THE EFFECTIVE PATRIOT

I wrote this on March 9th and sat on it because I found myself confronting my own human nature and the internal struggle of living up to what I know to be true. Sometimes reacting with anger is simply the way we would like to go because venting offers a type of relief. The effective patriot must cultivate a paradoxical and counterintuitive mindset.

It's not about blaming ourselves, it's about empowerment. The area of maximum effectiveness in the universe I inhabit is the attitudes and thoughts I allow in my own mind. If I change me, if I draw that line in the sand and take a stand, I change the whole world. I am powerless to enforce change in others, but I am mighty if I am willing to persuade with example and forthright and effective communication.

We change the world one person, one mind at a time and the easiest place to start is with ourselves. This is not irrelevant psychobabble; it is the real world in practice.

As I become better informed, I have more to share. As I practice tolerance, not of the victim doormat variety, but in a gentle teacher mode, I influence. I do not compel. As the old saying goes, a mind changed against its will is of the same opinion still.

The goal is to help others have that “Ah-Ha” experience. We are enablers in the sense that we want to see the smile that reflects the dawning of the light of truth. This does not happen with a bludgeon. It happens when you realize that in possessing the truth, you have the cookie and if you offer it properly, in the end, eventually, everybody wants the cookie. You don’t force feed it. You offer it. If someone isn’t ready: NEXT! You have better things to do than to pee into the wind.

Passion is a must but if we forget that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we fail to notice when our passion is received as anger or nagging and rather than an open mind, our approach causes others to raise their defenses. Likewise, we need to accept that there are many who are entrenched in their views. Don’t waste your time. Find someone who is hungry.

Obviously, as conservatives we believe that liberals are standing in quicksand, their wagons are hauling emotional baggage, their minds are darkened by a plethora of baseless opinions disengaged from fact, and if they are among the elite, they alone can claim to be a member of the rare and pure among us who can get up from the morning throne and swear to the presence of the fragrance of lilacs as they lift their trousers.

But the ordinary run of the mill liberal is usually a misinformed but well intentioned and otherwise decent human being who just happens to be wrong. Since the mind expanding awareness of Obama’s pathologies has crept into the consciousness of the voting public, many of them have internalized a sense of unease and can smell the rot.

No one wants to be wrong. None of us part easily with our cherished beliefs, but most of us will keep one eye open to find the door that leads to a new comfort zone if our foundations are shaken.

Make no mistake about it. The liberal next door is probably one of the many sleeping Americans who have simply surrendered unwittingly to the programming of the Progressive elites and their liberal media cohorts. In the right circumstances, free from peer pressure, if offered the cookie and not the stick, they’ll sneak a nibble.

Think about it, a mind starved of truth, swallowing mental swill from the pigsty of liberalism. How can they not be hungry? How long can you eat poison and not get an upset stomach? Set it up, watch for the smile cause, baby, that nibble of the truth cookie tastes good. It satisfies.

I start with me. You start with you. We find someone hungry. We share a delicacy with them: truth, served on a platter of resolute determination, garnished with kindness, tempered with understanding. After all who among us has not overslept or pressed the snooze button more than once? I’m not talking phony Pollyanna pleasant here, but you don’t make an ally out of an enemy.

For the love of God don’t jam a funnel down their throat and unload a fifty pound bag of cookie dough in it. They WILL throw up and run like hell. Bring them along. Offer them reading, websites, social media. Try to share compelling information and insights in smaller doses.

Stay away from the deep edged fringe when you talk to someone you want to win to liberty’s cause, even if you’re convinced that you have uncovered the ultimate truth, because the uninitiated will not relate to you and will not be able to overcome their suspicion that you are a fruitcake and are a danger to the world as they perceive it. Their eyes will glaze over, they will internally shut you down, and they will back away.

And for the record, ff you tell me you don’t care about that, then you’re a jaded fool and I guarantee you’re a liability to the cause of freedom, not an asset. I am repulsed by arrogance because it plays into the enemy’s hands.

Stick to core values and principles based on our country’s Founding documents. I remember always that I am a sovereign man under God and so is the person I’m talking to even if we disagree. And offer something really radical: patience and non judgmental friendship. It’s the first step to becoming an effective Patriot.

You do it one person at a time. Steadfastly, you move on to the next. Now you’re changing the world.

Tags: Obama, culture, freedom, liberalism, patriot, truth

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Comment by Rick Larke on March 21, 2011 at 2:02pm: But I must also admit that I don't speed sometimes because the cost of the ticket is too high.

Comment by Rick Larke on March 21, 2011 at 1:56pm: Nicely said. Good advice.

Comment by USARogue on March 20, 2011 at 5:47pm: "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan

Comment by David J Edwards on March 20, 2011 at 5:40pm: Roland C. Cartier Jr.

If you and I ever got together around Washington DC or a state capital, it could be both fun and dangerous. We could have a lot of laughs, but we might also get beat up once in a while by gangs of outraged, sanctimonious Liberals with purses. Some might even be female.

Comment by Roland C. Cartier Jr on March 20, 2011 at 4:55pm: David J. Edwards, Please let the fun begin. These people can't figure out what really creates jobs do you think they will figure that out? Wow! I would love to drive them absolutely out of their minds. Kudos to this brainstorm I'm sure we could conjure up some more boondoggles for these primates. These bookworms don't have what it takes after all they don't know what hard toil is!

Comment by David J Edwards on March 20, 2011 at 3:15pm: Roland C. Cartier Jr
In Athens, Greece about 2,400 years ago, Socrates taught Plato by using guided questions designed to lead the student to find Truth on his own, so he would better remember it. Plato taught with speeches and writings and got fussed at by Diogenes who fussed with almost everbody. Diogenes was the guy who walked around with a lamp in the daytime saying he was "searching for an honest man". Diogenes was not ahead of his time. His dilemma was universal.

Wouldn't it be fun if Tea Party people tried teaching like Socrates, writing like Plato, and carrying a lamp whenever we are near politicians?

We could probably skip the part about wearing togas but the lamp would drive Liberals crazy as they tried to figure it out..

Comment by Roland C. Cartier Jr on March 20, 2011 at 2:05pm: Wasn't that some kind of Plato idea? Greek right?

Comment by Charles Breitweiser on March 20, 2011 at 1:52pm: Thanks for posting that article so succintly. I can only add something regarding the art of persuasion. This was more or less perfected by Socrates with what is known as the "Socratic Method". Socrates understood that a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. He would ask the person a series of questions that eventually brought the person to contradict himself, then he would point out. "But in the beginning you stated ____. How can you justify it if you also believe ______." This creates a confusion in their mind and makes it more likely they will achieve that AHA moment. There are the entrenched liberals who are so demoralized and emotionally attached to their opinion that they will refuse and disagree with you, their AHA moment wont arrive just then. You have to leave them with an internal conflict that will eat away at the lies they've believed in, it will take days or weeks for them to have the AHA moment. I find the Socratic method works best with young voters 18-28. I would begin by asking, "Did you read the constitution?" If they say no, I respond with, "If you dont know yor rights, you dont have any. Do you think its long and hard to understand?" Usually I get a response with excuses. Then I reply, "It is a simple document written for regular people, and its not long at all. How many rights do you think you have?" I usually get some kind of ignorant reply. To that I say, "You only have 3 rights, Life, Liberty, and the persuit of happiness. And who do you believe gives you those rights?" Sometimkes they reply, The Constitution, or the Government. Then I ask, "If someone were trying to hurt you, what gives you the right to defend yourself?" or, "What gives you the right to hunt, and gather food and shelter for your survival?" Im tryin to get them to understand their rights are given by natural law, which is their creator. When I get them to admit their rights come from nature, I steal a quote from the Declaration of Independence, "It becomes time for the people to assume the powers of the earth,to which the laws of nature and of natures God entitle them. Which simply means your 3 rights come from God. Governments are created to protect those 3 rights, and that is the main purpose of our government." then I ask, "Do you know the constitution is the only legal contract to protect you from becoming a slave to the governemt? The constitution lists the powers of the government, and it limits what they can do to you? Do you know the government is breaking the law by reaching into every part of your life, which goes far beyond their enumerated powers in the constitution? It is up to the people to prosecute them for breaking the law. This is why we have elections. So we can throw them out for violating their oath of office." By now I either have the AHA monemt, or they flatly disagree and walk away with that internal conflict.

Comment by Roland C. Cartier Jr on March 20, 2011 at 1:33pm: Larry, My Sentiments exactly I been trying desperately for people to read the our founding fathers document in the 5 dollar seek and you shall find pocket version for quite some time.

Comment by Larry Cumbie on March 20, 2011 at 1:19pm: If there is any truth to the observations made by the punditry-at-large, there is a grain of truth in the conclusion that the mentality of the Arab-in-the-street has changed.There is a whiff of democracy wafting through Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Iran and, perhaps soon, Saudi Arabia itself. What a blow to Liberalism IF that be true! Why is that a blow to Liberalism? Because Liberalism is all about the Nanny State where there is no democracy or individual freedom. It worries me that the "punditry" has been talking so much about the state of mind of the average Japanese on the street. Why are they so accepting of their current fate? Because they are fatalists. Some of our pundits see that as a GOOD thing as opposed to the average 9th warder reacting to Katrina. "Stick to core values and principles based on our country's Founding documents" is great advice.

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