Frankly, it’s not a good look.
By J. Jeff Toler, for Shenandoah Christian Alliance
The Left may not be winning right now, and they’re beginning to look pretty foolish. Maybe it’s because their plans really aren’t so popular after all. Following decades of the “long march through the institutions” the Left should have everything they ever hoped for. In 2021 they managed to occupy both houses of congress and seize the White House. So, is it me, or do they appear to be getting desperate?
The answer may be as simple as this: the Left just doesn’t have a plan people really want: their plan to is divide, destroy, and dictate. Maybe now, America is beginning to see the “emperor” has no clothes.
Is The Overton Window Changing?
The Overton Window of political possibility can be explained as the range of ideas the public is willing to consider and accept. It’s important because this window is like a barometer, and it may be showing a change is coming; a change the American Left should fear.
“The most common misconception is that lawmakers themselves are in the business of shifting the Overton window. That is absolutely false. Lawmakers are actually in the business of detecting where the window is, and then moving to be in accordance with it.” – Joseph Lehman (from conceptually.org)
Today, owing to the mainstreaming of deviant sexual confusion, racism, materialism, and a polarizing cultural hegemony, Leftists are using a corrupt media, weaponized federal agencies, and government/public schools for Marxist indoctrination. Have the Left gone too far? The Virginia gubernatorial upset last November was, by all metrics, the result of pushback from outraged parents of students in government/public schools who finally saw the truth.
From this one incident alone, it is not that difficult to conclude that the Left may have thought they were winning the culture war, and untouchable. But angry moms and dads are not a force they were prepared for. Though by no means cause for a sigh of relief, it is a sign there is room for hope.
So, what do we really mean by “Left and Right”?
In American politics, who are Left and Right? The terms now used in contemporary political discourse originated during the French Revolution. Afterward, the French National Assembly, delegates who advocated for the revolution sat to the left of the presiding officer, while the conservative supporters of traditional rule sat to his right. Ironically, the French Revolution promoted equality, but in time, the ruling elite emerged to impose tyranny. (From history.com)
It’s safe to say that only one revolution provided true liberty for the common man: the American Revolution.
Lex Rex or Rex Lex?
This is the way of things: people will inevitably be ruled by the law, or by the king—either lex rex, or rex lex. (The law is king, or the king is law)
Defining terms like liberalism, conservatism, and leftism requires diligence to determine objective answers. Space does not permit even a cursory examination of history, but in essence, the left and right political spectrum in western civilization today can be described this way:
The Left employs revolution to obtain rights-violating ideologies and systems—by force as necessary. The Left includes communism, socialism, fascism/nazism, anarchy, and theocracy.
The Right prefers rights-respecting beliefs and systems through governance—not by force. The right is identified by capitalism, classical liberalism, and constitutional republicanism.
Since the invasion of Marxist doctrine, America, and by extension western civilization, has complicated these terms and definitions, due largely to the success of leftist redefinitions, and through misappropriation. This would explain, for example, why Liberals are often confused with Leftists. But classical liberals have much more in common with Conservatives than Leftists, including free speech, personal freedoms, and the denunciation of racism, to name but a few. Classical Liberals, like Conservatives, prefer to defend religious beliefs.
Dennis Prager explains beautifully the difference between Liberalism and the Left in a famous 2017 Daily Signal commentary: “Leftism is not Liberalism. Here are the Differences.” I have come to trust Prager implicitly. This is a great read.
So, wouldn’t it be so much better if everything could be described in simple terms of, “we’re right, and they’re wrong?” In simple terms, yes, it would. And it can. But it’s complicated because not everyone will accept the biblical premises of good and evil, right and wrong, or even up and down. We talk about left and right as if we think everyone agrees with our definition of who, or what is “on the left,” and who is “on the right.” Many will refuse to listen, and others still will refuse to let us speak.
To make matters worse, it’s not that uncommon to hear someone—including a Supreme Court Justice—declare something as fact, when in fact, it is not true at all.
This is what desperation looks like in the theatre of the absurd. The effort required to construct, promote, and maintain such a massive mountain of lies, deceit, and prevarication has to be a colossal strain on everyone who participates. But these lies only lead to tyranny.
Still, cracks are starting to appear, and many people can see them. Now is the time to be bold against this tyranny. No aphorism today is truer than this: “Knowledge is power.”
- “But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” (Hebrews 10:39)
Christian Conservatives are armed with knowledge and truth. They know The Plans God has in store. Consider this: before we enter into the fray, we must first repent. Repentance leads to restoration, restoration leads to reconciliation, and reconciliation leads to Godly freedom. See Joel 2:12-13
Then remember:
- “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.” (1 John 4:4-6)
Be courageous, be blessed!
