I am convinced your step father is correct, and have been arguing the same points for a long time.
When we reflect on the Founding Fathers, consider the four things they were pledged to:
1. Their lives - they were willing to stand up to tyranny and if necessary die as martyrs. How many of our cohort are literally willing to die for the the cause of liberty?
2. Their fortunes — we cannot even find any similar “leaders” of financial means willing to seriously risk anything. The rhetorical “leaders” of the liberty movement rarely present the brutal truth as it would risk their ratings and advertising income (Mark Levin and a handful of local talkers like Steve Deace and Jim Garrison probably being the exception). And our political “leaders?” They will not even risk a single point in leftist opinion polls or incur a harsh word from the leftist establishment press (but I repeat myself) in order to do the right thing.
3. Their sacred honor — seriously, do we have even a handful of “leaders” with any sense of honor? Not from where I sit. there are only a half dozen or so with access to mass information organs who are on our side when push comes to shove.
4. The fourth commitment by the Founders was the willingness to, if necessary, kill their fellow British subjects in order to achieve liberty. How many of us are willing to literally kill our dependent/collectivist neighbors if necessary to stop Obama?
It is possibly true that the legion of patriots may be sizable, perhaps even adequate to the task of stopping fascist tyranny. But the disparate threads of the movement need to be pulled together into a cogent and irresistible whole in order to prevail. Given the deafening silence in the face of the statist juggernaut over the past 6, 10, 2o years, I am not optimistic about such a development.
I pray that you are wrong, but I don’t find enough evidence for the contrary.