Laughter is good medicine, so let’s start out with a little joke:
Can Joe Biden and a “FIST FULL OF CASH” win rural America for Democrats?
But oh my gosh, the federal agent in charge of “rural development” has never seen so many newly paved roads and rebuilt bridges before! Biden’s economy is booming!
They lie shamelessly.
While traditional conservative families strive to live according to a moral code of conduct, those on the left end of the spectrum make no qualms about lying, cheating, stealing, extorting, coercing, tricking, duping, or straight up killing off their competition. They intend to win at all costs. This sentiment was perhaps best articulated by Bill Ayers in a 2001 interview with the New York Times:
“Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that's where it's really at.”
Digging deep into the archives, I first reported on this stunning and grotesque call to action back in TR 166 - Understanding What We're Up Against. There we dove into the mindset of “the ends justify the means” being promoted by Bill Ayers and Saul Alinsky. For the record, Bill Ayers was the militant domestic terrorist who modeled the Weather Underground on the Chinese communist Red Guard, and Saul Alinsky—author of Rules for Radicals, which was dedicated to Lucifer—was his mentor.
Together, these men had a profound impact on both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. By extension, they’ve had a significantly outsized impact on American politics. And, being that we’re still enduring Obama’s 3rd term, and may very well be facing a 4th term, it seems prudent to revisit some of their twisted thinking.
In his Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinksy says this:
“The man of action views the issue of means and ends in pragmatic and strategic terms. He has no other problems; he thinks only of his actual resources and the possibilities of various choices of action. He asks of the ends only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work.”
Re-reading that this morning, reminds of me of what we were talking about yesterday. When I say, “surrender your story,” and “accept what is,” the outcome is essentially the second sentence from the excerpt above. Let me spell it out:
When you surrender your story, you have “no other problems.”
When you accept the gift of life just as it is, you think only of “actual resources.”
When you write a new story, you chart a path through the “possibilities of various choices of action.”
Says Alinsky:
[The man of action] asks of the ends only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work.”
Now then, the last time I was analyzing these words I focused on the lack of moral grounding—as in, “kill all the rich people.” If your burning passion and singular goal in life was to destroy the capitalist pigs and violently usher in a communist revolution, that would be a pretty effective means of doing so, would it not?
Again, anyone with a moral conscience would rightly be abhorred by the very thought of it—and therein lies the conservative weakness that is so consistently exploited by the Leftist commie hacks.
They know that we play by the rules and strive to be “good” people.
We don’t want to break the law, we want to respect and obey the law.
We don’t want to kill the people we disagree with, we want to help them understand.
We don’t want to do anything radical or unethical, because some day we will face eternal judgement standing before God.
In this moment, I ask you to reflect on these tendencies. Do these words resonate with you? Do they describe your general attitude and moral orientation toward life?
And one more thing: can you see how each belief is based on a story?
Think about it.
Does obeying the law make you a good person, or is that just a story?
Would trying to help someone who was trying to kill you ever work? Is being nice and kind and meek really a winning strategy (say in a street fight), or is that just a story?
Does facing judgement before God prohibit you from doing anything “radical or unethical,” or is even that really just a story?
In every case, the answer is yes and no. Yes, each of the thoughts above is based on a story that you have heard, learned, or been taught at some point in life. You have accepted these stories as truths. As such, they have created internal barriers that are little more than walls of words that ultimately form a sort of mental cage.
I’m aware that I may be tip-toeing into a touchy subject, and that some of my Christian brothers and sisters may be wondering where I’m headed with this. Please understand that I am not advocating for moral subjectivity or unethical behavior.
Instead, I am explaining how the mind works to create illusions that ultimately restrict us from taking certain actions. In some cases, this might be thought of as self-discipline or moral restraint. Yet in other cases, this “moral restraint”—which itself is based on a story—can be absolutely disastrous and debilitating.
One silly sort of example, just to illustrate, are the Jain (Hindu) monks whose mental walls (i.e. moral restraints, personal beliefs and stories) prevent them from killing bugs:
“The Jain mendicants abide by a rigorous set of rules of conduct, where they must eat, sleep and even walk with full diligence and with an awareness that even walking kills several hundreds of minute beings. Jain ascetics sweep the ground before them to avoid injuring the most minuscule forms of life. They generally brush the ground clear of insects before they tread.”
And just to keep our discussion grounded in relatable Western thinking, it’s worth noting that the Bible also speaks to the issue of killing insects, in a slightly indirect fashion, and even goes so far as to tells us what bugs we can and cannot eat.
But none of that is what really matters. What really matters are the stories that people accept, and how these stories direct personal behaviors, beliefs, and actions taken.
Now is a time for action.
It is my sincere belief—dare I say a fact—that too many people are apathetic, complacent, and unwilling to make the difficult choices that must be made in order to restore justice, liberty, and the rule of law in the United States of America.
In every case, the apathy, complacency, and unwillingness to act are justified by a story.
Hence the need to surrender our stories.
I want to give you just one practical example before drilling down on the concept. How are we supposed to overcome and defeat the beast of federal bureaucracy? Let’s say there are two hypothetical solutions: 1) have our elected representatives stop funding the government; or 2) stop paying federal taxes.
Since the “beast of bureaucracy” is largely nameless and faceless, since there are millions of agents and officials spread throughout the land, slaying the beast must be understood metaphorically. That makes starving the beast the most practical solution.
Stop allowing the bureaucrats to steal you money and recklessly spend it on gender affirming care in Afghanistan, for example. Stop giving them your money. Stop paying for the abuse. Stop funding their open defiance of the Constitution and trampling of your rights. Stop feeding the beast that seeks to devour your freedom!
That seems pretty straight forward, right? Stop paying your taxes.
Reject the acceptance of taxation without representation.
Immediately the inner resistance arises. “I can’t do that.” “That’s not possible.” “That’s just not practical.” “I don’t know how.” And of course, my favorite: “Give unto Caesar.”
Can you see how all of these are just stories? These are internal barriers. You can stop paying your taxes. Plenty of people pay no taxes, some legally, some extra-legally. To claim it’s just not practical is nothing more than laziness—that’s complacency. To claim that you don’t know how is also just an excuse—that’s apathy.
A different story would be, “Where there is a will there is a way.”
And as far as “give unto Caesar”—honestly, that just makes me want to puke.
I despise when people cherry pick passages from the Bible to justify a flimsy worldview and rationalize blind compliance with state edicts. It’s foolishness.
But again, that’s just a story. Surrender the story. That’s your secret weapon.
That’s how we escape the mental cage. That’s how we move beyond the invisible barriers. That’s how we overcome the obstacles and odds. Peace, courage, and inner strength come from surrendering our stories and accepting life just as it is.
We are up against an enemy who has liberated themselves from moral restraint.
They believe the ends justify the means, that the communist revolution justifies all manner of violence and lies. They will kill you without hesitation. They will starve you without losing sleep. They will destroy everything you love and hold dear, and they will do it with a smile on their smug arrogant faces.
And you want to know the worst part? They’re going to get away with it.
They’ve already gotten away with so much, for so long, the enemy is emboldened. They’re playing for keeps and we’ve entered their end game. We’ve been losing ground by the day, and at this point there are very few options for restoring the Republic.
Keep that in mind when you hear people squawking about the impeachment inquiry or Hunter Biden’s gun charges, as if these are important issues—it’s all just political theater, and none of it does a damn thing to save our country.
Unfortunately, it’s going to take more than people not paying taxes to save our country as well (in case that wasn’t obvious). It’s going to take blood, sweat, and tears. It’s going to take sacrifice and honor. It’s going to take hardship and suffering.
It’s going to take surrendering comfort, compliance, and certainty. It will require surrendering the stories that keep us passive, that keep us placid, that keep us soft.
Our future has yet to be written, but I believe this battle is going to come down to the last man standing. If more good men don’t step up and step up soon, we’re destined to lose and lose badly. If this speaks to you, you know what to do.
Go forth and be fearless.
Remember that fear is a weapon that cuts both ways:
“When the people fear the government there is tyranny.
When the government fears the people there is liberty.”
—Thomas Jefferson
Can you imagine a story in which the government fears the people?
I can—and in my story, the only way that we lose is by continuing to do nothing!
PS: Don’t forget, now it’s easy to catch up on previous episodes by listening to The Torch Report on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple iTunes —enjoy!
TR 452 - Fear is a Weapon that Cuts Both Ways