There is nothing wrong with the desire to be left alone...
...but apathy is letting bad happen because good requires effort
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“Now what?”
That must have been the collective, late-night thought of the 56 delegates at the Second Continental Congress two hundred and fifty years ago. After tallying the votes, and declaring the colonies independent from The Crown, an unprecedented act of treason punishable by death, those men sat back and must have thought “now what?”.
The King was not going to let them go freely, and they would be forcefully reminded what it means to be his subjects. An inevitable response of violence would come with gunshots, cannon fire, war, and death. Yes, those delegates knew exactly what they had just done. Too late now. The motion passed. It was official.
But… now what?
I was asked on a Houston Radio show where I’m a regular guest what our Founders would think of America today. Sure, they would marvel at the progress and the prosperity, and they would celebrate America’s 250 years of brilliant success, but if there was one thing which would disappoint them, in my opinion, it would be our national apathy.
Apathy is not to be confused with solitude. There is nothing wrong with the desire to be left alone. I live where I do for that exact reason, and when I hear an unexpected car coming up the driveway, my first thought is usually “ugh”. We have a right to not be conscripted into society, into community service, or “voluntold” to give against our will.
That is not apathy.
Our national apathy is the passive acceptance of a wrong because a right will get my hands dirty. Apathy is letting bad happen because good requires effort.
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One thing I deeply admire about the left: they are not apathetic. The freak show, foreign born, communists racking up wins in democrat party primaries are putting in the work. They are determined, resolved to win. That spirit has helped the left take over so many elected offices: school boards, county commissioner offices, mayors and city councils while the right often struggles to even get candidates willing to run.
Parents sometimes watch in amazement that their school children are not just functionally illiterate but indoctrinated into climate and woke insanity. They cannot explain the symbolism of Old Glory but they do know the colors and history of the LGBTQIA++ flag. How did this happen? The trans warriors are not apathetic. They put in the work. And they are winning.
This, I believe, would disappoint our founders who did not sit at home like passive, helpless victims and watch injustice and tyranny unfurl before their eyes. They did something about it, risking everything, writing in ink: mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
This notion is timeless as it is part of human nature. Even 2500 years ago, Aristotle wrote volumes on the mastery of virtue and the “incontinence” of letting emotion prevent virtuous action. Our current apathy is nothing new.
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Overcoming it is heroic. It’s the sainthood of Thomas More. It’s the stories of William Wallace and William Wilberforce. It’s British Parliamentarian John Stuart Mill warning: the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
(FYI, I hope you enjoyed my use of all British men. Hat tip to our elder brothers).
Now what?
What happens after declaring independence? You must earn it. And that is the hard part. Signing the document did not make it so. Sending their 10-year old sons to battle did. Sons would pick up arms. Daughters would work hard labor. Many would pay with their blood.
Apathy is easy. It is easy to see bad things happen from a distance, decry them, wish it were otherwise, even write pithy and sometimes humorous and often error-prone articles like this, and think I am doing my part.
Apathy is watching the monster run for office and not working to prevent its win.
Apathy is just voting, but not doing anything to make sure my friends and neighbors voted, or knocking on doors or putting up signs. That is how the bad guys will win this November.
Apathy is even an intellectual exercise where I can rationalize how the jewel of citizenship is so broad that even Chinese spies who sneak into Guam in their 38th week of pregnancy are “American”. That was an easy decision. Imagine how much work it would be to stand for truth. Defending citizenship is perilous, but now no one will bother Justice Amy Coney Barret for some time.
We thank God for the example of our founders, the famous 56, the less famous thousands of others who were not indifferent to the matter at hand. May we learn from them. Fight is in our blood, from Bunker Hill to Omaha Beach. Americans fight, and we leave the nation and the world better for it.
That is my pledge for America 251… to fight for my country, for what is right, what is good, what is just, what is American, or die trying.
America is our birthright, born in brilliant minds but forged by blood. May we be worthy heirs, fly our flags, and proclaim our liberty loudly.
Honor and courage.
Daniel Turner is the founder and executive director of Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs. He also runs a sheep and cattle farm in rural Virginia. Contact him at daniel@powerthefuture.com and follow him on Twitter @DanielTurnerPTF
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