PrintMay 12, 2011
Blue State Conservatives: The Silence of Fear
It could be that it's just me, but I have trouble finding conservatives in real life. I know that they must be out there somewhere. Just look at all of the pages on Facebook that are content targeted at conservatives. There are entire radio stations dedicated to the conservative point of view. There are so many conservative books in the book stores, that one would be hard pressed to keep up with all of them! That being the case, where are all the conservatives?
I live and work in Washington State, one of the most liberal states in the union. Sometimes, it seems as though all of the people I run into are at least as liberal as President Obama. I constantly get dirty looks and obscene gestures from drivers because I have American Flag and Gadsden Flag stickers on my car. The bulk of the people that I work with will hardly give me the time of day because I am not ashamed of my conservatism. I can hardly even have a conversation about conservative issues with the people at my church. Why? Why is this the case?
I think that the issue is fear. Many conservatives seem to live in constant fear of outing themselves as conservatives! Some have bought into the lie that conservatism in America is a fringe minority. Others think that even if conservatives are not a minority, we are a silent majority, and should be so as not to stand in the way of "progress." By listening to the "silent majority" lie, conservatives have made it all too true. Even our churches have become a safe haven for progressivism and liberalism due to the church leadership's fears of being perceived as radical, mean or racist.
Sen. Chuck Schumer has instructed all those on the left to refer to all conservatives as radical. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Debbie Wasserman have all said the Republicans and conservatives want to kill women, children and old people. They don't just say these things to attempt to make the weak minded lefties fear conservatives more, but also to make conservatives afraid to speak up and identify themselves in public settings as conservatives. The frightening thing is not that Democrats, progressives and socialists employ these tactics, but that conservatives allow these tactics to be successful.
Just today I was told that opposition to Obama's socialist policies is nothing more than racism. The individual who said this to me was losing an argument, and had nowhere left to run. It was assumed that labeling me a racist would silence me. After all, it's a tried and true method. We mustn't allow ourselves to be silenced anymore! There is too much at stake.
What would happen to our Republic if honest questioning were to be cut off? Our Republic would cease to function as such. We would find that the liberties that have been endowed to us by our Creator will have disappeared. We would find that our beloved representative republic will have been replaced by tyranny, and "We the People" would find ourselves enslaved to the state and living under the boot of a dictator.
Our Founding Fathers understood this to be true. Thomas Jefferson once said, "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." Once again, we have come to a time in history where we are offered a choice: Liberty or tyranny. Once again, people of good conscience should chose to not be silent.
