1701 Buy truth and do not sell it
Eight weeks out from a historical national election and the public continues to endure the grief of the Left. There is normally nothing wrong with people coming to terms with loss. However, in this case, progressives are stuck in the denial stage with no end in sight. The result is going to be unabated attempts to delegitimize the presidency of Donald Trump and fight the political system that defied them, if not undermine the presidency itself.
The motives for this are not necessarily born of sinister roots, although many are. The sad key is this; the Left seems to truly believe that, for the most part, their “reality” is everyone’s reality. Because of this, they assume that a kind of inner America-that-matters is in as much of a state of angry dejection as they are.
The only exceptions, in their minds, are fly-over deplorables who will never “get it” anyway (We’re still clinging to our Bibles and guns.) and an unfortunate remainder of the electorate which needs more corrective education. The rest of the deplorables were duped by Russians across 50 states, over 3,000 counties, approximately 8,000 precincts, at least 100,000 polling stations, 304 electors and the entire United States Congress’ certification process.
The strongest evidence for this very dangerous fantasy is in Barack Obama’s own words, “…if I had run again and articulated [his vision], I think I could’ve mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.” To that end, for the first time in 90 years, a former United States president will be establishing an office in Washington D.C. at the headquarters building of the World Wildlife Fund for the sole purpose of running a counter-right operation. Predictions are that he is shamelessly getting ready to wield his privileged position in order to battle the Trump administration and revive his leftist dream machine.
As we face a future saturated in conflicting claims and accusations, realize that there are certain long-standing, deeply-entrenched tactics to watch for. Remember how to weed out truths to believe while ignoring less-than-truths or anti-truths. Think of it as the Foxes-&-Hens Factor. Sick or wounded hens get pecked to death by the rest of the flock, but chickens will never organize to defend themselves against a blatant fox attack.
The next four years will be full of foxes-media and foxes-politicians wearing feathers trying to lead the flock into pecking the new administration into impotence. Sadly, for the nation, what Alexander Hamilton referred to in Federalist 68 as “tumult and disorder”, “heats and ferments”, and “cabal, intrigue, and corruption” will, as it presently seems, be led in part by a former president of the United States – an apparently dishonorable man.
The radical left will: Agitate – create distraction, disorder and distrust; Assassinate character – attack persons not the issues; Dominate – cover up the conversation with verbiage and volume; Excoriate – shame the messengers and demonize the message; Manipulate – misquote, reverse history, omit context; Obfuscate – divert the conversation or bury the issue.
Most of us will never be able to personally meet such techniques head-on. That does not minimize our role, as this last election cycle has so clearly demonstrated. So, in the interest of equipping conservative opinion-holders (the way-makers), city hall attendees, back yard debaters, letter-writers, petition-signers and ultimate voters, remember AFLEC – assumptions, focus, logic, evidence and civility.
Stand your ground and expect those who inform us and represent us to do the same. Expose erroneous assumptions – Refuse to move on until they are admitted and clarified; Focus on the bottom line – Demand relevance, clarity, and transparency then toss the dross; Follow the logic – Logical conclusions trump good intentions and emotions; Demand evidence – Opinion is not evidence and evidence is not evidence when justified by omissions, misquotes or revisionist history; If you can’t be civil, back off until you can – The person is not the issue, the issue is always the issue. Descending into tumults and intrigues is not debating. They are weapons of third world revolutionaries.
King Solomon gave some good advice about truth: “Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.”(Prov 23:23) Truth is a beautiful jewel. Once you have it, never let it be maligned or surrendered.