“A different game you should play”

Historian Brion McClanahan uses a sports metaphor to explain the coarsening of dialog pervading our culture. His theory isn’t that we’re playing the same game but with different rules.

Rather, it’s that the “left” is playing football – a fast-paced game with frequent rule changes – while the “right” dutifully plods along playing baseball, which (used to, at least) rarely institute new rules. Thus, the methodical, patient, and focused baseball players become susceptible to the spastic nature and dramatic stunts of the football egoists.

The right expects certain decorum and longstanding traditions upheld. So while they’re busy recording stats, comparing notes, and reviewing history, the left gleefully grinds them down with their Marxist-sharp cleats.

The “right” guy swings and hits the ball, only to be mob-tackled on the way to first by an offensive line in pink pussy hats. Another guy sprints from third and crosses home plate, only to be punched in the face, called a Nazi, and told his white privilege earned him the run.

The left takes away the next player’s bat, assures him the move is for his own safety, and then proceeds to arm the entire football team, who bludgeons him while the coaches and commissioner watch from the sidelines. They proceed in making him pay for the damages, and run ads and host tear-filled press conferences about how he’s the one ruining the game.

Yet, the right still tries to compromise with the left, even though there’s nothing remotely similar between their games or the rules by which they play. Then they’re predictably shocked when the gesture is made in vain.

The left never gives an inch. Why should they? They make up the rules as they go along – rules, by the way, which are never imposed on their own teammates.

They also happen to be the enforcers, and so by default, they always win. As history professor Carey Roberts says, “They don’t strike deals. They seek acquisition.”

Now when I say “left” and “right,” I’m not necessarily talking liberal vs. conservative, or Democrats vs. GOP. I’m using these terms to describe the statist vs. the pro-freedom position.

And as we know, “statism” – the belief that highly centralized government is the ultimate arbiter of justice, social mores, security, and charity, and has the authority to use any means necessary to obtain those allegedly benevolent goals – is a big tent. It’s the system of needs, goes the Hegelian view.

After 150 years of Lincolnianism, the cancer of statism infects almost all Americans in one way or another. As historian Marco Bassani describes it, “The Union is the tool of the modern state … (and) the state is the tool of the proletariat.”

The ideological disease paralyzes one’s mind so that he loses sight of nuance, abandons critical thinking and logic, embraces hyper-emotivism, and adopts the myopic mindset of “You’re either with us or against us,” all depending upon the issue. And “shame on you” if you don’t submit.

It’s obvious that both left and right have their sacred cows. However, it’s overwhelmingly clear that it’s the cultural Marxists (which includes neo-conservatives) who are the ringleaders of the statist clown-show. I mean, Rachel Maddow and Bill Kristol are two sides of the same tyrannical coin.

Moreover, even when the average patriotic American clings to a nationalist issue, they still don’t want to disown me as a family member, drop me as a friend, pepper-spray me, lock me up, or kill me. Typically. When there’s disagreement, there’s usually a level of etiquette present that’s always absent when debating a leftist.

For example, I was chit-chatting with a man at a social gathering about how inefficient and inhumane medical care has gotten, to which he said, “You can blame Obama for that.” An older liberal lady who overheard our conversation quickly and coldly retorted, “If you badmouth Obama, I’ll shoot you.” Seriously.

Sure, this is just an anecdote. But it’s symptomatic of the leftist mindset. It’s how they play the game. No discourse. No inquiry. No empathy. Just violent pronouncements and infantile ultimatums.

“The more I talk to liberals, the more convinced I am that they believe as they do because they’re terribly unprincipled, perhaps even sociopathic people and cannot imagine that everyone else isn’t the exact same way they are,” explains clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson. “What they refuse to fix about themselves, they project onto others so they can fear and loathe it without the need to examine their own souls.”

In other words, the left is impervious to new and different ideas. They refuse to “voluntarily expose themselves to things they’re afraid of and disgusted by (which is a) defining characteristic of appropriate human adaptation,” Peterson says. Yep, when I was a socialist, I opposed the right to bear arms because “guns are icky.” Smart, eh?

So, leftist growth becomes stunted intellectually and spiritually. After all, participating in the marketplace of ideas is hard work. It’s just so much easier to believe what you’re told by the high priests in corporate media, government, and academia.

Sadly, this radical religion of unscrupulous and unconscientious conformity prohibits healing and stifles flourishing. That’s why leftists have such a hostile reaction to any dissent, even when it’s presented mannerly and in a good faith. To them, it’s all apostasy that must be crushed.

By wanting open and honest dialog, you’re questioning their god, “the state,” as fixer and and reformer. Salvation is only obtainable through dogmatic and unquestioning obedience to the ideology, and all its compulsive and fluctuating edicts.

“For modern man, socialism has become an elixir against earthly adversity,” wrote economist Ludwig von Mises. He described the left’s ethos as rooted in a sort of inferiority complex that “cannot be reached by resort to the method of reason.”

This is why for the left, feelings always trump facts and data. Hell, that’s why they say that statistics are racist. Logic is a tool of the patriarchy. Civility is an outdated construction created by dead white men. Debate and rhetoric are products of oppressive Western colonialism. Free speech is hate speech.

“The neurotic clings to his ‘saving lie,’ and when he must make the choice of renouncing either it or logic, he prefers to sacrifice logic.” Mises said. “For life would be unbearable for him without the consolation that he finds in the idea of socialism.”

The left isn’t interested in conversation. They are totalitarians, who seek to silence and rule no matter the human cost.

Peterson says, “They seek iron-fisted external control of all people because they’re too morally bankrupt to control themselves.” That’s the kind of propaganda we’re up against, trying to win over the hearts and minds of people with attention spans less than that of a goldfish, high-time preference, follower traits, rootlessness, victim-complex mindsets, and entitled personalities.

Unpacking issues of history, politics, and faith is a complicated business, and it takes work and rumination. Time and study. Open ears and minds. Reexamining what you think are closed questions and conventional “wisdom.”

For instance, if “good science” is “the constant search for accurate information,” consensus is anathema to science. One must never stop digging and never assume what is mainstream is truth.

But this requires individuals who are actually concerned with objective truth, not proponents of subjective truth. You know, more Aristotle, less Nietzsche.

Of course, there are plenty of opportunists and hysterics who willingly push fallacies to achieve an end. Case in point: “common sense” gun control.

The aftermath of the recent Florida shooting is a case study in the hive-mind mentality of statists. Useful-idiot students get paraded around on media junkets, take to the streets for astro-turf rallies, stage school walkouts, and perpetuate myths with cult-like fervor aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens and emboldening central authority.

They’re happily leading sheep to the slaughter. And based on what? Emotion and lies. The deceit is deep and dangerous, but effective on a mindlessly “compassionate” populace. Statists don’t care that of the 6,000-11,000 gun deaths per year, more than 1/2 are suicide.

Or that much of the other half is black-on-black crime done with illegal handguns, like the 6 people in Chicago (as many as the 2015 Charleston shooting) killed the weekend after Florida, pushing the Windy City’s yearly total of shooting victims to 297. To point that out’d be racist.

They’re impervious to the fact that less than 2% of firearms deaths are carried out with “assault” rifles. An assault rifle is simply a semi-automatic weapon gussied up to look military-style. Rifles are used in a meager 2-3% of murders nationwide. Or that knives are 6 times more likely, and fists and feet 3 times more likely, to be used in murders than are rifles.

Anti-gun zealots ignore the truth that attacks carried out in places like NYC, Chapel Hill, Stockholm, Nice, Berlin, Jerusalem, Barcelona, London Bridge, and Westminster Bridge were done using trucks. No Parkland student, political hack, or media crybaby wants to admit that violence and killing aren’t dependent on the tool; they’re dependent on intent.

So, gun control won’t stop murderers. It’s simply a placebo for a problem that has no cure. Free societies can be violent, especially one as diverse and fractured as ours, and lunatics hellbent on killing will find a way to carry out their evil. Period.

In the meantime, 1/3 of Americans legally own some 300 million guns, and 5.2% of adults have conceal-carry permits – a stat which includes a 270% increase for women. Yet, the vast majority of lawful gun owners don’t go around shooting up schools, churches, concerts in Vegas, Republican baseball games, or cops at BLM rallies. We armed citizens use the tool to deter violence and often even stop crimes.

“Guns are the last defense,” explains Bassani. If government confiscation takes place, it will “close the chapter on America becoming a fully modern state.” Sure, there could be less violence, but there would be no liberty. No autonomy. Only universal ideas. Egalitarianism by duress. Unconditional unionism. And monopolistic force and aggression.

Let’s be blunt, y’all. If you’re screaming for gun control, you’re pushing for armed men coming to my house, and either taking my weapons at the point of a gun or shooting my family in order to obtain my arms. Talk about “enabling murder.”

Tell ya what, I’ll give up my guns when the police, military, and every federal agency (including entities like the EPA and the Department of Education) give up theirs. Until then, why don’t we stop coercing kids into gun-free zones where they’re sitting ducks? Talk about “blood on your hands.”

Let’s be frank. Statism is not keeping people safe. Local law enforcement, Broward County School System, and the FBI were all abject failures in protecting the public from Nikolas Cruz before he allegedly went on a shooting spree, and the sheriff’s deputy did nothing as the massacre unfolded. When it really matters, government is absolutely feckless.

The illusory state escalates danger by starting senseless wars, which kill American mothers and fathers and increase terrorist blow-back. Creating a welfare state while not protecting borders, which increases illegal immigration and decreases cultural norms and social trust. Engendering social discord through racial and gender quotas and special minority “rights.” And purposefully fostering hate and division for 8 long Obama years and beyond. The state’s expertly expedient at creating crises in order to curtail liberty.

Yet, these are the same people who want to take my guns, offer me empty promises of safety and sure promises of violence, and then prevent me from enjoying my human right to self-defense and protection of my loved-ones. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing, and I’m done playing their game.

No more self-censorship in an effort to be nice. No more catering to the pathologies of folks who push for du jour laws which lead to de facto tyranny. No more compromise with people who would as soon put me and my kids in a cage or even take our lives over weapons, unpaid taxes, “hate speech,” homeschooling, or anything else that runs counter to their nihilistic ends.

We non-statists are a threat to the existing elite who rule over us. We are the resistance, and we need to start acting accordingly. To hell with being a good sport if the game is a fraud. We need to play by our own rules like Cody Wilson.

“Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” goes the Rage Against the Machine song, “Killing In the Name.” Well, I’m co-opting their Marxist screed for my team. I say disobey. Don’t comply. Speak truth – always. Let’s win this game. And if y’all want my guns, come and take ’em.

Note: Thanks to my friends at Libertopia for letting me use the on-point feature image.