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Writing
Rightly
I
am driven to write -- partly as a form of self
expression, but mostly in defense of values
threatened by secular humanists and totalitarian
jihadists.
I
started writing my "Closure for 2006"
piece from a York/Poquoson audience to all of
God’s Country. Then, I stopped. It was just too
pedestrian and predictable: Republicans
lost... conservatives are doing fine, especially
in the South... more work to be done. Yada, yada.
Then, I wondered, if what I have to say is so
repetitive, maybe it’s worth mentioning why I
write -- why I write what I write.
When
I was 12 years old I was waiting at a bus stop at
Fontenot Army Base, France, to go home from the
movies. The wind was blowing snow horizontally in
front of the bus head lights in great swirls. I
thought how beautiful and interesting that was. I
decided I’d like to be able to describe that to
other people. How would I say it in written words?
From
age 12 to age 51 I wrote for school, a college
magazine, work and myself. I wrote notebooks full
of scraps of paper, literally whenever a thought,
Eric Hoffer-like, revealed itself to me.
Eventually, I wrote a novel, which is in its final
pre-printing review this week. I wrote too much
bad poetry. I imagined in the mid-90s that my
pithy statements were like Samuel
Johnson’s 18th century, long witty writings, but
I couldn't figure out how to package them. Of
couse, I’m no Samuel Johnson.
Then,
the Islamists attacked on 9-11. I wrote an op ed
that captured the essence of what, in my mind, was
happening and what was going to happen: "One
Front: Two Wars." I sent it as many
places as I could find on the Internet. It got
some legs, good feedback, and made me consider
writing regularly. So, I began composing op-eds.
While
I was working on Army "Futures" in my
day job, I considered how those futures applied to
the U.S. and Virginia. I submitted several of my
Virginia-focused ideas to Jim Bacon for
publication. I’m a creative, idea guy looking
for answers. I was very grateful to join Jim’s
team on the e-zine and the blog – which is
policy-based, not politically and partisan
focused.
Yes,
I’m a political partisan offering a perspective
on policy solutions to our common ground – the
Commonwealth of Virginia. But I’m not carrying
water for a team. I’m carrying a flame for
ideas. I burn with passion for what I think is
right. That is why I get my hands dirty in
partisan politics. Many of Virginia’s
politicians, of both parties, are described in The
Bible and Shakespeare as men who seek power for
themselves first and foremost. Our Virginia
Cassius may not be so lean, but he has that hungry
eye for self-service. Few have new or better
ideas.
I
write about ideas to inform. Mayhaps to persuade.
Our
nation is at a unique place in history. There are
metaphors that capture some of the dynamics but
not all of the details. With the fall of Soviet
communism and its empire in 1991, we were like
Rome after the defeat of Carthage. We had defeated
the second great, threatening totalitarianism of
the 20th Century. We had destroyed its ideas, too,
except among Western fools and vicious dictators
like Castro and Kim Jung-Il. Washington, D.C., is
the New Rome and Virginia will change because of
it.
A
new totalitarianism, an outgrowth of a
historically bloody religion spread by the sword
from its outset, struck the U.S. in 1993 at the
World Trade Center. In case we didn’t get the
point of the sword, the Islamists slashed again
with hijacked civilian airplanes on 9-11. Now,
Islam, if not the Islamist ideology, is conquering
Europe. Invading Muslim immigrants have the will
to produce babies, unlike Socialist Human
Secularist Europeans, so the Muslims will rule the
democracies by default in short decades – unless
Christianity revives across Europe. Muslim rule
with the Sharia is the union of mosque and state.
A new, deeper dark age will cover Europe if the
Muslims conquer.
The
conflict to hunt down and kill the Islamists is
the Long, Long War. I call it WW IV. (The Cold War
was WW III). Containing Islam until the Muslims
have a Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment,
and Great Awakenings to bring them – and their
ideas – from the 13th Century into the 21st is
important. Contending with Islam in the
marketplace of ideas with the Good News of Jesus
Christ, where there is freedom of speech and
religion, is important. Until the ideas lose their
currency with people who are willing to kill for
them, we will be at War with that totalitarianism.
Not a nation-state, but a people who believe in
ideas that make them hate us.
An
apt metaphor is our Indian Wars from 1608-1890.
Two cultures that can’t co-exist in the same
place and time. Only one wins.
Such
a culture war is precisely what is happening
across our country. Two opposing worldviews
support two different cultures for one American
Civilization and one Nation and one Commonwealth
of Virginia. Only one wins. Our KulturKampf may be
decided wholly in the marketplace of ideas, with
the victory expressed in peaceful elections.
Let’s pray so.
Just
as the Wahabi strain of Islam started in the 19th
Century among the Sunnis and grew to be a monster,
so did secular humanism grow from the French
Revolution and spread throughout the West. Much
to the ire of liberals, I point out that their
worldview is actually a modern paganism. They are
indirect descendants of Baal and Asheroth who
worship the god of the small ‘g’ “self”.
Liberals,
with their secular temples in Massachusetts, can
trace their political culture of absolutism,
arrogance and intolerance back to the religious
Puritans. Contrast them to the
"Cavaliered"
live-and-let-live-now-y’all Christianity of
Virginia. No one can fight like our Scot-Irish and
Old Dominion Tidewater (intertwined with their
black fraternal twin) sub-cultures in Virginia in
defense of family, faith or freedom when
threatened. But we are lousy about leaving home
for too long to push ourselves on other people.
The
Liberals can dispute the theology angle, but they
should acknowledge that the U.S. consensus culture
split in the 1920s and ruptured in the 1960s. A
classic example is the War on CHRISTmas in our
schools, government, businesses and media.
Removing the cross from a building built as a
Christian chapel at the College of William and
Mary is another hard punctuation to the truth of
the conflict.
The
new Virginians, legal and illegal immigrants, will
take sides in this culture war. The Christians
from Latin America and Asia may trend conservative
and support the traditional, historical
Judeo-Christian world view and culture for our
common future. Those who become secular or
consider their religion the opponent of the
Christians and Jews will support the liberals.
Anyone who sees himself as part of group more than
an individual will track liberal.
Freedom
and opportunity hang in the balance. Both sides
think they support the same objectives of more
freedom and more opportunity. But at every level
of detail below the shining vision of goodness,
there are stark opposing differences. There is no
moderate middle ground, no bridge, no compromise
in the ideas. There is plenty to share in our
humanity -- to love dogs, to cheer for the Wahoos
or Hokies, or root for the Redskins. But, only one
culture can command our Civilization.
Either
we have a culture of national exceptionalism –
we have a Munificent Destiny -- or we are subjects
of the U.N. Either a culture of life from its
conception to natural death, or not. Either a
culture of shaped by Judeo-Christian thought for
family, right and wrong, morality and ethics, or
one made up as we go along with situational
ethics. Either a culture that has learned from the
sins of the past – slavery, segregation and
racism -- or one that institutionalizes the racism
of "diversity" and multiculturalism.
Either a culture that honors history for how it
enriches the present, or one that hates history,
suppressing the Confederate memories en route to
culturally-cleansing the Christian heritage.
Either a culture that is capitalist, or one that
is socialist. Either a culture that welcomes new
Virginians as individuals or one that demands
group identity.
I
see this fundamental struggle in the ideas in
conflict in many, not all, issues. Forgive me for
using the short hand of conservative vs. liberal
and liberal human secularist vs Judeo-Christian
labels so much. This is the forest that defines
the trees.
When
left and right can come together to fix
transportation, clean the Bay and the environment,
improve education, create jobs, provide security
through illness, old age and economic insecurity,
ensure public safety, etc. then all the better for
all Virginians. When we can’t, it’s probably
because of the conflicting ideas lurking in the
issues.
This
is a thumbnail of why I write what I write. I can
explain the lineage of my ideas, the growth of my
ideas through reading, listening, and thinking –
and living life. But, I’ve rambled enough. Merry
CHRISTmas. Happy Channukah. Happy New Year. May
the Year of our Lord, 2007, be blessed for you.
--
December 18, 2006
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