Reason for Confidence

As we witness the continuing onslaught of the left’s efforts to dismantle America’s heritage of individual freedom under God, many of us are bracing for a likely effort to silence conservative talk radio, which is the voice of freedom to this age.

We know there is a First Amendment right to free speech that should put an end to the left’s efforts before they even get started, yet we also know there is no limit to the left’s willingness to lie, distort and pervert our freedoms in the name of enforcing compliance to the tyranny of their godless, truthless, intolerance. Senator Charles Schumer of New York has likened conservative talk radio—the voice of freedom to this age—to pornography. Schumer’s monumental arrogance masks a very sick man, and it is a sick society that would elect such a man to be a Senator. But we digress.

Reading through the American Patriot’s Almanac (a great book by Bill Bennett and John T.E. Cribb), we came across this story of Susan B. Anthony—a woman at the forefront of the women’s suffrage movement in the 1800’s. Ms. Anthony relentlessly worked to overturn the injustice of laws that treated women as second-class citizens. She gave speeches throughout the country and, according to the story reported in the Almanac, she was often shouted down by angry mobs and pelted with rotten eggs.

She took it upon herself to vote in the 1872 presidential election (though women did not have the right to vote), and within two weeks was arrested for having done so. At her trial—in the United States of America—she was ordered by the judge not to speak, found guilty, and fined $100. She refused to pay.

Fourteen years after her death, America amended its Constitution to provide women the right to vote, and since then, America has been the world’s leader in the development of women’s rights.

In the Brushfires’ worldview, there is a divine truth behind the equality of the sexes. This truth is actually embedded in the Declaration of Independence—that all men (meaning all men and women) are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights—but, just as with slavery, it took some time before we as Americans were able to grow into a higher understanding of this truth.

In our era, the idea of individual freedom and responsibility under God is under massive, organized, deliberate assault by, among others, George Soros and other leaders of the radical left, including Barack Obama. They are trying to incite mob reaction in opposition to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others, and they will find some elected representatives, bureaucrats, and maybe even a few judges to issue pronouncements, regulations or orders in an effort to shut them down.

But demonizing Limbaugh is an increasingly transparent tactic; the real agenda is to silence dissent, and in particular, to intimidate into silence those who revere faith in God and love of freedom. This is in some ways the most deadly assault America has faced, because ironically, the victims are not so easily recognized, as was the case with slavery and women’s rights. The victims of this assault are, really, all of mankind. The assault seeks to take away individuality, freedom, and faith in God, and replace it with collectivism, group identity, and allegiance and servitude to government elitism.

But here’s the reason for confidence: the same divine truth and power that was behind the overturning of slavery and the overturning of unjust treatment of women is behind the ideal of individual freedom and responsibility under God. And it will prevail. How long it will take to prevail may not be predictable, but that it will prevail is an absolute certainty.

The good news is that there are millions of Americans and others around the world who are wide awake to what is going on; to the nature of this latest assault on American ideals, and to the call to protect and defend them. Every day emails and other modern-day messages of Paul Revere are sounding warnings, and the people are responding and will respond. Susan B. Anthony was on the right side of American ideals, and so are the players in conservative talk radio and the American patriots who love God and love freedom. She prevailed; so will they.

Paul Gable

Posted February 17, 2009