DON’T GIVE UP …by refusing to move on

Ralph Bristol

by Ralph Bristol, 1/11/21 - In response to my latest column about 1/6/21, another date that will live in infamy and produce criminal charges against hundreds of former American patriots for attacking and defiling the Capitol and the Constitution, Facebook friend Dennis Painter wrote, “Ralph-in my humble opinion, just because crooked politicians certify the electoral college votes, doesn't mean that We The People have to just accept it and move on. I wasn't raised that way. I was taught to fight for what I believe in and I believe in this country…” 

His was one of several comments along the same vein. 

YES DENNIS, YOU SHOULD MOVE ON 

If you are the patriot you sincerely believe you are and I believe you want to be, you do have to “accept it and move on” after you have exhausted every constitutional appeal of the outcome you don’t like, regardless of how strongly you might believe the outcome was rigged. You can’t preach the rule of law, as conservatives do and should, unless you are willing to accept the rule of law when it produces outcomes with which you disagree. 

I lost count at 60 the number of recounts and court challenges President Trump initiated and lost. His attorneys made their best arguments and presented their best evidence of alleged voting improprieties in multiple lower courts and when all of the lower courts found the evidence lacking, he exhausted every appeal of their decisions, with three appeals making it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rejected every appeal. Then, some members of the House and Senate objected to the vote of several states and their objections were voted down by huge majorities in the House and Senate. At that point, you do in fact have to “accept it and move on.” 

This is the same answer I have consistently given to Black Lives Matters when multi-layered investigations by constitutionally authorized officers of the court exonerate a white cop who kills a black man or teen while attempting to make an arrest. That same system finds some of the cops guilty of abusing their power, and we have to accept that too. This doesn’t mean that we have to trust any politician, bureaucrat, or judge. It does mean we have to accept the final decisions made by our multi-layered system of determining the actual truth, with all of its redundancies and appeals, even as we never quit working to improve the efficiency of the system to deliver the objective truth. 

A PROBLEM MUCH LARGER… 

…than the inefficiencies of our multi-layered system of determining the objective truth is the growing reluctance of the population, from childhood through adulthood, to accept outcomes that displease them, and the growing tendency of the population to reject those outcomes with violent temper tantrums that produce mass murderers and turn “peaceful protests” into violent and destructive riots.

Yes, if you are a Patriot, you do have to accept the outcome of the 2020 election and move on. If you really believe in this country, as you say you do, you can’t believe that accepting defeat in this election is the same as accepting defeat in the never-ending battle to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The battle to defend the Constitution is not over. 

Neither President Trump nor President-elect Biden are the right leaders to protect it, so I’m looking past both of them. More recently, I have begun to suspect that we will also have to look outside their respective political parties to find a leader who fully understands the purpose and promise of the Constitution. Until you are willing to move on from a battle lost, you can’t contribute your best to future battles. Ask any coach of any sport. 

The hard truth for many to accept, maybe including you, is that they were backing a losing hand from the beginning. Anyone who believed President Trump was a defender of the Constitution and an enemy of socialism was mistaken or misled or both. Trump embraced government redistribution of wealth as much or more than nearly any president before him, and he used his executive and political power as a whip to keep other political and business leaders in line with his every unpredictable whim, arguably denigrating the Constitutional limits on executive power in the process. 

Trump lost to Trump and the spoils went to Democrats with one of the most ambitious socialist agendas in history. So, the America I love is still down, but not even close to being out. Most of our constitutional rights and our opportunities for independence remain in place. The next four years are bound to be a further setback. They will also be a time for America to search for an honorable defender of the Constitution and a true opponent of socialism to lead the opposition to Democrats in the next election by convincing the population how and why they can and should seek independence for themselves. I hope that person shows up in the Republican Party, since it already has the nationwide infrastructure to spread a message, but the GOP has been somewhat of a disappointment as of late, so voters may have to look elsewhere. I’ll spend some of my time in the next four years helping patriots find the right message for the right leader, regardless of his or her party affiliation. 

The really hard truth I have to accept is this. It’s harder to convince people they should want independence than it is to teach them how to achieve it. 

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want independence. From childhood through adulthood, I’ve never been happy bending to the will of others, from my parents to my bosses, for even part of the day. So, I learned from trial and error, as I have learned all valuable lessons in life, how to achieve maximum independence. It takes a lot of different sacrifices over many years, but it’s worth it when you get there. I’m as close to “there” as anyone on earth, and I think I’ll spend the next year or more telling others why they should want to be here too. With luck, I might even help future leaders find the right message. 

Moving on can be very invigorating. I urge you to try it. 

Ralph Bristol is a former popular local conservative radio talk show host with Super Talk 99.7 (WTN 99.7) where he worked for 11 years. He is now semi-retired.

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