Know Your Enemy

Conservatives the time has come to identify our enemies. Our enemies might not be who you think they are. They may not work where you think they work. When I sat down and really considered who my enemies were I found some very surprising results.

Why should you care who your enemies are? Well as Sun Tzu so plainly said it in the 6th century BC:

“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

I’m not suggesting in any way that we should be taking up arms against people in this country. That is not what this is about. There are a great many ways to have influence over an enemy that has nothing to do with a firearm or weapon. What I am suggesting however is that we be vigilant, watchful and forever cognizant of the things, ideas and people that threaten our country, our way of life and ultimately our children, grand children and even great grand children.

What I have to say is not popular. That’s ok I’m not trying to win a popularity contest. I think if more of our leaders (and I use that term loosely) felt that way we would have some amazing men and women to follow. To steal the sentiment from a saying in the Marines I think what we have now are managers, not leaders. A leader leads people and manages problems. A manager manages people in hopes they don’t become a problem. Our leadership has far too long treated us, the voters, and their constituents as a problem. The fact of the matter is that people are seldom the problem, but rather a symptom of a problem.

Many Conservatives would tell you that their enemies are Democrats and Republicans. That they look a whole lot like people named Obama, Pelosi, Frankin and Geihtner. They might say that they are anyone who takes power from people and gives it to the government. These things and people may all be enemies of Conservatism and Conservative values, but I think they are just the faces of what Conservatives have allowed to happen over the past 15 years.

After much consideration I have come to realize my true enemies are compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality and the elite. At first I thought these were just words and never really thought about the detriment that is caused by these words. None of them alone has great power. None of them have a shock and awe capability, but what they do have is the ability over time to erode. Slowly weakening those people, ideas, values, etc that they come into contact with. So from now I will be vigilant of these enemies and will not succumb to their force. No longer will I:

• Compromise myself and values the sake of making sure we all get along. It is perfectly ok to consider my values as a key component in decision making.

• Conform to an idea or movement just because everyone else thinks its a good idea. Just because a voice or group of voices are louder DOES NOT MAKE THEM RIGHT.

• Assimilate into any organization that does not have my core values at its base.

• Submit to a government that treats me as a source of revenue as opposed to a living, breathing person.

• Be Ignorant of issues ongoing in my government. No longer is "not knowing" and not being involved an acceptable excuse. We have to educate ourselves and learn the facts and challenge our government.

• Allow hypocrisy in my presence. The Constitution was written for all men and we are all equal. The Congress, Senate, White House, ect does not get a free pass on this one.

• Accept brutality. Shouting down ideas, people and groups is not ok. Our forefathers wanted us to debate issues at length NOT force feed ideas to people. Discussion and honest debate are required on all issues.

• Consider the elite just as the rich. How can the government point fingers at the rich without also considering themselves in that number?

These enemies use their power to undermine me and my voice every chance they are given. They try to convince me that I am powerless, that I am weak and cannot stand against their Goliath. They try to convince me that a little compromise never hurt anyone and is for the greater good, when the truth is with every ounce of compromise we lose a pound of flesh to underwrite the debt that is created. They refuse to debate and discuss topics and shout down anyone who attempts to refute anything they have to say. They rely on the ignorance and lack of drive of most American's to quietly usurp power from the masses.

So how do you fight an enemy without a name or face? Two words, D E F I A N C E and E D U C A T I O N. Defy those that tell teach the ideas of compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality and the elite. Educate yourself. READ, listen to many different news outlets NOT just those on main stream media, don't accept everything you hear as fact, recognize every news outlet has an agenda.

So yes I know my enemies. I know they are not who I originally thought they were. I realize my enemies can be dealt with. I recognize my lack of patience for complacence is one of the most catastrophic weapons to my enemies. Me taking action, being an active participant in the quest for truth and using my voice as a candle to light the room of darkness and ignorance is the first step.

I realize a lot of this sounds radical if not alien to most Conservatives. We by our nature are a bit more passive about most things. We are not typically the ones in a crowd with our fist raised demanding action. I assure you we don't need permission to be sick of complacency. Action must be taken.

Giving credit where credit is due again, I have to thank Rage Against The Machine and their song Know Your Enemy for the inspiration this week. I know Zack De la Rocha never wrote this song with the inkling that it would be used by a Conservative as inspiration, for that Zack I am sorry. I have to say though that even though we may have different issues in mind the sentiment fits either way.