Although the term 'martyr' is commonly understood in a religious sense, it also can be applied to the political world. Before looking into that, first a brief history.

 

Originally, the word "martyr" derived from the Greek word "martus." This was meant as a witness who testified to a fact which he had observed personally. In early Christian usage, this was first applied to the disciples who experienced first hand the life of Jesus and testified to his resurrection. The Church later began to use the term martyr to denote those men and women, who under Roman persecution, shed their blood for the faith. The current Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Martyrdom is the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death."

 

"Even unto death" .... but not necessarily that far. This is where another form of martyrdom comes in. It's called "white martyrdom" as opposed to red martyrdom where one is literally killed for his beliefs. White martyrdom is typically understood as being persecuted but not to the point of shedding blood.

 

Today, conservatives, particularly those in the camp of Donald Trump are being persecuted to the point of a political white martyrdom. Such people are losing their jobs and even in some case criminally prosecuted as were General Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, Jr.

 

Many others Trump supporters who are not known to the public have been ostracized in their places of employment, in the media, by government and accosted and assaulted in public. 

 

Conservative voices are being muffled. And now we see elements in the Democrat Party attempting to actually censor conservative broadcasters such as FoxNews, Newsmax, and One America News (OAN) network. The intent is to make conservatives and Trumpers abandon their cause, and if they won't, then to isolate and marginalize them.

 

Who is orchestrating this persecution? They go by many names -- the left, the progressives, the establishment, the elite, the globalists. Call them what you will, they all belong to the same hive and have the same overall objective -- to diminish America and acquire extra-constitutional power unto themselves at the expense of other Americans. 

 

Some may wonder why the persecutions are so out in the open now. After all, the progressive mindset had a hold of the commanding heights of the culture, government bureaucracy, the media and universities for quite some time. The answer in one word is Trump. Up until he burst on the scene, the progressives were like an anaconda snake, content to use its muscular body to slowly suffocate its victims before devouring them. 

 

Then Trump came. With Trump in the White House, the ruling class saw how tenuous its grip on power could be. A second Trump term could spell disaster for the hive. With the 2016 election surprise, alarm bells went off. It was all hands on deck to defeat Trump and those who stood with him for nationalism and MAGA.

 

The slow incremental process of suffocating America was no longer deemed sufficient. A more direct approach had to be taken. This gave birth to the aggressive purging of populist thought from the public square that we see today. Thus far, this political white martyrdom has not turned red. However the left is noted for not tolerating any dissent and given the totalitarian nature of many of those now in power, one can not rule out the more extreme form of martyrdom in coming years.   

 

No matter how much damage the leftists manage to do -- and it will be significant --  history is not on their side. Despite persistent persecution of the early Christians by the Roman state, Christianity prevailed. That faith grew from a small sect to become one of the world's major religion while the once mighty Rome is a distant memory and whose language is dead. Like the early Christians, the conservatives will not give in and intend to prevail.