Joshua Lawson
Posted on 01/07/2021 10:33:30 AM PST by Kaslin
The shameful events of Jan. 6 revealed something deeply wrong in the country. A restored Republican Party must be a part of the solution.
Nearly a year ago, on Jan. 9, 2020, after 13 years of waiting, a longtime hope of mine was fulfilled when I became a naturalized American citizen. Almost one year later, I watched in horror and sadness along with millions of my fellow Americans as men and women violently stormed the government seat the country I love so dearly.
The rioting and destruction we witnessed over the summer were indefensible. And yes, the left has dangerous radicals of its own. Wednesday’s utterly shameful events are clear evidence that there is something gravely wrong in the country right now.
Like it or not, for the near future, America is stuck with a two-party system. So, with everything in its power, a restored and rebuilt Republican Party must be a part of the solution.
The Republican Party of the future cannot — not tacitly, not quietly, not in the slightest — encourage grievance or stoke anger. It must not aid, abet, or give any credence to wild conspiracy theories stemming from the likes of QAnon, Sidney Powell, and Lin Wood. The Republican Party of the future must once again become the party of the civil, the free, and the sane.
Most importantly, the Republican Party of the future cannot continue to endorse the view that any election lost to Democrats constitutes the literal end of the country. America is more resilient than that. Our Founders wisely and prudently instituted checks and balances and designed separation of powers to ensure that no single election, or even a series of elections, would break America beyond repair.
It’s not surprising that people do desperate, illegal, evil things when they are repeatedly told by politicians and commentators that Senate or presidential elections aren’t just important, but pose an existential threat to America if their side doesn’t win.
No, going forward, the local needs to replace the national, and we must tend to our towns and communities with far more fervor and dedication than we now devote to events involving the White House or occurring in states thousands of miles away from where we may actually live. Politics should not and cannot be the center of our lives and the source of our purpose.
What we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, is not a surprising result when people are falsely told their votes are meaningless because the elections are “rigged” and democracy in America is a sham. Nor is what we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, a surprising result when people are falsely told that an all-powerful, nefarious “Deep State” controls every lever of power in America and that a similarly shadowy cabal of “globalists” controls the world.
Here’s the truth: State legislatures and numerous audits and recounts did not find any widespread voting irregularities or fraud capable of overturning the 2020 election results. More than 60 legal challenges and lawsuits heard by judges from district courts to the U.S. Supreme Court — including three U.S. Supreme Court justices appointed by President Donald Trump himself — failed to prove any election-altering voter fraud, nor did an investigation by Trump’s own Attorney General Bill Barr.
The fact that can be gleaned from all available evidence is Trump lost the 2020 election, and it wasn’t that close. Unlike in 2000, this loss wasn’t anywhere near the 537-vote margin seen in Florida, a single state that held the result of the election in the balance. According to Trump’s own words in 2016, it was a landslide defeat — 306 Electoral College votes to 232.
Trump’s tenure as president was not without remarkable successes. What Trump accomplished in the Middle East, with multiple peace accords forged between the state of Israel and several Arab nations, is a diplomatic achievement without parallel over the last 30 years. The president’s efforts to end burdensome regulations deserve acclaim, as does his successful appointment of excellent originalist justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Yet, if the Republican Party wants to have any hopes of salvaging its image and winning another election, it must move beyond hitching its fortunes to one person, especially if that man is the destabilizing force known as Donald Trump. Let cults of personality belong to other parties and other nations, and let the American presidency rescind to the responsible power level envisioned to the executive branch by the Founders.
Finally, after not even bothering to publish a new platform in 2020 for the first time in its history, let the Republican Party once again stand for smart, intelligent, and informed ideas. Then, let them muster the strength and skill to follow through.
The United States needs a party to hold Democrats accountable — one that defends the U.S. Constitution, life, character, and free markets, and then leaves the American people alone to live their lives in peace. The Republican Party must decide, and decide quickly, whether it has the courage to take up that mantle again, or whether it wants to ride the rusted husk of what’s left of the Trump train straight into oblivion.
Looks pretty much like I figured he would.
Well I had no idea or concept in my mind. I didn’t expect him
to like an ‘ol country boy out of the piney woods
This article is an extraordinary pile of garbage that is wrong about everything.
Return to what? Return to a GLOBALIST PARTY? Sorry, no F**king way! We need to infiltrate the Republican Party from the local level up. Enough of the Country Club GLOBALIST ANTI-AMERICAN WALL STREET types and reform the Republican Party into a Main Street, Small Business Capitalist Party.
IMO-—The Republican Party is beyond restoration.
A new party will be formed under Trump.
I will and MILLIONS more like me WILL join Trump in whatever endeavors he puts toward doing so.
What can I do? In the face of the coming storm, what constructive actions can we take to conserve what works and protect ourselves? Here are a few actionable solutions anyone can adopt at a personal or local level.
Find your tribe. Network, meet in person. Social media can’t censor what you say in private. This also helps you emotionally, since you’re meeting with people who support you instead of mistaking the digital lynch mobs for what matters.
Preserve conservative institutions like churches, schools and clubs. Fight social justice infiltration or pressure to submit to liberal political demands like, “you really need a BLM lecturer in here, you’ll be good if you throw up our political symbols”.
Educate. Teach your kids your values at an early age, by reading stories that share your values. Don’t let the kids go to drag queen story time or social justice story time. Protest if the school or daycare does this, or if you’re not able to do that, take your kid out and discuss the protest with other parents. Abilene Paradox – people wrongly think that the official dictate is what everyone agrees with because no one says anything against it.
Buy books that explain the conservative worldview and defend it like those by Dennis Prager. Buy books that explain why liberals and conservatives are different without demonizing them like Jonathan Haidt’s works. And start book clubs reading these books. Hello, tribe!
Fight any attempt to add social justice to codes of conduct. For example, the National Association of Realtors just implemented a policy where you can be fined or expelled for “hate speech”, public or private. Other organizations have weaker versions of this, but expect it to ramp up.
Law, medicine and social work already have rules regarding this, equating trust and respect and empathy to liberal values - so you can’t get licensed if you don’t agree. Fight this, if you don’t want to be kicked out of professional organizations if you don’t pass the liberal political litmus test.
Hire conservatives, because businesses are firing them. Assist those who have been fired for their beliefs.
2ndvote.com allows you to find conservative and neutral businesses that share your values.
You can even sort by category (restaurants, groceries, hardware, retail) or values (pro-life, 2nd amendment).
Do you like the local or national conservative talk show hosts? Buy the stuff they’re hawking, and especially use the reference or discount codes they provide. This will tell sponsors that this sponsorship is financially important to them. And that helps keep these shows on the air.
Clean your room. Sort yourself out. You can’t fix the world, but you can improve your own life and situation. Read Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University books. Get out of debt. Save up an emergency fund. If Biden’s cronies crash the economy, you’re in a much better situation. And you’re in a Christian group that can be the start of your tribe, or you can arrange classes at your church or with your networking groups to bring everyone closer together.
Encourage Sanctuary Cities/Sanctuary States on any issue you support. Second Amendment sanctuaries already exist. Pro-life Sanctuaries are far fewer but could spread. Support the groups that got these policies passed, and encourage such movements in your area. You may not be able to change federal tax and immigration policy, but you can try to preserve free speech if someone can implement a First Amendment Sanctuary law at a state level.
Use the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) college rankings on free speech to determine the least liberal schools in your area to send your kids to.
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