fall, we can give a helping hand to spontaneous order to build anew. Most of all, whatever one chooses to do, do it with love, humility, and patience. Like our ancestors, we are not building for today but for our children’s future. As for the architects of the current regime built upon greed, fraud, separate legal standards, and malice—it only deserves our refusal. Refuse then to take its credit, consume its entertainment, or participate in its political Kabuki theater. Let us instead return our attentions to God and homestead and rebuild.
