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Culture and Religion

The only solution to the hatred engulfing America rests in the hands of the people

Published

10 months ago

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Any white nationalists who compelled James Alex Fields in any way to commit the act of terrorism he perpetrated in Charlottesville should be condemned. That’s not just people in direct contact with him. Leaders of the various groups who influenced him from Neo-Nazis to the KKK to the alt-right that directly or indirectly filled this man with hate should be condemned, as should those who have allegiance to these groups.

Any members of the “Anti-Fascists” group, better known as Antifa, who are active in harassing or committing acts of violence against Americans should be condemned. The same goes for members of Black Lives Matters and any other left wing groups who are involved with encouraging or perpetrating acts of violence or harassment.

I could go down a list of groups on both sides of the political aisle, but most readers are already well aware of who they are and how they operate. This has become too commonplace in America over the last decade. It’s time for it to cease, though I have no illusions about that happening. America is different than it was not too long ago. It’s going to be nearly impossible to turn it around quickly because the common theme that has emerged in modern society is this: Hate spreads.

Two things to note about my pessimistic view of the situation. First, by no means would I ever recommend giving up on the fight. Just because I think it won’t work doesn’t mean I won’t continue to push for sensibility and respect for fellow Americans. Second, I am not underestimating the power of the American people to rise up and quash the hatred. I’m speculating that complacency and helplessness will prevent enough Americans from realizing we have the power to stop it. We rely too much on our political “leaders” to handle these types of situations when in reality we’re the only ones who can actually fix it.

We live in a world of constant connectivity. While the rise of information velocity, social media, and mobile access has been beneficial in many ways, these factors have also contributed to amplifying the problems caused by hate. We’re a mobilized people, now. That means that protests such as the one in Charlottesville can draw more supporters. It also means that opposition groups can bring counter-demonstrations together rapidly and in great numbers.

Perhaps more importantly is that this digital age has allowed these groups to stoke the flames in real-time and to huge audiences. Again, modern technology can be a great benefit; we’re using it to launch the Federalist Party with much greater velocity than what was even remotely possible two decades ago. What groups like the Neo-Nazis and Antifa have demonstrated is that it’s much easier to rally people through negativity to be AGAINST an action or group rather than FOR something that may be important to them.

Hatred spreads faster and it’s much more potent, at least in the short term.

I don’t agree with the President or anyone else drawing direct comparisons between white nationalists and Antifa (or any other allegedly right vs left comparison) in an effort to deflect blame. The various groups do things differently, are motivated based upon prejudices unique to them, and have diverse methods for achieving their goals. With that said, I also do not agree with those who believe there are no comparisons at all.

As Scott Greer noted on Daily Caller, the unwillingness to call out ALL hate groups isn’t an act relegated to leftist talking heads. Many Republicans have joined the chorus:

What was most surprising, however, was seeing prominent Republicans stand up for Antifa.

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney argued violent leftists were morally righteous. “No, not the same. One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes,” Romney tweeted Tuesday night.

Romney is not alone. Other Republicans from Marco Rubio to John McCain are singling out white supremacists while pretending that the violent actions of Antifa and other organizations are somehow more righteous.

https://twitter.com/NolteNC/status/897810866204266497

The only binding force between these groups is hatred. They all have deep levels of hatred and are willing to express this hatred in wholly unacceptable ways. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the KKK attacking minorities, BLM attacking police, or jihadists attacking non-Muslims. Their actions are driven by hatred and result in harm to anyone in their way.

When we isolate our denouncements to one or a few of these groups, we fail to address the root cause. How the President has handled Charlottesville is ludicrous. How his predecessor handled riots in Ferguson and elsewhere was just as ludicrous. We need bold leadership at times like these to properly denounce ALL who act upon the hatred in their hearts, but we have no reason to expect such leadership to manifest itself in DC.

Americans must rise up to condemn the hateful among us. This includes those who orchestrate precarious situations that lead to violent actions. It also includes those who indoctrinate others into their hateful ideologies. Lastly, it includes members who may not directly involve themselves in violence or harassment but who support it in other ways.

Let me be clear: Those who justify the ideology of any hate group, whether it’s white nationalists or Antifa, are part of the problem.

President Trump’s attempt to draw attention away from alt-right groups was as wrong as President Obama’s attempts to justify the actions of violent leftist groups when he was in office. Both participated in deteriorating the fabric of American society. We’ve made great strides in recent decades, but this last decade has been a reversal on progress. The hatred that seemed to have dissipated from the 70s to the turn of the century has reared up intensely over the last two-and-a-half presidential terms. Anyone who argues against his either hasn’t been paying attention or has an agenda to defend.

We cannot sit around and hope the President fixes it. We also cannot rely on the majority of our representatives in DC because they love turmoil. Hatred spawns opportunity for those who can benefit from it with their rhetoric. It gives politicians a cause for which they can make themselves appear to be needed. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel represented a general yet unacknowledged consensus among politicians:

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

We are in the midst of a serious crisis. There will be no leadership to address it coming from DC or state capitals. It’s up to the American people to prevail on our own to draw down the hatred before it consumes us. The question isn’t whether we can. The question is whether we will act in time.

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Christian, husband, father. EIC, NOQ Report. Co-Founder, the Federalist Party. Just a normal guy who will no longer sit around while the country heads in the wrong direction.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Doug Olson

    August 17, 2017 at 7:00 am

    Excellently put, as always, JD. This matches my thoughts this morning when I was entertaining writing a post entitled American “nationalism”: You reap what you sew. Over the last decade we have seen our political leaders sew discontent as a way to advance their agenda under the guise of “nationalism”. Unfortunately, there are too many diehards in each camp that are unwilling to open their minds to the bigger picture.

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Culture and Religion

Video Double play: Busting the gun grabber’s musket myth.

Published

3 days ago

on

June 15, 2018

By

Gun confiscation bingo

Two videos that eviscerate the Liberty Grabbers ‘One shot’ musket myth.

It is a bedrock principle (if they have any) of the Liberty grabber Left that back during the ratification of the US Constitution the only weapons in existence were flintlock musket that took 5 minute to reload. Thus there wasn’t any school violence because it would have taken too long for the perpetrator to kill anyone.

As it typical of the lore of the national socialist Left, this is a lie of the first order. A previous video celebrated the “Assault Weapon” tricentennial, which was bit of the tongue in cheek variety since there were other repeating “Military Style” weapons in existence before this time period. These will be detailed in future articles. Meanwhile we present two videos that also bust the ‘Musket Myth’, one a short presentation from the Royal Armouries on the Jover and Belton “Flintlock breech-loading superimposed military musket”

Royal Armouries
Published on Aug 30, 2017
Curator of Firearms, Jonathan Ferguson, gives us a peek at the Flintlock breech-loading superimposed military musket, by Jover and Belton (1786)

This is a very relevant piece since the inventor Joseph Belton corresponded with the Continental Congress in 1777:

May it Please your Honours,
I would just informe this Honourable Assembly, that I have discover’d an improvement, in the use of Small Armes, wherein a common small arm, may be maid to discharge eight balls one after another, in eight, five or three seconds of time, & each one to do execution five & twenty, or thirty yards, and after so discharg’d, to be loaded and fire’d with cartridge as usual.

“It was demonstrated before noted scientists and military officers (including well known scientist David Rittenhouse and General Horatio Gates)”

This destroys the mythology that the founders had no knowledge of this type of repeating firearm technology that existed already.

The second is a humours dissertation on the subject from video raconteur Steven Crowder https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/

from a few years ago that also eviscerates this bit of Leftist mythology.

Published on Feb 10, 2015
People have been telling us for years that the 2nd amendment was written in a time of Muskets, and that it doesn’t apply to the evolved weapons of today. Is it true?

So why is this important?

Two primary reasons. One that these factual examples demonstrate that the founding fathers knew of these technological advances. Therefore, they destroy any Leftist pretences that the 2nd amendment be confined to muskets. Second that, school violence is something other than an issue of guns.

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Culture and Religion

Gay Americans speak out in support of Christian Baker, against the gay lobby

Published

2 weeks ago

on

June 7, 2018

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The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government – lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

-Patrick Henry

As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Now, however, after years of radical LGBT activist domination over the nation’s dialogue surrounding civil rights, liberty-loving gay Americans are pushing back.

All wheels have begun to squeak.

Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled (7-2) in favor of Jack Phillips, a devout Christian and confectionary artist. In 2012, after declining to lend his artistry skills toward the custom adornment of a cake intended for the celebration of a same-sex wedding, Phillips was sued for discrimination and was later found guilty by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

Although the Commission had deemed Phillips’s art – confectionary art is a subset of sugar art – as expression under the First Amendment, his religious views were publicly attacked by commissioners. It was this blatant governmental bias which persuaded the Supreme Court to reverse all previous rulings against Mr. Phillips.

Despite of the Supreme Court ruling’s narrow scope, by mid-day on Monday, freedom-loving gay Americans had begun to speak out in support of Jack Phillips’s Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech, and celebrate the Supreme Court ruling in Mr. Phillips’s favor.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must… undergo the fatigue of supporting it.

-Thomas Paine

Pushing Back: Live on the Radio

Speaking with Rush Limbaugh on Monday, a Seattle woman who identified herself, saying, “I’m gay, I’m Hispanic, I’m female, I’m middle-aged, and I’m conservative,” stated:

I wanted to comment on the cake thing, on the Supreme Court judgment ruling on the cake matter. I wanted to say that I am so pleased to hear that, because I just don’t understand how people in this country can keep fighting against having their negative rights, against having what makes this country great, and against that which are the people that came to this country and come to this country, come here for. I just don’t get it… we are the country on this planet that stands for everyone to come and have liberty.

…[P]eople want to have freedom. But what they don’t understand is that freedom never needs to be defended. It’s liberty that needs to be defended. God gives us our freedom. God gives us the right to be free. We have to defend our liberty.

Another Limbaugh caller who identified himself as a wedded gay man, expressed disdain for the radical LGBT activists, describing them as “militant,” asserting:

…[I]t does not make our situation any easier when these militants are on the news because they do not represent me.

His {the husband’s] family didn’t show up at our wedding because they believe a marriage is between one man and one woman. And I don’t want to brand them a bigot or a homophobe for the rest of their lives when I could have an opportunity to have a relationship with them. I’d rather understand where they’re coming from and try to build off of what we have in common than brand them over a decision like a cake and then not have a relationship with the man I love’s family.

The caller continued his frank criticism, stating:

I think these militants make it worse, not better, and they don’t have me — in mind when they’re out there doing it… I just think they’re really loud and obnoxious, and so they get on the news.

They went on TV, and they said what their case was. They said it was never about the cake; it was about making them do what they wanted them to do. 

And I would rather go get a cake from somewhere else and not be on the news and have a chance at understanding where other people are coming from than force my will on them any more than I want them to force their will on me. I know a lot of people don’t accept gay marriage. However, it’s a lifestyle choice I made. They choose not to bake me a cake. I’ll get one somewhere else.

My sexuality makes up so small of who I am as a person; it really shouldn’t matter.

Pushing Back: Speaking Out on Twitter

Other non-totalitarian, liberty-loving gay Americans chose to push back by making their voices heard via social media.

Pushing Back: The New Squeaky Wheels

The phenomenon of gay Americans, fellow freedom-fighters, pushing back against the radical LGBT lobby isn’t unique to the Masterpiece Cakeshop court case. Since 2013, Chad Felix Greene- a wedded gay man – has “been writing in favor of religious freedom for those asked to participate in gay weddings.”

After Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, Mr. Greene stated:

LGBT’s hysterical denunciations and hair-on-fire rhetoric has not changed. Fortunately the argument has. We must continue fighting the rhetoric.

This case is not over.

Back in December of 2017, a gay duo – T.J. and Matt – made headlines for their open support of Jack Phillips and all who wish to exercise religious liberty and freedom of speech.  In a video for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the pair, standing outside the front entrance of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, explained:

We’re here to buy stuff from him and support him, because we don’t think any artist should be forced to create for something that violates their beliefs.

On Monday, echoing the same sentiment, Mr. Greene explained to his followers on Twitter:

The LGBT movement needs to understand that tolerance goes both ways. They have been behaving as though they are entitled to special treatment from everyone under the guise of ‘equality.’

We have equality. But we don’t have the right to demand others violate their beliefs for us.

The ordaining of laws in favor of one part of the nation to the prejudice and oppression of another, is certainly the most erroneous and mistaken policy. An equal dispensation of protection, rights, privileges, and advantages is what every part is entitled to and ought to enjoy.

-Benjamin Franklin

Reason to Hope

The trappings of authoritarian identify politics are being rejected and the walls are beginning to crumble. Liberty-loving Americans representing a plurality of circumstance and lifestyle, often hidden from the limelight of the media, are joining together in good will.

As a Christian and an artist, I count the mounting acts of ideological divergence – examples of bravery – from those in the gay community, as true blessings!

Alas! The Lord works in mysterious ways.

 

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Culture and Religion

Religious liberty lost and judicial tyranny won in Masterpiece Cakeshop decision

Published

2 weeks ago

on

June 5, 2018

By

Yesterday, in a narrow 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jack Phillips, a Christian baker who refused to bake a custom wedding cake for a homosexual couple based on the grounds that doing so would violate his religious liberty.

Wait a minute! 7-2? How is that a “narrow” decision?

While it’s true that Mr. Phillips was the victor in a lopsided vote total, the root issue concerning his case—freedom of religion—was left unanswered. The court’s decision wasn’t so much pro-First Amendment as it was anti-Colorado Civil Right Commission, which is why it’s being called a narrow decision.

Writing for the majority, Anthony Kennedy—the Justice responsible for Constitutionalizing same-sex marriage—confirmed this fact when he noted that the case created a “difficult situation” when it comes to how the LGBT agenda impacts religious liberty and how he believes that the issue “must await further elaboration” in the courts.

While people like Franklin Graham—a so-called evangelical who winks at Trump’s indiscretions because he was chosen by God’s hand”—proclaim that the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision was a “huge win for religious freedom” and serves as proof that God answers prayer, the reality is that religious liberty is no safer now than it was before this ruling.

In his analysis of the Supreme Court ruling, Daniel Horowitz, Sr. Editor at Conservative Review and an expert on judicial matters, points out how yesterday’s decision falls short of protecting religious liberty because the Court never addressed whether the state or federal government has the power to make laws forcing individuals to violate their consciences.

Meanwhile, the ACLU—who represented the plaintiffs in the case—was pleased with the Court’s decision, saying that it was “based on concerns unique to the [Masterpiece Cakeshop] case but that it reaffirmed its long-standing rule that states can prevent the harms of discrimination in the marketplace, including against LGBT people.”

Translation? According to the ACLU, the Court affirmed the right for states to pass laws forcing businesses to serve anyone, anytime, anyplace for any reason; First Amendment be damned.

By the way, isn’t it a pretty good indication that this ruling failed to protect religious liberty when the lawyers representing the plaintiffs agreed with it?

In the end, this case is just another example of how we have become a post-constitutional America where judicial tyranny has replaced the checks and balances provided by three separate but equal branches of government. While Masterpiece Cakeshop won this case, the ruling could have just as easily gone the other way with a different set of judges hearing the same evidence.

Liberty isn’t supposed to be subject to the whims of special interests where political parties are pulling the strings, but that’s what we witnessed yesterday. Judicial tyranny will increase so long as so-called conservatives continue to rely on the Supreme Court to protect our Constitutional rights instead of fighting for the America created by our Founding Fathers.

Originally posted on The Strident Conservative.

 

David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His daily radio commentary is distributed by the Salem Radio Network and is heard on stations across America.

Follow the Strident Conservative on Twitter and Facebook.  Subscribe to receive podcasts of radio commentaries: iTunes | Stitcher | Tune In | RSS

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