If you make a stand for anything today, like it or not, you’re going to get a label. These labels often put you in a particular group that they see you as having common tenets with; whether it’s true or not. It could be anything from race, religious affiliation, political ideology, or cultural identity. You’ve heard it said that “Perception is reality.” Although that is not always true, it is to those who believe it.
Just recently, while at a Democratic fund-raising event Maryland, Joe Biden referred those that support Trump as being “extreme …it’s like semi-fascism“. That got me thinking, so what exactly is fascism anyway? And upon ruminating further, it occurred to me that many of us don’t really understand a lot of labels and terminology being thrown around out there today. Additionally, nor do we know why it would be important to know.
I, for one, support former President Trump’s view of America but I don’t consider myself a fascist. Not even a “semi-fascist.” If anyone is fascist, it’s Joe Biden and his regime! Just look at all the executive orders. Can a president with the stroke of a pen cancel $300,000,000 of student loan debt without going through Congress? Many constitutional experts agree that he does not have that authority. Don’t be surprised if this goes all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Let’s examine some terminology that I think important to understand if we are going to see things more clearly in today’s highly politicalized environment.
Fascism, according to Miriam Webster, “a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forceable suppression of opposition.”
Marxism. “Marx introduced a theory of state supremacy that necessitated economic and social controls that were imposed in Russia after the revolution of 1917. After this revolution, during which millions of people were killed, the state abolished private property and set out to bring ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ to an oppressed people. State supremacy necessitated religious suppression and curbing of individual rights. ..Cultural Marxists seek to capture five cultural institutions: the social, political, educational, religious, and most importantly, familial life of a nation. ..Marxists claimed that the restrictions limiting sexual intimacy to a man-woman relationship within the marriage covenant were invented by religion to maintain the dominance of men. Belief in God and the Bible-with its teachings about social institutions such as marriage-was the source of multiple forms of oppression. ” “We Will Not Be Silenced, by Erwin W. Lutzer. (Bold, mine)
In other words, everything that America stands for and her foundational history must be eradicated along with her Judeo-Christian morals, values, and principles. Hence the rise of radical feminism, unrestrained sex, sexual deviancy being taught in our public schools, the elimination of the nuclear family structure, lawlessness in our streets, and criminals being viewed as victims, and children are to be raised by the state. Further, these cultural Marxists want to do away with the U.S. Constitution, the 1st an 2nd amendment, and Capitalism, which they claim is oppressive and unfair. They are literally doing everything to have America crash and burn so they can rebuild it into something totally unrecognizable that they refer to as “utopia”.
Socialism. According to Britannica.com, ” (the) Economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members. ”
The basic problem with socialism is that everywhere it’s been implemented it didn’t work. Take Venezuela for example. It had a thriving economy up until the socialist party took over in 2010. Now there are massive food shortages, hyper-inflation, and their medical care is virtually nil. I am of the opinion that the basic reason it never works is because of man’s fallen human nature. Man is basically self-centered and greedy. The relatively few people at the top that hold the power in socialist countries are filthy rich, while their people suffer and are impoverished. Yet, despite this reality, they’re those in leadership now who want to implement socialism here in the U.S.. The truth is, if you look at all the government handouts we’re partially there. Our government is already redistributing a significant amount of our wealth.
Communism. There is very little difference between Communism and Socialism. Sometimes Socialism and Communism are used interchangeably. The only difference may be that “Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance, but disagree on the means to this end”, according to Wikipedia.com (yeah, idk)
Recently Fox News had on Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Communist China. She had a grave warning for the U.S.: “I just want to say it’s so ironic. 36 years ago, I run away from socialism when I left China to come to this great country for freedom. Today, so many Americans [are] abandoning freedom and arriving into socialism. They have no idea what socialism is about. I lived under Mao’s socialism. When the government controls everything and makes all the decisions big and small and decide how much grain, meat [and] cooking oil I could have. What I should learn in school, where I should live, and what job I should have and how I should think. In the socialist society I lived under, there was no choices. There is no freedom. And that’s what people do not know. Socialism becomes such a diluted word and it’s intentional. I can tell you; China is a socialist country. Cuba is a socialist country and so is North Korea. They are a socialist country run by communist parties. And what’s the difference? What’s the difference between socialism and communism? Not much. Socialism is the initial stage of communism, according to Karl Marx.”
Totalitarianism. According to Britannica.com, ” (a) form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of individual life to the authority of the state. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini coined the term totalitario in the early 1920s to characterize the new fascist state of Italy, which he further described as “all within the state, none outside the state, none against the state.” By the beginning of World War II, totalitarian had become synonymous with absolute and oppressive single-party government. Other modern examples of totalitarian states include the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong, and North Korea under the Kim dynasty.
Imagine if only one party gained control by cheating in the election, and they were completely in control of the whole country? And that the various branches of government and law enforcement were inherently corrupt. Instead of being fair and impartial, they did the bidding of the few at the top who had all the power and control? Hmmm..can you imagine that?
(I know this can all be a little dry, but please stay with me. It’s about to get a lot more interesting.)
In his book, Live Not by Lies, Rod Dreher introduces a “Soft” type of Totalitarianism. While Soviet ear demanded love for and allegiance to the party enforced by military might, this new type of Totalitarianism is enforced by the elite. The elite are those in power, not just in government, but in control of propaganda disguised as news, indoctrination disguised as education, perversion disguised as entertainment, and false religion disguised as faith. But the pressure to conform is no less real.
Moreover, Soft Totalitarianism comes in the form as “wokeness”, “political correctness and “social justice”. And if you don’t comply, they will destroy you. They’re the ones who warned, “if you don’t bake the cake for that gay wedding, we’ll shut your business down and sue you!” “If you don’t refer to me by my preferred pronoun, I’ll get you fired!” “If you say anything about what we’re teaching your kids in school, we’ll make you a threat to democracy and label you domestic terrorists.” “If you continue to pray after the game at the 50-yard line, we’ll make sure you get fired!” “If you preach what the Bible says about there being only two genders, that homosexuality is a sin, and that sex is only within the confines of marriage between one man and one woman, we’ll label you as preaching “hate speech” and try and have you arrested! ” Further, “since I now identify as a woman, and if you don’t let me in the girl’s locker room, I’ll have my dad call his lawyer and we’ll sue you!”
Wokeness– “alert to injustice in society. Especially racism.” “We need to stay angry and stay woke”. Interpretation, the belief that America is systematically racist. They believe that America was founded by racists, hence the need for Critical Race Theory and The 1619 project to be taught in all schools across the nation. So why is wokeness dangerous? Author Rod Dreher writes; “Today in our societies, dissenters from the woke party line find their businesses, careers, and reputations destroyed. They are pushed out of the public square, stigmatized, canceled, and demonized as racists, sexists, homophobes, and the like.” (Live Not by Lies, Rod Dreher, pp 8,9)
Political Correctness– ” the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against:” Interpretation, you must agree to change anything we say is offensive. And everything deemed to be offensive must be eliminated. i.e. Aunt Jemima, off the syrup bottle, the Land O’ Lakes Indian woman off the butter carton, sports teams that had any reference to indigenous peoples had to be renamed. Also included are any roads, buildings, bridges, forts, monuments, statues, or any jokes that could possibly offend any particular group or people must cease immediately. It’s better just to not talk. If you open your mouth, you run the risk of offending someone and you could be anathema.
Social Justice– “fair treatment of all people in a society, including respect for the rights of minorities and equitable distribution of resources among members of a community.” Interpretation, because of slavery, anyone of African American decent now deserves retribution and special treatment. In this way, society will atone for her past malfeasance…someday…maybe, who knows? Social justice fosters a victim mentality and helps create a type of bondage to the very ones they claim to help.
Equity– ” lack of favoritism toward one side or another.” Interpretation: this is often used in place of equality. Equality is having equal opportunity. A level playing field, if you will. Equity implies if you have more than I do, that I’m entitled to have some of yours so to make us even, or “equitable”.
Climate Change (Formerly Global Warming)- ” Scientists first began to worry about climate change toward the end of the 1950s, Spencer Weart, a historian and retired director of the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics in College Park, Maryland, told Live Science in an email. “It was just a possibility for the 21st century which seemed very far away but seen as a danger that should be prepared for.” (livesceince.com, by Patrick Pester published December 12, 2021)
According to Al Gore, AOC, and many others, the world should have been destroyed by now. We should already have seen Polar Bears with no ice to float on and Palm Beach Florida swallowed up into the ocean.
Yes, we should care about our environment, but these tree hugging, earth worshiping, wackos and pseudo-scientists are making this the number one threat to all humanity. Nancy Pelosi just recently said that we need to protect “our mother…earth.” This is nothing but the outflow of neo-pantheism and Wicca. Folks, this is a religion! And counties, including ours, are willing to go bankrupt if need be to “protect the environment.”
Critical Race Theory– Is nothing but the philosophy that America was founded by racists, run by racists, and still is, systemically racist. They teach that white people are the oppressors and black people are the oppressed. Ironically, it actually teaches kids TO BE racist. The notion that a person’s skin color is how they should be identified is just wrong. And definitely the opposite of what MLK taught.
Keynesian economic theory– “was developed in the 1930s by a British economist named John Maynard Keynes. It was intended as a solution to the Great Depression, which had not responded to prior attempts to end it. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous New Deal program was based on Keynesian economics. Throughout his first 100 days in office, Roosevelt created 15 new laws and agencies, adding to U.S. debt by $3 billion. The Works Progress Administration was one of these agencies, and it gave jobs to 8.5 million people. Similarly, the Civil Works Administration resulted in 4 million new construction jobs. Keynesian economic theory supports the expansionary fiscal policy, which uses government spending on education, unemployment benefits, and infrastructure as its main tools. One drawback of utilizing Keynesian policies, however, is that overdoing it can result in increased inflation. (EconomicsOnline • August 26, 2021). If you think making government bigger and trying to spend your way out of a recession sounds familiar, you’d be right!
Christian Nationalism- “Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation”—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future.” (Christianity Today, What is Christian Nationalism, by Paul D. Miller, February 3, 2021). This is a moniker that the Left likes to label anyone who is a Christian and wants to live their life in accordance with the teachings found in the Bible. Newsflash! We’re not forcing anyone to become a Christian or demand they live like we chouse to, but we are going to exercise our rights under the U.S. Constitution and support candidates that best reflect our world view. You do you boo!
The above is by no means is an exhaustive list of political terminology, but I think it’s sufficient to educate us on what we’re facing in our nation today. Why do we need to know? Primarily because we can’t fight an enemy we can’t define. Words convey ideas. Ideas are put fourth into action. Actions have ramifications and consequences. Lastly, because it’s not “spiritual” to be ignorant and disengaged. If you want scripture, go back and reread the book of Ester! Wake up Church!