Hostile Takeover

For I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility
against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
-Thomas Jefferson

A growing number of Americans are lowering themselves to animal levels, thinking, perhaps, that when Dad said “Get a job” he meant “Get a mob.”

Well, there’s no shortage of those. You can find mobs in plenty of supposedly enlightened cosmopolitan areas, and the proof’s online. Just click for a nursery tour of infants attacking people in restaurants, blocking city traffic, surrounding and threatening citizens they disagree with, or vandalizing other people’s property because, hey, they can, they’re right, and anyone disputing them deserves a swift kick. 

Every excuse offered for their tantrums is worthless. The President does not, no matter how brash, cause people to become rabid. Claiming a victim identity does not entitle you to victimize others. Labeling people as “fascists” doesn’t make them fascists, and venting your emotional sickness in the name of “resistance” doesn’t dignify the sickness.

Some people call this a revolution. I call it the Day of the Diaper.

Don’t Get Mad, Get Even-Handed

That’s why those who still believe in reason and dignity need to fight hostility with hostility – eternal, vibrant, action-based hostility like Jefferson’s, the kind which loathes every form of tyranny.

But if we loathe tyranny, we need to also loathe its tactics. Meeting their mobs with mobs of our own is pointless, unless it’s good video footage that you’re after. Mobs are for cowards, not adults. Any weak incompetent can band together with other weak incompetents and find a false strength
in bullying.

Truth be told, every time you see the children rioting, you’re witnessing a mass of people admitting “I’m unable to make or defend a point of my own, so I bypass adult discussion and prefer the safety of group infantile displays.” As the Beatles so eloquently said, “Shake it up, Baby. Twist
and Pout.”

Higher Ground

The better way is to nurture our hostility towards tyranny, never directing it towards the tyrants, but relentlessly channeling it against their goals and tactics. When tyranny threatens liberty, then a hostile takeover is called for.

That starts in the voting booth. Ignore that simple, easy to fulfill responsibility, and you invite the very persecution you lament.

Now, let’s not kid ourselves about using the “P” word. It’s a too-accurate term for what we’ll face if we allow leaders to expand government dependency and overreach, and there’s no honor in the endurance of a persecution which could have been avoided.

So if freedom matters, then mark your ballot for the candidate who supports freedom of conscience, speech. religion, and enterprise. Don’t assume his or her merit is determined by his or her party. It’s the individual’s policies, proposals, and practices that matter more than their Red or
Blue status.

But don’t limit your hostility to the voting booth. Express it the way Paul expressed his hostility to error through respectful, calm reasoning.
(Acts 17:2)

Conversations still happen, and the ones that matter most aren’t happening when the cameras roll. They happen between family members, co-workers, neighbors, and friends. Mobs are to be resisted, not engaged with. But individuals? They can still be reasoned with, and learned from.

That’s why I’m trying, more than ever, to listen carefully to people, valuing them by showing I’m interested in their stories and perspectives, many of which veer from mine. That’s OK.  Sincere Blue State believers, of whom there are plenty, have solid points to contribute just as surely as their Red State neighbors.

Then just as carefully, I’m trying to explain my position, first as a Christian, then as an American.

This requires me to explain I operate from a Biblical world view, which in turn requires me to give a Biblical rationale for my positions on national defense, abortion, law and order, marriage, free enterprise, limited government, equality, and free expression. In other words, if I’m going to adequately fight tyranny, I’m called to use my head in lieu of just shooting off my mouth.

Piercing the Dark

In a season of madness, our capacities to think, analyze, and express need to be marshaled. They enable us to reason with those who can be reasoned with, and resist those who can’t. As Kipling beautifully proposed, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, and blaming it on
you …”

I hope we stay hostile towards evil, never towards evil doers. That’s why Paul urges us to “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

That’s hardly a call to passivity. (Note that he didn’t say “Just sit there and let evil go unchecked”) Rather, it’s a call to godly response.

So our response to the madness of these times, whether godly or slothful, will have much to do with what we face as a nation and a church during the next few years.

Our action or inaction now will determine whether those years turn out to be a commendation or an indictment.