I was once an ignorant self-centered fool. I didn't know much about anything. I didn't even care. I even remember in 11th grade (I can't believe I am telling you this) saying, "I can't wait till I am out of school where I won't have to read or do anything I don't want to do." Yes, I said it and I remember saying it. I even remember, cutting my last period class if the surf was good because I just knew I wouldn't ever need to type! (You can laugh now). Mrs. Ito, my typewriting class instructor would hound me every day and tell me how typing will be the future and I just didn't want to hear it. I don't even think I believed it and if I did, I probably would not have cared anyway. Fast forward since then, I moved to Idaho approaching 4 decades ago, no longer surfing and thinking of Mrs. Ito often. She was right, typing is important.
Since that time of living in absolute blissful ignorance, I have left Hawai'i, relocated, got married, had children, and entered into a realm where few go from my kind of background, Politics. It isn't politics in the known sense as in right/left politics and the banter between the two, it was relating to the affairs of the state or what I call civic engagement.
In those last almost 40 years, I continue to do much contemplation. The problem with this is that I think far more than I speak but those that know me wouldn't find that possible because I am long winded. I hate being this way but I have found that the more one learns and the more passionate one becomes, the stronger the desire to preach, especially when it appears that those you are preaching to don't seem to get it.
I remember at several points that I realized what I wanted to do since I found out people have less and less time to read, and I was reading, I would simply offer to share what I was learning. As a result of this, I not only learned that people don't read like they used to, if they do, they read things that are a different version of what I am reading and I saw this troublesome in many aspects. Please understand, I don't do what I do to be right, I do it because I want to share the truth with people that don't seem interested or to those that want to know just don't know where to find information or don't trust what they are told to read. I also realized these were the dangers of what I had read about relativism.
You may be asking how to I know what is right? You may even be saying to yourself, "Wow, this guy is an arrogant pig." First of all, I am one that believes in absolute truth in a world that seems not to. I have found, in order to "be accurate" one must be consistent bibically, historically and lawfully. I am sure there are other filters but these three come to mind immediately. If things do not pass these screens it brings up red flags and needs to be scrutinized. One good and easy way to tell is by spotting inconsistencies. Since it appears we are "stupider" it becomes easier to spot such inconsistencies.
A huge ongoing issue for me is that people like to blame others for their own shortcomings. Another may be that due to relativism or some other issue is that the people won't admit when they are wrong and refuse to be corrected when shown to be in error. Maybe I am wrong and that people really believe they are entitled to their own truth, even as Christian conservatives where relativism isn't even part pf the Christian worldview. One other way to tell you are being played is maybe if you find somoene that claims to be something and you can point out, at least to yourself, that the things they say or do are inconsistent with what they claim they are. This is easy to tell whether through religion, govenrment office or in politics.
To clarify, some think democrats are the enemy and believe the solution is to vote republican. A more accurate assesment would be to realize these two parties are wings of the same bird. If this is true, and blame is to be pointed, who shoud we blame? Let's blame democrats and politicians because it would be far too painful to admit any of this is our own fault?
Additionally, there are those that claim to be "conservatives" doing the bidding for the deep state establishment and they are either intentional or don’t even realize it and many people voting them in say, at first they are great candidates, then once they are in office they realize the politicians aren't doing what the people that elected them thought they should be doing. Again, the fault falls on the politian not the electorate?
I see busy patriots, focusing on local issues, (that in my view are global issues that have come home) running around like chicken’s with their heads cut off running from the cleaver without knowing who has it and it seems during these times, we all seem to forget "history repeats itself for those that don't know it" and we still find ways to blame others rather that judging ourselves before judging others. Yes, I am even guilty of it.
And yet, there appears to be an internal hostility among "conservatives" and even within republican sects. One republican group doesn''t like the other republican group and both groups don't like others that don't focus on what they focus on and apparently, we are so confused we can't see the ginormity of the threat. Is it because we are so self-centered and focused on our issue to understand there is a war for freedom and humanity coming against us all fast?
Then, there is a lesser known issue where there are people that focus on local and think elections will fix our problems while others like myself admittedly are trying to encourage these other groups to apply some focus upon the global threat that few seem interested in as we hope to raise the bar for people we do want in office. Ultimately though, we should know historically, the PEOPLE GET THE GOVERMENT THEY DESERVE and to add, we also get the freedom we deserve. What this means to me is that if the people be ignorant, so be the govenrment. If the people be debased, lack virtue and morality and personal responsibility, so will be our govenrment. This also means that if we find our politicians are not doing what we think they should be doing, I would guess that is more our fault than their's because we didn't know better. We may have all of the right intentions but it doesn't matter because historically, "The road to hell" is paved with them. This means that we need to make darn sure we know enough to do what we set out to do with that desired outcome in mind minus the inuntended consequences.
I have started to say recently: "If all the enemies needed to do was to create an abundance of issues to overwhelm the public to make it impossible to fight them all, would you say that they have succeeded?" Sure they have. If we continue to do the same thing over and over again and they continue to create issues, can we ever win? No. So, if what I say is true, why do we do it then?
What if we understood the enemy? What if we realized who they were, understood what they wanted and fought with that understanding rather than being solely focused on the local issue de jure that always seems to blow back in our face? If successful activism was a funnel, would it be easier to focus on that one entity at the smallest part of that funnel or should we focus on everything going into the funnel? Should we focus on entities that create these issues or focus the issues they created? If we agreed to do this, where would we start? By blaming others or by working together to understand the enemy?
A breakdown of the traditional family is wider spread than the nuclear family. I think it is way farther reaching than that. For example, During the earlier years, within fellow activists, there was a mutual respect we seemed to have for one another and it was almost a family or a brotherhood or sorts. I know others like me didn't do it because we set out to make friends or be popular, we did it because we had a message and a warning that we felt people needed to hear and we supported it and didn't get in their way. We in our "family" agreed this was paramount so we focused on it together. Years later, I hit the airwaves or morning talk radio with my "little buddy" Kevin Miller on Boise's morning radio 580 KIDO AM . I just felt like I had something to say but I didn't realize people would like it, I never even thought about it. I just did it because I felt like it was needed. I think the point I was trying to make here is that in all of our interactions with eachother, even with legislators, we certainly weren't ripping each other like I see so much of today. Today, I refer to the conservative side of this phenomenon as the “Neo-liberty” movement.
In this new movement, many of us have tried to interject but are often chastised for it as if somehow what we possessed was worthless to anyone. I was even told recently that if we had been more successful in our activism, we wouldn't need these people to come in and do what they think we couldn't. Who says that? As far as inconsistency goes, I would ask, at least to myself, why did they move from where they came from if they couldn't fix the state they left? Silly "conservatives."
With all of the infighting between parties and within that parties, globalism is ripping through Idaho like I have never seen, while most are focusing on single issues that to me pale in comparison to what I see as greater priorities. Now I could be judgemental here and could be wrong, for which I would enjoy being corrected. I know if they read this post for example, they could become offended but if they knew me well enough, they would know it isn't about offending anyone at all, it is about sharing what I see for what it is worth. I would and do say it whether it be appreciated or not, and to a friend or not, I wasn't going refrain from saying what I felt if it wouldn't be for the betterment of us all. If I didn't say it, and was condemned for it, wouldn't these people be more guilty of group think and restrictions on freedom of speech rather than promoting it? What does history have to say about this?
I have always tried to share consistent "subtle" reminders to let people know that there is something else far bigger coming and we had better be prepared for it. I often wonder if enough will ever see it? If they did see it would they stand and fight or cower in a corner because the ginorminity overwhelmes them? Sadly, in my experience, one big reason people won't engage isn't because they may not know, it is because they won't do anything because they don't know what to do in the face of it all or that is what they say. The question plaguing my soul is are they asking me what to do or are they asking thinking I have no answers that would further justify them not having to do anything? If I told them, would they listen? In my experience, not so far.
Do people not recognize the seriousness of what is happening to we "Patriots" here in Idaho? Do they realize these things are happening around the globe in such a well-oiled concerted action? Do they not understand that if there is a creation, there must be a creator? Do they not understand who they are, what they want and why? DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND THIS IS NOT ONLY A WAR FOR THE SOULS OF AMERICA BUT THE SOULS OF MEN AROUND THE GLOBE? My question is if they know why it is that many of us seem to only operate in our circle of influence? If we claim to be Christians, and we love God and our neighbor as ourselves, are we really seriously asking who our neighbor is?
This war won't be won by the few that have been in the trenches, it will be done by those that have worked in the trenches that are working hard to awaken others that are still asleep going to where they are, not expecting them to come to us.
It's not like all of the issues we are focusing are not important, they are, but to me it’s like you have a flat tire and your house is on fire and the baby is crying and wondering what to do first when it is up to you to take care of all of them. All issues are certainly important but if we were all taught when we were young to "create and stick to your priorities," and we are adhering that age-old advice, would we better understand the issues and be more capable of prioritizing them?
The sad part of it all is that if we are honest, we still spend so much time kowtowing because we don't want to offend and as a result the truth never comes out like it should because people rarely say what they mean anymore and all the while our country is still going to Hell.
The fact is, I don't condemn anyone working for what they think is important, what I have a hard time with is people’s inability to seem to be able to prioritize or maybe its just me that sees it that way. My point is if we go through life not seeing and focusing on root causes, are we not part of the problem rather than the solution?
This may sound rude and aggressive but there is a tidal wave coming and more people than not want to grab the suntan lotion and an icy beverage or bury their heads in sports. Has anyone told these men, for example, that they don't need to watch the war on television, their time to engage is NOW? Truth be told, many of these men know way more about the stats of their players than they do about anything related to civics and current events. Doesn't anyone find this concerning?
I have given almost 20 years of my life to this to help bring awareness to our most awful situation and if I am not able to change the hearts and minds of the people, our family and yours will be subject to the consequences of the apathetic, ignorant or short-sighted. Why should we accept this when our nation is at War? Shall the sacrifices made by men before us be made in vain while the ignorant, apathetic and busy squander what they were given? And yet, no one holds these people accountable either? "Oh, Tom, they have the freedom to do what they want to, let them be." Well, isn't that nice, I am told people get to choose to do what they want to do because they have the freedom to do it but they don't have to fight so that our posterity has that same freedom?
The most burdensome question isn't necessarily how to educate others and have them listen, although that is an issue, but how one conveys a message like this without seeming arrogant and condemning of others? A response I had from a friend was related to a quote in Mark about a Prophet not being trusted in his own home. I am certainly not a prophet but I do think that this quote includes people seeing things that others don't see and being disregarded by them for seeing it. We certainly have had no problem redefining God, his Scriptures, our Founder’s, The Constitution and even life itself, why would this be any different?
“Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honour.”…he was amazed at their lack of faith' (Mark 6:1-6)..
I was asked most recently, if I would rather be right and indignant or try to make friends. I responed by saying that I felt that we were at war on several levels, not so much a war of some distant enemy and even not as much against a global enemy (although both are major threats) but the real war is one of absolute apathy. We should know it is easier to win if we acknowledge and recognize the enemy but almost impossible if one can't or wont. If we won't, are we worthy of freedom or doing the work of the enemy?
We are at War! "They" have declared it against us and to act or speak to anyone regardless of what they think they know in any way less than what it is would be dishonest, dishonorable, deceptive, deceitful and un-American.
Do you know who they are? You better, They are coming for you.
My most earnest prayer is for The Father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to use us as He will to do His will, whether it be to awaken others, to redirect us where we can be better utilized or perhaps, He already has us right where He wants us to suffer as others did. Either way, I willingly admit I am still a thin-skinned man, really built more to love than fight but if I must fight it is only because my love for freedom far outweighs my love of self.
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