We Are Not Victims unless We Choose to Be: It's time we accepted a hard truth: we're in this mess because we let it happen. Now let's fix it.

I get a lot of email along the following lines:

The Dems have corrupted our elections — our vote will never matter again.
We'll never see justice from our DoJ — the system is rigged against us.
We can't fight the federal bureaucracy — it controls everything.
We'll never get out from under all of this debt — collapse is imminent.
A return to founding principles is hopeless — poor, poor, pitiful me.

Granted, it isn't all conservatives saying these things, but an alarming number are starting to sound as though they're accepting victimhood. The left is quite happy about that. Leftists want us to accept our lot in life as helpless subjects, dependent on them for everything.

It's time we accepted a hard truth: we're in this mess because we let it happen.

But the left would like us to continue denying that truth and accept the victimhood that they've been promoting. Victimhood is a state of mind in which those suffering from it have given up control. Life's disappointments are someone else's fault. Conversely, life's blessings are a gift from someone else. It's what Barack Obama wanted us to believe when he told business-owners that "you didn't build that." He was telling them that their success wasn't the result of their hard work, but because the government allowed them to be successful. It was a message that the federal government retains the power to make them fail or allow them to succeed — at its whim. He was insisting that they accept victimhood, that any control they think they have is an illusion. In reality, Obama's assertion was an illusion the left would like us to believe.

Embracing such an illusion signals that we have ceded power to the state — which is also ceding power to the left.

People who accept victimhood have mentally and emotionally given power over their lives to the state — just as the leftists like it.

That's why the left's language is the language of victimhood:

We face prejudices in society that can't be fixed with hard work and outreach. We need more government oversight.
Others are so much wealthier than us that we can't close that gap with hard work. We need more government redistribution.
Our streets are unsafe, and we don't know how to defend ourselves. We need to sacrifice our freedom for security — provided by the state.
We fear a viral Armageddon, and thoughtful individual risk management will not save us. We need to give the government emergency powers over our behavior, associations, speech, and medical treatment.

If we accept that belief system, we have no control over our own lives. From there, it's only a small step to accepting state control of everything.

“Embracing such an illusion signals that we have ceded power to the state — which is also ceding power to the left.”

Yet, if it isn’t an “illusion”, then it is reality. And you can’t change your reality until you accept your reality. Telling an actual victim that it’s all in their head and their situation is their own fault is just as unproductive as telling an imaginary victim that their problems are someone else’s fault.

James Pepper:
Would you like to hear my opinion, Mr. John Simpson Chisum?

John Simpson Chisum:
Nope.

James Pepper:
Well, my opinion is all this speechifying, storekeeping, prayer-meeting don’t amount to spit in the river. There’s only one thing that’s going to make this territory know who’s bull of the woods... and sometime or sooner it’s going to happen.

John Simpson Chisum:
Do I?

James Pepper:
You do. It’s just going to be you and Murphy, head-to-head and horn-to-horn... and one hell of a fight. But one of you has got to lose, so the other one walks away with the herd and the whole shebang. Now, that’s my opinion.

I wanted to see what sort of action the author was recommending. I had to go to the link to find out what he was suggesting. It was very disappointing.

Teach our children good vs. evil.

Good idea, but won't affect corrupt elections in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada.

Hold "public servants" accountable.

What does that even mean? How do we do something to hold Soros prosecutors accountable? This advice is meaningless.

Be active in government — especially at the local level (where election shenanigans happen).

Won't have any effect in my state. Won't have any useful effect on the national election unless you happen to live in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona or Nevada. Pretty much useless advice for most of us.

Challenge the MSM narrative. There are no alternate realities, and just because some fool with a $200 haircut says something doesn't make it true.

And how are you supposed to do that? Do you have a 500 billion dollar broadcasting system in your back pocket that we could borrow? The media is a threat precisely because *THEY* can spread their lies to the general public, and *YOU* cannot get the truth out to these same people who need to hear it. Virtually useless advice.

Celebrate America. It is still a place of pride, not shame.

Won't have much impact on America's problems. The enemy forces have far greater control over what the public can hear, so till that's solved, you won't reach much of an audience.

And now i'm a little pissed. This guy bitches about us letting our power be taken away from us, then gives us a bunch of fluff advice that has very little chance of accomplishing anything useful.

How about some real suggestions that might actually work?

From where I sit, I can think of no legal methodology that will resolve any of our troubles.

You know what is worse than doing nothing? Spinning your wheels to no effect. This guy has just proposed a bunch of wheel spinning, and has put forth nothing of significance.

Exactly right. What this guy is doing is more akin to giving a pep talk than proposing actual solutions to the problem.

Virtually useless advice.

"We Are Not Victims unless We Choose to Be: It's time we accepted a hard truth: we're in this mess because we let it happen. Now let's fix it."

“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors, shall all become wolves [emphasis added]. It seems to be the law of our general nature.” - Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Edward Carrington January 16, 1787).

ALL the states desparately need to effectively "secede" from the unconstitutinally big federal government by repealing the 16th (direct taxes) and 17th (popular voting for federal senators) Amendments (16&17A).

If the proposed amendment was limited strictly to repealing 16&17A, relatively little or ideally no discussion would be needed before ratification of such an amendment imo.

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