American Consequences - November 2020

Remember, silence is golden unless it helps the anti-civilization crowd win. Speak up. Tell the truth. Don’t let them win. If you fear violent recrimination or ostracization for speaking up, I don’t blame you... I’m the same way. But I’m no longer comfortable with my silence... I think it’s time for us to remember what Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of our 244-year-old nation, said about liberty in a 1787 letter... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. Don’t misunderstand me... I’m not advocating the initiation of violence. I believe that’s wrong in all times and places. I’m speaking more metaphorically (though, like I said, if they bring it to my front door, I might have little choice but to shoot back)... If liberty is a tree, civilization is the only forest where it can grow. And your voice is the soil, sunlight, and rain that makes that forest grow. So again, I urge you... Speak up . Tell the truth . Don’t let them win . If liberty is a tree, civilization is the only forest where it can grow. And your voice is the soil, sunlight, and rain that makes that forest grow.

I can’t imagine the world becoming a place “in which I cannot permit myself to live,” but I will say this about Roark’s statement... The world in 2020 is already a place where my wife and I are planning for many worst- case scenarios... Where might we go to permanently escape the nearby insanity and violence? Idaho? Montana? In recent months, we’ve imagined many worst-case scenarios... and have begun preparing for all of them. One of my wife’s biggest fears is a devastating earthquake. Hopefully, we’d survive a natural disaster in good enough condition to make our way to higher ground. And another is, of course, violence coming to our door with no notice. If that happens, hopefully we can escape the threatening offenders... or if need be, I can keep a cool head and shoot straight.

But the scenario in which I cannot permit myself to live in this world is a place too deep and dark for me to even contemplate right now. And I hope it stays that way forever.

American Consequences

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