(FEE)—Americans are angry and divided—perhaps more than at any time since the Civil War. Holding strong opinions, especially in defense of truth, is no vice. But failing to bridge our differences and resolve them peacefully is no virtue either. Here’s my “to do” list if you want to be part of the solution instead of the problem.
- Choose someone you disagree with and start a dialogue. Make friends even if neither of you changes your mind.
- Find common ground, avoid epithets, and presume goodwill on the part of others unless and until their actions suggest otherwise.
- Embrace America as an imperfect, unfinished product—and one whose future depends on a respect for those principles that made it largely free and exceptional in the first place. No country is without flaws, and few countries in world history have accomplished as much for life and liberty as America.
- Think twice before using political connections and influence to get something you can’t secure voluntarily from others in the marketplace. Cronyism diminishes respect for both you and for the free enterprise system it corrupts.
- Judge every individual by “the content of his character” and the merit of his actions, not by the group to which he was assigned by birth, origin, faith, color, or politics.
- Elevate the importance of personal character in your life. No society can flourish if it denigrates virtues such as honesty, humility, patience, responsibility, tolerance, courage, gratitude, self-discipline, and respect for the lives, rights, property, and choices of others.
- Choose liberty over power, persuasion over force. Find ways in which you can leave the world not only a better place, but a freer one as well, for life without liberty is both unthinkable and unlivable.
- Live your life as though politics is but a corner of it, not consumed by it. Recognize the incalculable value of intact families, vibrant and voluntary associations, community engagement, loving relationships, and institutions created and sustained outside the divisive realm of politics.
- Ask yourself every day, “Am I good enough for liberty?” Then dedicate yourself to self-improvement if you can’t honestly answer “yes.” Reforming the world starts with reforming oneself.
- Defend the free speech of all people. If you catch yourself attempting to intimidate, shut down, or frighten others into submission, shake it off before the impulse turns you into an antisocial monster. “Cancel” nobody except those who insist on canceling others.
- Revere truth and the honest search for it. Never let truth be obscured or destroyed by claims that it doesn’t matter or that it is nothing more than a subjective whim of the moment. There is no such thing as “his truth” or “her truth,” only “the truth.”
- Seek diversity of opinion. Minds that try to stigmatize or close the minds of others, or that pretend that color, sex, and religion are all that matter, are enemies of the “diversity” that matters most.
- Love peace more than you love force, conflict, compulsion, and intolerance. Work toward a society in which individuals choose to do right because they want to, not because they’re forced to.
- Reject nihilism, cynicism, and pessimism. People of goodwill and character can shape the future for the better. It’s never too soon or too late to start.
- Learn from history; don’t rewrite it. Lessons from the past can make us better people in the future. Don’t twist your underwear into a knot over an old statue. Never allow the poison of “presentism” to corrupt your perspective.
- Celebrate the “uncommon.” It is the uncommon to whom we owe the greatest debt—those who speak truth to power, invent and innovate, turn failure into success, and add value to society. No one should encourage a child, for example, to aspire to nothing more than “commonness.” Respect and encourage the exceptional.
The former U.S. Senator from Maine, George Mitchell, once said, “I believe there’s no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. They’re created and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings. No matter how ancient the conflict, no matter how hateful, no matter how hurtful, peace can prevail.”
I hope he’s right. But in any event, no peace of any kind can prevail so long as we nurture conflict within and between ourselves. No peace of any kind can long be imposed from the outside in. It must begin on the inside, as a matter of conscience, one conscientious individual at a time, and then grow outward into a course of action.
These sixteen suggestions constitute a course of action for each reader to consider.
Controlling Protein Is One of the Globalists’ Primary Goals
Between the globalists, corporate interests, and our own government, the food supply is being targeted from multiple angles. It isn’t just silly regulations and misguided subsidies driving natural foods away. Bird flu, sabotaged food processing plants, mysterious deaths of entire cattle herds, arson attacks, and an incessant push to make climate change the primary consideration for all things are combining for a perfect storm to exacerbate the ongoing food crisis.
The primary target is protein. Specifically, they’re going after beef as the environmental boogeyman. They want us eating vegetable-based proteins, lab-grown meat, or even bugs instead of anything that walked the pastures of America. This is why we launched a long-term storage prepper beef company that provides high-quality food that’s shelf-stable for up to 25-years.
At Prepper All-Naturals, we believe Americans should be eating real food today and into the future regardless of what the powers-that-be demand of us. We will never use lab-grown beef. We will never allow our cattle to be injected with mRNA vaccines. We will never bow to the draconian diktats of the climate change cult.
Visit Prepper All-Naturals and use promo code “veterans25” to get 25% off plus free shipping on Ribeye, NY Strip, Tenderloin, and other high-quality cuts of beef. It’s cooked sous vide, then freeze dried and packaged with no other ingredients, just beef. Stock up for the long haul today.
No thanks. I have leftist relatives who live in echo chambers of other leftists and the genuinely believe the lies they say about conservatives. Nothing will change their minds or soften their views.
They have falsely accused conservatives of being Nazi’s, racists, homophobes, transphobes, “russian agents”, traitors.
We ALREADY live on a one-party fascist state run by democrats. It has weaponized the DOJ against conservates by creating fake “far-right” groups “Patriot Front” and the fake Whitmer kidnapping plot. It called parents at school board meetings “domestic terrorists.” The FBI has infiltrated traditional Catholics. Democrat controlled social media companies provide the government far more data that the Stasi could ever dream to collect. Talking to democrats is no different than talking to gestapo collaborators in 1930’s Germany.
Time for conservatives to solidify their own communities. Red states separate and form a new federal government.
Gotcha, we are retirees, I don’t have the emotional energy or time to waste w/others socializing/becoming friends that are not on the same page, same values, and as informed as I am. Best to keep your circle of trusted friends small, yet casually interact w/ others if needed. Since majority of people lack critical thinking skills incl ones with college degrees, we can only trust and feel comfy w/ others who have same values. I know some I wouldn’t interact with or want to see after decades of avoiding (lack of trust, values) also avoiding them in public.
Bingo!
The 4TH OF JULY Truly is a day ALL
AMERICANS used to be able to know
FREEDOM is not FREE
Today the fifth of July
ONE PEOPLE know WHO has set a course for a very UNCIVIL WAR
ONE PEOPLE know WHAT it is that the enemy within wants , our DEATHS
ONE PEOPLE Know WHERE The first STRIKE IS GOING TO BE in our HEARTS
ONE PEOPLE KNow WHEN the SUM OF ALL FEARS will START THE DAY OF ELECTION
ONE PEOPLE KNOW WHY SOME EVILS ARE SUFFERABLE , And who has created all this suffering
The master of lies is Very REAL
GOD built the world
GOD give Mankind a abilty to be very KIND
GOD Built ONE PEOPLE and taught them thru WAR that some evils in small letters can be dealt with by freedom of SPEECH
Talk them into being KIND
ONE PEOPLE love our FIRST AMENDMENT
Soon the enemy with in WILL ATTEMP TO MAKE ONE PEOPLE FEAR THEM AT ALL COST
ONE PEOPLE ONLY FEAR
GOD
PSALM 91
WRITTEN TO YOU
ONE PEOPLE WILL ASK FOR AND RECEIVE
GOD PROMISE And I QUOTE
BECAUSE
YOU
HAVE THE LORD FOR YOUR REFUGE
AND HAVE MADE THE MOST HIGH YOUR
STRONGHOLD
NO EVIL SHALL BEFALL
YOU
My fellow Americans HELL has always been on EARTH
It is it nature to WAR
GOD Built AMERICANS
NO BETTER FRIEND
EVILS ENEMY FOR AS LONG AS IT THINKS AN BREATHS
This is its ROCK
AMERICANS ARE EVIL WORST ENEMY ON THIS ROCK AT THIS TIME
OUR WARRIOR KING KNOWS
AMERICANS ARE GOING TO
TRAMPLE THAT OLD DRAGON
Pull our SOULS out of the FIRE it started on this ROCK
And
GOD says
I will deliver HIM
AND GIVE HIM
HONOR
With length of DAYS
I WILL SATISFY HIM
And FILL HIM with my saving
POWER