Bob Ehrlich: Here's a Great Option for Sticking It to the Left Without Giving in to Cancel Culture
You are a conservative, God-fearing, law-abiding citizen. You pay your bills, love your family, give to charity and root for the U.S. to win every medal at the Olympics. You still tear up while watching “Miracle” for the tenth time.
But your world has been turned upside down.
A pandemic has upended the economy, chilling the hottest market in decades. Major cities burn, but their Democratic mayors seem more interested in scoring political points than quieting the streets. Bizarrely, the destructive rioting is no more than touched on in major media.
Daily, you watch 20-something young women spout F-bombs at African-American police officers whom the women wish to “defund.”
A husband and wife “caught” defending their home with firearms in the face of an encroaching large mob are themselves arrested and charged. You cannot turn on a sporting event or watch a movie or comedy show without receiving a political message smack in your face. College professors are disciplined or even fired for spouting politically incorrect (conservative) opinions.
Your kids are not going back to school. Your neighborhood association sent you a warning for failing to wear a face mask — while walking your dog. You can no longer have a civil political discussion with your neighbor. Your normal excitement at the prospect of another NFL season has soured; you will take a knee instead of watching on Sundays.
Then, you learn of a recent CATO Institute poll that reflects 62 percent of the American public is intimidated about expressing political opinion. Yep, a revealing 52 percent of liberals and an astonishing 77 percent of conservatives say that they are afraid to exercise their First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
You are next asked to swallow that Joe Biden is now ahead by 5-10 points — as if those last two numbers are unrelated.
All of this puts you in a bad mood. Your sense of humor suffers as well. You mutter to yourself constantly. It seems there is no escape from the daily pounding. All of which leads to two possible options.
Option One is to further a nascent right-wing cancel culture.
Here, you have unlimited options. Boycotts of lefty actors are easy as 98 percent of Hollywood tilts hard left. But bypassing periodic viewing of “The Office” (Steve Carell has gone off the rails) might prove more difficult.
You now have a menu of professional woke sports leagues to tune out. Bypassing the usual media suspects (MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post) is another easy task. After all, how much spinning narrative (as opposed to hard news) can one person bear?
Still, your general optimism about life — and America — does not easily lend itself to negative action. You are an optimist by nature; boycotts, protests, riots and civil unrest are counterculture activities, not your cup of tea.
Just ask yourself: When was the last time the College Republicans took over a university president’s office? If any such incident did go down, it was to redecorate the place, not burn it down.
And so I have been thinking about an Option Two — a positive, boycott-less path to protest the attempted dismantling of our culture.
Just within the last week, I have daily purchased Goya cookies at our local Wawa. (I never thought the mere purchase of cookies would be so liberating.)
Also at Wawa (yes, guilty, I am there every day) I bought lunch for a guy dressed in a Capitol Police uniform. He appreciated but objected to my gesture until I reminded him that he had protected me for eight years on Capitol Hill.
I also asked my police friends what police-supporting organization they would recommend. A check was soon in the mail.
Speaking of contributions, there are many effective organizations dedicated to the restoration of free speech on campus. The Leadership Institute and Young America’s Foundation are two that come to mind. Support them.
My wife will shortly make another purchase from “MyPillow” — the company that stepped up when the Twitter mob attempted to take down Fox’s leading political shows. It and other Fox advertisers should be supported.
And then there is “Black Rifle Coffee Company.” What a great idea: a group of veterans banding together to sell coffee to “people who love America.” Count me in.
The foregoing is a brief sampling of steps you might choose when considering your options in opposition to progressive chaos and the undemocratic strategies of taking away constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly for conservative citizens.
There is no perfect response, but I bet you’ll feel better after doing something.
Oh, and one more thing: Cast your ballot for the Republican ticket on Nov. 3.
Make it known you want your life back — and that you are not going to put up with the mob and its cancel culture campaign. After all, another four years for you-know-who is the ultimate payback.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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