By Dr. Jerome Huyler

Just imagine, the 2022 midterm votes have been cast and the results are in. “Last night, the Republicans captured a veto-proof majority in both houses of Congress. They will send 290 representatives to the House and 67 members to be sworn in as U.S. senators.” It’s a bright new morning in America (though the mainstream media won’t add that part). Formal legislation will trump Biden’s executive orders, and since Congress will have the votes to override any presidential veto, Biden’s directives can be canceled, maybe for good.

Congress can then authorize work to resume on the Keystone XL Pipeline, reopen energy exploration in ANWAR and on federal lands, appropriate funds to complete the border wall, and forcefully address the problem of illegal immigration. Hopefully, Congress will arrange for the auctioning of federal lands, resuming energy exploration and opening opportunities for farming, ranching, and logging operations (to cut sky-high lumber prices). And revenue from public land sales will retire a chunk of the colossal public debt the country has accumulated.

All this can be achieved if enough of our friends, relatives, neighbors, and coworkers begin to realize how precarious life in America is becoming. And many see that they can no longer take the blessings of liberty for granted. The sense of security is being lost to rising prices at the pump and rising crime and violence in the streets. Around the country, parents are recoiling at the teaching of Critical Race Theory in their kids’ classrooms. The common men and women of the country know that America is not filled with white privilege, conservative hate speech, minority voting suppression, or rampant police brutality. Rather than teach students how to think, today’s teachers are telling them what to think. Except parents know the difference between education and indoctrination — and they care about their kids.

And anyone with foresight should worry about what government won’t do in the name of saving the planet from climate change. Over 11,000 high-paying jobs were lost the day Joe Biden took office and canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline. Nor do American approve of the periodic plans to keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens or jack up the cost of ammunition. And on a visceral level, the common man’s common sense recoils at the sums of money the Democrats are intent on spending and the additional taxes they seek to raise.

Many can even see the advancing specter of censorship. It’s not just the suppression of conservative opinion by Big Tech. Media propaganda also operates to suppress free thought. If pertinent facts are omitted from news stories and the tales that are told are slanted to suit progressive proclivities, it is not possible for the public to reach fully formed judgments on the issues of the day. Classroom indoctrination is an even more direct means of silencing objectionable views. It never allows them to form. And political correctness is censorship incarnate. Should any dare contradict the accepted “truths” and, instead, express support for capitalism, America, or Donald Trump, they will be banished, boycotted, or just canceled. Fear and intimidation, not rational persuasion, is the currency in which the “woke” generation trades.

When censorship takes hold of a society, freedom’s days grow shorter. Alternative social media platforms are being created. They will allow conservative voices to speak so protest rallies, petition drives, and get-out-the-vote campaigns can be mounted. Outreach efforts are bringing formerly complacent Americans into the political fray. But should a full-blown censorship descend on the land, the only choice will be either to submit to arbitrary, absolute rule or, as our forefathers would say, “appeal to heaven.” And there is no good reason current generations should have to fight for the very ground our forefathers captured some 240 years ago.

Now, it is one thing to defeat the manifest threat to good order posed by today’s progressive Democrats and radicals. But what then? Today the focus is on how much more governments should do and spend to benefit the people. At some point, the people will have to wonder, how much less should government be doing and spending? How much more should Americans be allowed and expected to do for themselves — and one another? Until and unless the nation begins seeking ways to CUT the runaway levels of public spending, without jeopardizing national defense and law enforcement functions, America’s bright past will grow ever dimmer.