Jack of Harts

I wore political apparel like the old “I Like Ike” buttons when I was young, put Bush Senior bumper stickers on my cars, and signs in my yard. My car was vandalized, people destroyed the signs in my yard, and tore the political apparel off me. That cured me of wearing my politics on my sleeve many, many years ago. Now most people are perfectly fine running into people that disagree with them. Most people are happy to debate differences of opinion. But there are some who cannot stand the idea of people disagreeing with them. There are extremists like Antifa or BLM who are happy to commit physical acts of violence against such people. And right now in America, the leadership of the Democrat Party is actively encouraging them to hate and silence their political enemies, charging that they are very bad people who should be removed from their world. The extremists are happy to answer the call to violence, which makes the times rather dangerous for everyday Americans.

Obama mocked Republicans for clinging to their guns and religion. Hillary called Republicans a basket of deplorables. Now Biden says Republicans are a threat to democracy. Democrat leaders have called on their supporters to drive Republicans out of restaurants and other public spaces. They’ve said there will be a reckoning. They’ve called parents that protest at school meetings domestic terrorists. And people have listened and responded to these charges. A Supreme Court Justice was recently targeted in an assassination attempt. Republican congressmen have been beaten or shot. Hundreds of everyday Republicans have been attacked on the streets. Some have been killed. The last few years have been dangerous times for everyday Americans, and they will get more dangerous. Because there will be more of this…

I was 17 going on 18 when everything changed for me. I was young and naive. I thought the media would tell us the truth back then. Or at least the best truth they knew. They might be wrong, but they wouldn’t LIE to me. Right? But studying the facts of both Ruby Ridge and Waco forced me to set aside that naivety. The media absolutely does have an agenda. Different networks have different agendas. Some are good for us, some are bad for us. I was 18 when I first began to understand that “distrust but verify” had to be the test I gave to every media and government outlet. And that is why, to this day, I distrust the media and the government as my default setting. Evidence may come to light that they are telling the truth in certain cases, but “distrust but verify” will generally put you on the right side of the truth in most cases. Realizing that at 18 changed my worldview in every way that mattered.