Home Voting Isn't Revenge, It's Resistance
Home Voting Isn't Revenge, It's Resistance

Voting Isn't Revenge, It's Resistance

There are plenty of ways to cast the divisions between parties and movements, but the elemental act of voting divides rhetoric from motive.

Obama called voting the best revenge, because for a sizable portion of his base that's exactly what voting is. Their votes are a violent act, a spiteful assault on a country that they can never participate in for economic or cultural reasons. Change for them is not a positive program, but a negative assault on the national majority. Bankrupting the country by robbing it for their own benefit is their revenge.

Voting for us isn't revenge, it's resistance. It isn't a choice that emerges out of reasoned debate between two sets of values, it's an act of resistance against the revengers, the looters and the destroyers. The voting booth is a form of sabotage against their regime, their corrupt interests and their oppressive regulations. 

These last four years we have endured an intensified occupation of our political, religious and personal freedoms. We have been robbed, lied to, ordered around and in some cases even killed. These crimes have been carried out by elected officials and the election will allow us to remove some of them. It will not end the reign of terror, but if successful, our act of electoral resistance will inflict a severe setback on the plans of their ideological movement and the unelected officials who rely on them for funding and political support.

The election will not end the occupation, but it will interrupt the forward momentum of the occupiers. It will force them to fall back into their think tanks and formulate new strategies for dismantling the Constitution, eliminating our civil rights and ending elections as anything but empty shows with no meaning.

Some of us act as if elections will be here forever so that we can wait for the next one to come around and the one after that when the right candidate will lead us to victory. They won't be. The ideology that we are resisting believes in populism only when it serves its ends. Its judicial appointees have acted repeatedly to neuter referendums when the results do not go the right way.

The ultimate goal of the occupation is to shift power away from elected officials and into the infrastructure of unelected officials, so that their elected officials can draw on nearly unlimited powers by dictating to the bureaucratic oligarchy of the state, while elected officials not aligned with their movement will be narrowly constrained and have very little influence over the bureaucracy.

The occupation is not here to take power for another four years, but another forty years and another four-hundred years. It is not playing a short term game in a system where power shifts back and forth, but putting in place the infrastructure for the permanent occupation of the United States of America. But despite all its power and control, the miles of video screens that spew forth its propaganda, the billions of dollars that flow from its coffers into the pockets of its supporters and the cultural control that its proponents wield-- it still has one vulnerability.

A piece of paper, a push of a button, and the occupiers have to fall back, gritting their teeth and planning a renewed offensive in the spring.

The left overreached itself in the last four years. Its occupation was poorly managed and the native population has been alienated. While its Chief was sacrificing thousands of American lives to win over the natives in Afghanistan, his occupation of the United States was crumbling. The economy is rotten and the people are tired of being lied to. The resistance is popular and the community organizers are running scared.

This is our moment and in a single day we can push the occupation out of the countryside and back into the cities. We can undermine its morale, strip it of the money with which it bribes collaborators and force it to rethink whether it really wants to spend the next few decades battling to control an unruly population. We can make men like George Soros and Ted Turner decide that their money would be better spent terrorizing Eastern Europe or Africa, instead of America by making oppressing us seem like a bad investment.

The tug of war between the occupiers and the resistance comes down to morale. The occupiers are fighting to impose their will on us. To do that they have to believe that they can win. Each defeat forces them to reevaluate their tactics and each act of resistance drives them to greater acts of ruthlessness which cannot help but make them more unpopular until a point is reached where even they are forced to recognize that their plans are unfeasible.

Our goal is not an absolute victory, but like all resistance movements, it is to remain viable, to be there sabotaging their latest initiative, undermining them and remaining free of their control. The potency of a resistance movement derives from its sense of freedom. The occupation seeks to impose control while the resistance negates it. Our task is easier than theirs and every election is a chance to remind them that they have no won and that they will not win, that they must despair of going the electoral route and must impose their will without regard to popular sentiment. And once they accept that premise and abandon their facade of moderation, then we will be on the road to a true victory.

The occupation needs to believe in its own morality and its own popularity. Every time we take that away from it, we are embittering its leaders and its activists, we are teaching them to hate the people that they claim to want to help and distancing them from the people by making the people into the wedge that denies them power.

Elections must be used to humiliate the occupation, to rub its nose in its own unpopularity, to show that no matter how much it controls the means of communication, its agenda will always be rejected over and over again.

Every form of rejectionism of its agenda further drives home the message that the left can never wield power over the native population except by force. Each vote cast against it, even in blue states, even in places where the left can never lose, is an act of resistance because it reminds the left of the limits of its power and warns it that even in its own heartlands, it is not completely in control.

The left derives its power from the human impulse to conformity. No matter how many people may take issue with its insane and vicious program, most will not dissent from it in public, especially if they are barraged with countless media messages that appear to show that the vast majority of the population is in favor of it.

This national Milgram experiment is aborted every time the left loses a referendum, every time it is defeated in an election, every time it is saddled with another Carter or McGovern, every time the American people wake up and see that the rest of the country is not a hive of Obamanoids, but free people just waiting to find their voice.

Even if we lose this election, it will have been worthwhile to make it as close as possible, to bring out massive rallies of people who are waking up out of the daze and realizing that they don't have to take the occupation and that there are tens of millions of people out there who feel as they do. It will have been worthwhile to deliver a message to the left that its occupation stands on shaky feet and that the next gust of wind may tip it over. It will have been worthwhile in order to remind the left that the people are rising and that while this uprising may not have toppled over their golden throne, the next one might. It will have been worthwhile to remind the left that it is not on the path to a thousand-year world-state but to a collision with growing numbers of people who want their freedom back.

Our vote at its most potent, is not just a protest vote, but a blow aimed at the political heart of the occupation. But even if the blow does not land, then the protest vote reminds the occupation that we are united, not so much behind a man, as against them, and it will remind us that when we come together, we have the power to terrify the occupiers.

Mitt Romney is a symbol, a convenient shorthand for freedom of expression, enterprise and faith. Whether or not he embodies these values is a secondary concern. As Obama became a vehicle for the left to express its identity, Romney has become a vehicle for traditional Americans to express theirs. If Romney wins, then he will become a politician and if he loses, then the symbolic identity, which transcends him, will go on, because it is an expression, not of one man, but of the values of a country.

Resistance is grounded in values. It is grounded in the greater identity of who we are and how we want to live. That refusal to abandon who we are, to resist the political, cultural and religious assaults on our way of life is what determines the potency of a resistance. And though refusal is a negative word, it comes from a positive vision, an inner fire, the glow and light of the values that make us who we are.

The occupation does not have these values. It is a disruptive force that can borrow and mimic warped versions of these values, but it cannot put them forth except as a mockery of the values it has displaced. It urges its followers to vote for another four years of repression as a form of revenge against us because it has no inner light, no goodness and no truth. Inside it is a heart of darkness with no hope, only a ceaseless turmoil of change for the sake of change and destruction for the sake of destruction, power for the sake of power, and revenge for the sake of revenge.

Our resistance is a form of love, love for our country, our communities, our families and our values. That love has motivated us to spend the last four years fighting to preserve these things that we love. It will take us into the voting booth and whatever the outcome, it will keep us warm even in the coldest winter, as we go on fighting through our own Valley Forge for the redemption of our nation.  

Comments

  1. VA_Rancher5/11/12

    LOVE the pic of General ObaMao in the tinpot dictator uniform!

    You mush have power and internet again.

    I am praying as hard as I know how that we will win tomorrow.

    The other pic, "Live Free or Die" says it all.

    Be well,

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  2. I want Romney to win only because it will upset liberals, especially the media. I have no illusion whatsoever that he represents some kind of resistance, or that he will fundamentally change the direction of the country.

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  3. I didn't say that Romney is, in his own person, acting as a force of resistance, I said that voting for him disrupts the power of the left and that is an act of resistance.

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  4. Anonymous5/11/12

    You are able to put things in perspective several years earlier than could be imagined.

    Thank you

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  5. God help us if Obama some how pulls this out. I have a bad feeling there is going to be a lot of shenanigans going on behind the scenes. Saw an article this morning that the problems they were having in Fla where the electronic polls kept defaulting to Obama even if the voter picked Romney was in fact caused by hackers linked to the OWS punks.

    Things like that and the UN observers, I have a bad feeling Obama will win by cheating that he will have permanent deniability on.

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  6. Anonymous5/11/12

    What an absolutely wonderful and uplifting essay.
    On this election eve, I needed to read a message of authentic hope based on the Rock that truly is America.
    Thank you so much.
    I shall share the link to this far and wide.
    - BarbaCat

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  7. Daniel: Of all the columns I've read recently urging people to vote, yours today is the most inspirational and encouraging. It's a good thing you're not a girl, or I'd hug you to death.

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  8. Anonymous5/11/12

    Thank you for another superb article.

    For all that conservatives face to right this nation again, I believe we live in a remarkable time. And, we are a remarkable people. There is so much honor, dignity and love of country amongst us.

    I have much to say upon reading your article but I'm not a disciplined writer. A point I will try and convey, however, is that what we've seen in the last four years has been said by some in my own personal circle (I live in a heavily misguided, gullible, anti-American area), is that we've seen how disappointing and clueless he is, what could he possibly do in the next four years and that he's trying to do good, or whatever. I say this: we haven't seen a damn thing, yet. For as overt and hostile as this administration has been towards half its population, we can count on a ratcheting up of getting the boots put to us over and over and over. In fact, at the pace he's proceeding, what's to prevent his handlers from making he and Imelda permanent puppet squatters.

    I remember what elders tried to instill in us kids about what they've endured, witnessed. I remember being told of the disbelief and horror of sad events and belief that it's happening to others because there needed to be some sort of culling but they are safe. That, nothing will happen to them because they've been there for decades, they are educated, they are esteemed members of the community. I don't forget other peoples history. I don't want that to become part of my history or a daily misery of my descendents.

    My roots are not part of The Holocaust. I don't want to imply anything but would like to remain vague, for myself. There were and are bad, bad things that happen all over the world. I immigrated to this country. I have always felt a strong sense of duty towards it.

    Keep up the great work, Mr. Greenfield.

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  9. Michael Moskow5/11/12

    Daniel,

    This was beautiful, inspiring, and needed.

    Thank you so much.

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  10. If Obama wins (G-d forbid), we have to get together and present him with a solid gold crown (maybe we can pick one up second-hand from one of Europe's bankrupt former monarchies) to show him that he's not foolin' nobody.

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  11. Respect and love your work, even if sometimes it's only because I'm a sucker for a lost cause.

    I hope you get a measure of satisfaction from this voting process. As for me, I simply don't believe in it.

    Good luck man.

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  12. Daniel, this is the best motivational essay I've seen. Whether we win or lose this election, violence will come to this land. More than 2/3 of the white American population wants Obama gone. Romney is popular among all Americans by a likely 5 percentage points. Among black Americans Obama is favored by over 90%. Either side will refuse to believe that they've lost a fair election. This is a divided house. Today, our country is far more polarized and divided than it was 4 years ago. I no longer believe that we will resolve our problems at the voting booth. I will still vote tomorrow and, as you say, it will be an act of resistance, but I expect our country to turn violent we will all need to find protection. God help us.

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  13. Mr ED6/11/12

    DemocRAT: The party of begrudging aggrievement, self-professed victims and narcissistic pseudo intellectuals. They believe - like little Leftist Pattons - that their job isn't to sacrifice anything themselves, but to use the political arena to make the "other guy" sacrifice in order to assuage their own personal selfish guilt.

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  14. This morning as I got out of my car, I saw my neighbor across the street about to get into hers. I stared at the political sign in her yard--the opposition, no less--and decided to give her a holler:


    I said, "Vote for___ ___, today, Ms.___.


    She gave a good-natured laugh and came back with, "And you vote for ___ ___ ___, today."


    It was my turn to laugh good-naturedly.

    Then she said, "I'll invite your whole family to dinner if you do." (In case you're wondering that's nine people).


    I paused (I'm not good at thinking on my feet) and yelled back, "Tempting..."


    "Tempting..." she repeated and laughed again..


    And so was a pot of red stew to the exhausted Esau after the day's hunt. But unlike Esau, I won't be selling the futures of my children and grandchildren for a mess of pottage.

    Plus dinner was out of the question anyway--I'd already voted--for the other guy and for a change I can believe in.

    "Let his days be few, and let another take his office." ~ Psalm 109:8

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  15. Anonymous6/11/12

    Intelligent, well said, educated, wise, GREAT as usual! My thoughts exactly, thank you, Daniel.
    Zdena, Prague, Czech Republic.

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  16. VA_Rancher6/11/12

    "And so was a pot of red stew to the exhausted Esau after the day's hunt. But unlike Esau, I won't be selling the futures of my children and grandchildren for a mess of pottage."

    AMEN MS Davis!

    Amen & Well said.

    I'm praying for a landslide today...

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  17. Hmmm. A land slide would be nice but I don't think there are any mountains close enough to DC.

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  18. moshe6/11/12

    The Left has thought of the problem you describe, Daniel. And they have a solution. you even wrote about it. I believe the essay might have been called "Electing Another People". 48% of the voters depend on federal handouts. The bookies are giving Romney only a 25% chance of victory. I am afraid we will have to go through a full-blown economic meltdown, and maybe even a civil war, before the occupation is driven back.

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  19. Well, the America of love and mutual respect has lost.

    The coalition of hate and entitlement has won, after running the perfect campaign of hate opposite the campaign of love and self-reliance.

    Given a choice between the hater in chief and an actual nice person who went out of his way to include everyone, America has chosen.

    She chose her own executioner. For the second term in office.

    But the runner up did not warn her about this. He wanted to be oh-so-nice to everybody. This is what he believes in, after all. Love.

    America had shown it to him.

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  20. Now what will Obama do? Nothing.

    His goal is bankrupting America, after all, and bringing her down a notch - or ten.

    Now with the fiscal cliff and the sequestration fast approaching, he can sit back and relax.

    The USA is done for.

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  21. Nice sentiments and good article...

    too bad in America the takers now outnumber the producers...

    have a nice upcoming 4 years! Guess America deserves the government it voted for...

    geebuz, the entitlement idiocy continues...

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  22. I would normally agree with you, Daniel. And believe me, I have tried to convince myself and others that voting was the most effective form of protest.

    But as the election approached I experienced something impossible to express in writing. My mind kept going back to grammar school, sitting in the aud watching Born Free. School officials made everyone watch that wonderful film. What I remember most is the incredible score by John Barry--no lyrics--of freedom.

    That is the problem with this country. The Right and the Left are far to conformist and demanding of conformity that it crushes the spirits of many people.

    From what I recall of the Milgram experiment the subjects continued to deliver electrical increasingly high volt electrical shocks even after people stopped crying out in pain. They never questioned, it seems, why the person stopped crying out.

    ******

    Count me among the many who believe Born Free should be the American anthem. Not the lyrics, the melody. If that doesn't touch the soul of the American people I don't know what will.

    Shame on the (Tea Party and Occupy mov't for this.

    ****

    This is a very sad night. Not because Obama won and Romney lost but because the American soul is not free.

    *****

    How wonderful it was as a child to sit in a school aud and learn more about freedom in a musical score than in any American history book. So important that a school full of children were required to watch it.

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  23. Anonymous7/11/12

    Why are we unable to put a name to Obama's ideology - communism? Obama, after all IS a communist. Davud Axelrod is a communist. Valerie Jarret is also a communist. Michelle most likely is also, but that would be pure speculation. Why aren't we able to say aloud what's going on; that this administration is simply the final culmination of the 90-year old dream of the European Marxists - the take-over of the United States. It's all well & good to talk about fighting on, but I really can't see freedom ever rising in this land again. Once communism settles in a land it never leaves. And that land never heals.

    It is as final as pancreatic cancer.

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  24. Anon--I agree with you. America is on the road to Communism. But I do believe we will (or have the potential) to see American freedom restored.

    It all starts with the soul. There must be a way to kindle the American soul.

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  25. Patriot’s Handbook: a Practical Guide to Restoring Liberty
    By James Simpson

    America has become detached and largely ignorant of the core principles that made this country great. It is critical to our long-term survival that we rediscover and embrace again the key concepts of individual freedom, individual responsibility, limited government and the rule of law.

    The founders of this country gave us an incredible set of documents: the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. These documents provide a firm road map to return our country to fiscal and moral responsibility, and are the reason we have been a beacon of hope for the rest of the world for over two centuries.

    ReplyDelete

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