So What's a Patriot to Do?

Confront a Liberal Today

By Kyle-Anne Shiver
We're at a pivotal moment in American history. Never in our lifetimes have the c
onsequences of liberal big government been on such ubiquitous display, not only
here, but everywhere we look. The socialist democracies of Western Europe stand
at the precipice of complete downfall. Many of our own liberal states are facing
the same bankrupt status. Our own federal debt is choking the life out of any h
ope for quick recovery. A president in so far over his head that he is drowning
in his own useless rhetoric has become an embarrassment to the nation. And plent
y of enemy states are just chomping at the bit ready to pounce at our weakness.
Many who stay conscientiously involved in politics on a daily basis seem ready t
o throw in the proverbial towel on America and go down in ignominious defeat lik
e the Europeans. Just follow them off the cliff because nothing can be done to s
top it. It's too late. The socialists' march through our institutions has gone t
oo far; it can't be reversed. I've heard and read this sentiment over and over a
gain of late. Our grand Republic, say the defeatists, is just one step shy of th
e historical grave.
Sure, I'll be the first to admit that things are very grave. But grave, as in bu
ried? I don't think so. And I'll be darned if I want to be on the same team with
anyone else who does think this way. Because defeatism is like a deadly virus.
It spreads by word of mouth. If left unchecked, defeatism eventually chokes the
very life out of human free will.
I've never seen -- outside of real war -- a moment when we Americans more needed
to get back in touch with our inner Patriot.
Who were those people that risked all in their fight for liberty? They were peop
le just like us. They had families to support. They had lived a certain way all
their lives, and just like us, probably saw life continuing on in much the same
way for their children.
Until it finally dawned on them that it wasn't going to work out that way. Thing
s were growing worse in the colonies, just as they are now nearly 300 years late
r. Tyranny is a beast never satiated, after all. But the colonists didn't want t
o believe that any more than we have wanted to believe it, simply because once t
hey saw the truth, they would have to choose. And that choosing inevitably meant
real suffering. Real risk.
Our patriot ancestors didn't just wake up one morning and preemptively realize t
hat if they were willing, as a generation, to sacrifice the lives of about 5,000
men, agree to get another 10,000 or so wounded, let a finite number of homes be
burned to the ground and so many fortunes lost, then they could usher in a fund
amentally different era in the annals of civilization. No, they were just like u
s, suddenly so caught in a tyranny of taxation and over-bearing law they could n
o longer endure it.
And what did they do about it, our patriot ancestors?
The very first thing they did was to get out of their comfort zones and into the
ir meeting places -- their taverns and churches and offices and homes. There the
y confronted their more complacent, loyalist-bent friends, neighbors and co-work
ers. Our patriot ancestors did not buckle under in cowardice and shy from the ve
rbal confrontations so necessary to change minds and hearts.
The very first rule of revolution -- and of counter-revolution, which is what we
are in now -- is that thoughts and words must precede all other actions. The re
turn to our American brand of common sense will come one person at a time. Disco
unting the impact one individual can have is the silver bullet that can kill a r
esistance movement with a single shot.
It is now time for all good patriots to get a grip and confront a liberal today.
We all know at least one liberal. And we all know, too, that while there are ind
eed a group of diehard revolutionaries running the show on the left, most -- yes
, most -- liberals are minding their own business, going to work, raising kids,
helping out at church or synagogue, leading the PTA and the myriad other things
that we Americans do. Many liberals may seem brainwashed to us but most have jus
t stopped thinking much beyond the platitudes they heard in school or from the l
iberal MSM, or vote Democrat because their parents did or haven't yet hit their
own heads into the brick wall of tyranny that our federal government has become.
It's vital at this very opportune teaching moment, when the Obama they saw as a
political savior is standing proverbially naked on the Gulf, to confront them wi
th the choice they made. To call them out. To ask the hard questions: Are you su
re you voted wisely? Are you happy with the change we've gotten? Do you still ha
ve hope in liberal big government to solve all the world's problems?
Many conservatives now seem to believe that our liberal brothers, sisters, cousi
ns, neighbors and co-workers are simply too far round the bend to bother with. T
hat we would only be wasting both breath and energy to try to engage with them.
That we would end up on the rhetorically bloody end of a racist jab to our throa
ts or a swastika painted on our homes. And that, after suffering such abuse, we
would still have nothing whatsoever to show for the effort.
I'm well aware, perhaps more than most, of the Alinsky influence on the entirety
of our civil discourse. I've been studying the tactic of political ridicule for
a few years now, and I think we can all admit that even the most nitwit liberal
follower -- who hasn't got a lick of real fact to back up a single taunt he hur
ls -- has, at least, got ridicule down pat. Now, Alinsky may have considered rid
icule to be man's most potent weapon but he was flat-out wrong.
Ridicule only wins when its opponent bows down before it and gets just as low-do
wn dirty, or when its opponent retreats into cowardly silence.
Contrary to the Alinsky doctrines, truth is man's most potent weapon.
And confronting a liberal with the truth about the ineptitude of big government
-- no matter what "savior" is in charge -- ought not be that difficult at the mo
ment. The Gulf debacle is blowing all liberal claims of Obama's extraordinary pr
esidential prowess and the competency assertions of federal bureaucracy to kingd
om come.
The latest Rasmussen polling, taken just before president know-nothing gave his
big speech Tuesday night, shows the glow is not only off that rose, but the stin
k of decay is already setting in. The President got a strongly-approve rating fr
om only 26%, while those strongly disapproving hit a whopping 46%, giving him an
indexed rating of negative 20 points. The most important index to follow, in my
mind, is among independents, of whom a full 52% disapprove of the way Obama is
handling his whole job as president. With numbers like those, there are millions
of Americans ready to be confronted.
It should not matter whether an Obama voter changes his mind on the spot, when c
onfronted with the truth regarding the ramifications of his vote. It's pretty mu
ch human nature for all of us to become somewhat defensive when confronted with
evidence that goes against our thinking bent. But none of us can know whether th
e liberal so confronted, who slams back at us in defensive anger, does not go ho
me and in privacy there, really give the matter some thought. At pivotal moments
such as these, when lies are exposed as transparently as they are now, that's t
he time to charge in with truth.
Neither you nor I can take responsibility for what a liberal does with the truth
we foist upon him. Only he can take accountability for that. But not knowing ho
w our confrontation will turn out, whether for good or naught, should not deter
us from our mission to save America - one voter at a time.
A single verbal confrontation, using truth as a weapon, is like one bullet fired
at the enemy in war. One shot of confrontation may not kill all the liberal lie
s in a voter's mind, but it may wound enough lies seriously enough that time and
events will take care of the rest.
At a time such as this - when our Republic is on the line -- no wise patriot can
afford to be silent. A few words of truth might actually begin the chain reacti
on of common sense regained that's heard around the world.