If you want something done right, do it yourself.
If our civilization does fall, it won’t be because the ingredients for national renewal weren’t there. Our people remain the most able, intelligent, creative, and hardworking in the world. The true measure of a nation is its people, and in that regard, the caliber of the American people is still unsurpassed.
Yet there is one fault in the people at large that is allowing the slide into civilizational decline, and that is a deep inertia which has taken root among so much of the populace, including within right-wing America.
American conservatism is strongly tied to Christianity, yet there’s a hint of idolatry to the degree to which many conservatives hunger and thirst for big national leaders to be their savior.
Look at how conservatives rallied around President Donald Trump. There was good reason to be enthusiastic about his candidacy and presidency, sure. He verbalized many of the real issues facing America that, for so long, the political class refused to even acknowledge. And he did so in a brash way that suggested the willingness to take on the inevitable opposition from the powerful forces of the Deep State.
But a good chunk of the support for Trump has turned into hero worship — placing him on a pedestal and believing that he can do no wrong.
The apex of the mythicization of Donald Trump was the QAnon phenomenon, which for years was a potent cultural force in this country. And even as it has largely dispersed due to the long train of “prophecies” that never came true, Q still has his true believers energetically assuring everyone who will listen that Trump will be back in office any day now.
It sounds as if they’re describing the Second Coming of Jesus Christ — any moment, the military will activate “The Storm” and they will round up the entire cabal and its puppets (the Clintons, the Obamas, Soros) and put them in prison.
Or, according to some QAnon folks, these high-profile traitors are already in Guantanamo and Trump is already back in the White House, masquerading as Biden.
We’re not exactly sure why Trump would be continuing the leftist agenda while in Washington as a fake Biden, but it doesn’t have to make sense — that belief is a coping mechanism by which zealots are able to be right even when they’re wrong and thus avoid the cognitive dissonance of having to admit their political religion was a lie all along.
One of the biggest problems with QAnon was not only that it was untrue, but that it made conservatives complacent. It requires no effort. No work. No sacrifice. It encouraged those on the right to not lift a finger and to simply “Trust the Plan” and “sit back and enjoy the show.”
After all, why should you worry or feel the need to get involved if you already know “Patriots are in control”?
And while Q has mostly faded into irrelevance, that culture of simply “sitting back” persists, and is holding the movement back.
All of this is not meant to be an attack on Trump or to suggest that he shouldn’t be the Republican candidate in 2024. Many of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ supporters like to attack Trump on the basis that the MAGA wing of the GOP is a Trump “cult,” yet the support for DeSantis can be just as fanatical.
Some backers of the Florida governor likewise claim that DeSantis is the only man who can save the country. They spend all day, every day on social media hanging on to every word he says and blasting everything Trump, DeSantis’ main rival in the GOP primary, does.
In short, Republicans — and Americans in general — have an unhealthy fixation with “savior” figures. They want the strong politician to come in and lock all the bad guys away and fix the government overnight.
The zealotry isn’t even exclusively around presidential contenders. Right-wingers build followings around this senator or that governor or that congressman over there. They hail Nick Fuentes or Andrew Tate or any other of a multitude of social-media influencers as the true savior.
At least a couple times a month of late, the phrase “DO SOMETHING” trends on Twitter. It’s not surprising. Everyone wants someone else — usually some big-name political figure — to do something. But nobody wants to do something himself.
Until that changes, we cannot expect the country to change. America’s men must take responsibility for their own lives and fix their own communities.
Forget about national politics. That will eventually sort itself out if every good, patriotic man simply focuses on fixing his own town. It is locally where you can most make a difference; everything else is just noise.
Build yourself. Strengthen your family. Educate your neighbors. Get involved. Volunteer. Stop waiting for others to do the hard work of citizenship for you.
And don’t expect any man to be your savior. There’s only one savior — Jesus Christ. If we placed him front and center, instead of placing our faith in men, we wouldn’t have gotten into this mess in the first place.
