Daily Verse | Genesis 22:12
“Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Tuesday’s Reading: Genesis 24-16
Happy Tuesday, my friends. One of the things that I wrote last week resurfaced again this week and I want to reinforce the point with you because we live in a moment when we need to keep our wits about us.
We’re looking at some seriously troubling developments in our culture and politics, and we’re hearing some very troubling words spoken by our “leaders.” We’re hearing them say that J6 was an insurrection; that the unvaccinated will suffer a winter of “severe illness and death;” that the nation is headed for civil war; that you’re racist if you’re white, and on and on.
Troubling is the word I used but what I’m really after is the word “fear.” The developments we see and experience in our country right now are liable to provoke fear. Fear that the fascists will win, fear that we’ll lose our position, fear that we’ll be persecuted, fear that America is over.
Others have noticed the fear factor.
Witness the fearfulness engulfing Americans:
– Fear of the virus.
– Fear of being called a racist.
– Fear of being canceled.
– Fear of the other.
– Fear of defending beliefs.
– Fear of our history.
– Fear of not being woke.
– Fear even of saying the truth.
Fear works. The face of America has taken on a pallor. Before the specter of 2021 descended, we were proud to identify as “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”
Now, after a year of cautious, quiet desperation precipitated by a shower of those fears, we have become “The Silence of the Lambs.”
We’ve all felt some of this, even if it isn’t particularly alarming us right now.
Then there’s this: Democrats are trying to scare America over a civil war they’re trying to start
On Friday, John asked why liberal and progressive American news outlets and politicians are suddenly talking about an impending civil war. He linked to a couple of reliably lefty publications that have recently raised the prospect in scary terms, and it’s certainly true. I’ve seen quite a few similar articles myself.
Some of those articles are here and here and here.
In the aftermath of January 6, the FBI rounded up hundreds of citizens who were in the vicinity of the Capitol that day, even if they weren’t in the building.
The FBI’s nationwide manhunt to round up January 6 protesters was a show of force usually reserved for the country’s most dangerous criminals. Agents were let loose to capture hundreds of Capitol protesters in their own homes or their place of work. Families were awakened at dawn by armed officers screaming commands, children were terrified, neighbors were horrified. The over-the-top displays were intended to inflict maximum fear and humiliation. The stories were something straight out of a totalitarian nightmare.
I bring you back to part of the quote I included in the prior post linked above.
The process is the punishment. The cruelty is the point. The message to Americans is clear: You no longer live in a nation with anything remotely resembling equal, impartial justice. Enemies of the regime will be brought to heel; woke social justice warriors will get off scot-free. This is meant to both instill terror in and demoralize dissenters.
It also serves as a prior restraint on dissent because Americans know that every critical response the Ruling Class’ actions provoke will provide yet another pretext to turn the screws tighter in order to “save democracy.”
But fear is debilitating, “a prior restraint on dissent,” and we must not allow it to subdue us.
Fear can play no part for the citizenry of a free United States, but fear would be key to the control function of any replacement overseers. We must, or the least afraid among us must, end the fear by showing courage and thereby spreading courage further. We must let there be no doubt about our resolve to continue a free way of life in America by speaking with resolve with friends to bolster them, and to opposing views to challenge their motives in the land of the free. We need leaders stepping up.
To that end, our senators and representatives who themselves fear losing an election by potentially being shunned by a discordant and strident group need to instead, show some spine. Rise to save our nation. Break from the Fear Party. Let us hear you as our voice in expressing what it means to be an American.
I actually think that last paragraph is not just for senators and representatives. Those words are for us, the concerned citizenry. It is us who need to show some spine. It is us who need to rise to save our nation. It is us who must express what it means to be an American with unapologetic strength.
Don’t be afraid.