People do not voluntarily give up their freedoms unless they are afraid.
–Dan Bongino
Becky and I have done many self-driving tours in our travels. We’ve driven around Spain, Ireland and Scotland to name just a few. Driving in foreign countries like Guatemala, Slovakia and Hungary, where English is not the primary language, is even more challenging than driving in New Zealand, Canada or the United States. However, driving in Atlanta is not for sissies. It is as demanding as traffic navigation in Rome, Italy.
New England is beautiful in the fall, especially when seen from the car or on foot. Few would argue that one’s perspective is different from a bus window rather than a car. I’ve driven the road from Stockbridge to Boston which is poignantly and beautifully described in James Taylor’s 1970s song “Sweet Baby James.”
Stockbridge, Massachusetts is the home of The Norman Rockwell Museum which should be on everyone’s bucket list. Rockwell’s Americana-style paintings are well known, though possibly not to gen X, Y, Z. Rockwell’s depiction of the Four Freedoms done in 1943 was inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech of 1941. FDR said that a free people had freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want and lastly freedom from fear. So, how are we doing eighty years later?
When I used to do medical lectures, I often began by showing a painting relevant to the topic that I was presenting. I used this as a “hook” to gain the attention of the audience by appealing to the curiosity of medical people who expected graphs and data charts, rather than a Norman Rockwell or Picasso painting. And as Keats once penned, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever and will never pass into nothingness.” Perhaps college courses on art appreciation and English 101 stuck with me.
Years ago, while driving home on Alcoa Highway, I spotted a bumper sticker that read, “I never used my civil liberties, anyway.” Alcoa Highway is Knoxville’s equivalent of Nascar and interrupting people traveling to or from Blount County sometimes provokes offense. The two women in the car apparently took umbrage of me moving into the left lane to turn and flipped me off as they passed. I was more stunned by their leftist bumper sticker rather than their crassness, which actually was in keeping with their sloven appearance. Leftists live among us and we must be courageous and resist them. Anti-American Marxists, who masquerade as progressive socialist Democrats, must be recognized, called out and defeated rather than appeased.
Recently, Becky and I went for pizza with friends and I recognized the famous painting by American artist George Bellows, depicting the Jack Dempsey heavyweight bout. I use this as an example because I similarly recognize the attacks leftists are using to destroy America.
Have you ever seen something only after it is pointed out to you? I notice trees, but as a trained internist I also notice when things are different or deviate from the expected. Years ago, I noticed an unusual tree, but after “seeing” the tree I began to observe alanthia trees everywhere.
In Genesis 28, a story is told of Jacob alone in a wilderness. He went to sleep and dreamed about a stairway extending to heaven and he then heard God’s voice. All of us dream, but mostly my dreams are nonsensical. Jacob awakened from what I presume was an unusual and visionary encounter and exclaimed, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” I use these examples to draw your attention not to trees or dream analysis, but to call attention to the manipulation’s leftists and their useful idiot sycophants are using to destroy America. It is my hope that once one’s awareness is raised, it will be recognized everywhere.
We now live in what Nigel Farage calls “the virus of Marxism.” Under the aegis of Covid fear, the freedom of speech is under assault by the cancel culture, political correctness and Big Tech censorship of non-orthodox opinions. Our freedom to worship is systematically being suppressed by government restrictions, mask and vaccine mandates and the scornful secularist media which fan the flames of fear. You can be assured that the pandemic will never end as long as Fauci and iPOTUS can use fear to promote their power at the expense of We the People.
Only a blind person would fail to see that the Democrats and the Grinch-in-Chief have caused shortages, inflation, rising costs, devaluation of the currency, a border catastrophe, the Afghanistan disaster and has furthered racial division, class warfare and promoted educational indoctrination. We are distracted by the ruse of toxic masculinity which demands boys be girls and LGBTQ activism which demands we replace science and nature with gender identity. Our enemies have no regard for iPOTUS or the Pentagon’s woke generals. Possibly, the only saving grace is that Russia and China will wait for the leftists and faux Democrats to destroy us from within.
Hopefully, Americans are waking up to what their eyes tell them rather than CNN and the Washington ruling class’s spin. I can tell you that there is no such thing as consensus in science, and if you hear this spouted, it is a lie. And I have learned something else in this pandemic: there is no such thing as an authority any longer. You should avoid those who promote themselves as experts or proclaim they are the face and voice of science.
I hope Americans will begin to see the manipulations of the left and realize their destructive goals. I pray that Americans have the courage to stand forth and say No! to progressive socialists. Do not surrender your freedoms and be locked down again as is happening in Australia. Lockdowns didn’t work the first time against the virus and it won’t work the next time, except to lessen our freedom and produce incalculable collateral damage.
We should use common sense, good hygiene, avoid crowds, get vaccinated if you have risk factors, stay home if you’re sick and use a mask if you want to. And remember, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (FDR 1933).
