Taking America Back, for real

Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series on the failure of conservatism as an ideology for moving America forward with a positive agenda for expanding freedom and reviving morality and restoring justice.

When I wrote my last book, “Taking America Back,” to be perfectly honest, Republicans weren’t really excited about it.

After all, Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress.

They believed they had already taken America back.

Only now are many of them awakening to the realization that freedom-loving, moral people have actually lost ground during the last six years with Republicans in control of the legislative and executive branches of government.

I expected this. I predicted it. In fact, I wrote in “Taking America Back” that this would happen even if Republicans controlled every seat in the House of Representatives and Senate and the White House.

There are several reasons for this:

 

• Most Republicans do not honor and revere and abide by the Constitution;

   

• Most Republicans are not committed to rolling back the advances of socialism and immorality that have overtaken the country over the last 50 years of American history;

   

• Even if most Republicans were committed to such a goal, the courts and America’s key cultural institutions are actively pushing another agenda and slowly, inevitably changing the hearts and minds of the people to accept un-American values of collectivism and moral relativism.

In my last column, I addressed some of the shortcomings of “conservatism” as an agenda for positive change. Naturally, people want to know what the alternative is. As I am so often asked, “Farah, if you’re not a conservative, what are you?”

It’s a good question.

And here’s my answer: I am an American still very much in love with the founding principles of this great and unique country. I don’t think there is a one-word description for that other than the one, perhaps, used by the founders themselves – “patriot.” But there is no need for one-word answers. One-word slogans do not move people. If they did, socialism would not be advancing because few Americans identify with it. If they did, immorality would not be advancing because few Americans identify with it.

Nor is the goal to build a new political party or organization designed to impact elections.

What conservative activists need to understand – because they are good people who need to be involved in the constructive process of moving the country forward – is that politicians follow; they do not lead.

It’s up to the conservative activists to reorient themselves, reinvent themselves, rename themselves in light of the political and social and cultural realities of the 21st century.

Ronald Reagan was a wonderful man. He’s one of my heroes. He was a blessing to this country and the world because he momentarily slowed down the trend toward tyranny and immorality. But he’s dead and gone. There are no more Ronald Reagans on the horizon, as far as I can see.

We can learn much from him. But even if another Reagan did come along, we must recognize that there are no political messiahs who can revive freedom, morality and justice in America. At best, they can only help us.

Most of that work needs to be done outside the political arena – way outside. It needs to be done in our homes, in our neighborhoods, n our communities, in our churches and synagogues, in our cultural institutions.

It’s great that we learned from Ronald Reagan and were inspired by him; now it’s time to learn from our adversaries who are inexorably advancing their causes daily – in election years and non-election years.

How do they do it?

They’ve won the culture. That’s the ultimate battleground. It’s the Ho Chi Minh trail to political power.

Also, and even more importantly, we need to learn from our Founding Fathers. We need to look to their example. Need I remind you, there was not a “conservative” among them. These men were risk-takers. They were willing to try something that had never been tried before in the history of mankind. They were truly revolutionaries – not in the subversive way we think of revolutionaries today, but in the best sense of the word, like the prophets of old who were willing to challenge the establishment even if it meant their deaths.

The old paradigms are breaking down.

They never had much meaning for the great majority of people anyway.

Most people do not give much thought to politics.

Those of us who do, and who understand its importance, need more effective ways to reach them, communicate with them, persuade them about right and wrong and the ultimate issues of life.

Editor’s note: If what Farah is saying resonates with you, consider taking a fresh look – of perhaps a first look – at his latest book, “Taking America Back.”