Quote of the day—David French

The battle for freedom has been fought and won. Your speech may be free, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. Truly confronting illiberal political correctness requires personal courage. Without it, the battle for the First Amendment will have been fought in vain.

David French
August 20, 2019
Courage Is the Cure for Political Correctness
[Via email from Chet who adds, “I would add for rights in general.”

He has some good points. But a case can be made that the battle isn’t over until the culture has been changed and is accepting of diverse speech and thought without a lawsuit to back up your coming out of the closet.—Joe]

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2 thoughts on “Quote of the day—David French

  1. The quote is a tangle of contradiction, bordering on “word salad”. If the battle for freedom had been won, then no longer would courage be required to speak the truth. There’d be no opposition to it.

    I think what he probably wanted to say is that the battle for the First Amendment can never truly be over, because the lust for power, the claim of a false authority, is never truly defeated. It is beyond the power of Man to eradicate it.

    We could reiterate it as such;
    “Speaking truth to power, in any place or time, can get you killed. Still you must speak the truth, come what may.”

    Our constitution speaks truth to power, which is why the Democrats hate it and the Republicans fear it.

    As to being killed for speaking the truth; take comfort in the knowledge that it isn’t you they hate. It’s the truth they hate. They’re just taking out their hate of the truth against anyone who speaks it. In so doing they’re condemning themselves and elevating you. In the Dark Ages, for example, the Protestants considered it a high honor to be condemned to death for speaking truth, and they’d march to the stake joyfully singing.

    Where does one find that sort of commitment today, given that the Protestants are ceding back to Rome, not even understanding what happened before? Where does one find courage in a time when ecumenical “Unity” is considered more valuable than truth?

    Five hundred years ago, a man who’d had several death decrees out against him said this (and anyone who wasn’t raised by wolves will find the basic concept familiar);

    “He who has made himself master of the principles and text of the word runs little risk of committing errors. A theologian should be thoroughly in possession of the basis and source of faith– that is to say, the Holy Scriptures. Armed with this knowledge it was that I confounded and silenced all my adversaries; for they seek not to fathom and understand the Scriptures; they run them over negligently and drowsily; they speak, they write, they teach, according to the suggestion of their heedless imaginations. My council is, that we draw water from the true source and fountain, that is, that we diligently search the Scriptures.” — Martin Luther, Table Talk (emphasis mine)

    In the current political realm it sounds quite familiar, doesn’t it? This concept of the mastery of the bedrock principles is what every politician, every political advisor, and every advocacy group fights against, because they’re terrified of it.

    Hence the problem; we shy away from it also, favoring pragmatism over the undiluted truth. Thus the truth quickly becomes our enemy also.

    The Big Mistake is this; that we’ve been fooled into believing that the goal is to convince our adversaries, to bring everyone over to our side. In fact the goal of truth is to separate. Totally opposite from the various “Unity” and globalist and “Diversity” movements, the goal is to “cut” the truth seekers away from all the rest. “Come out of Babylon! Come out of her My People!” Come out and be separate.

    And of course that makes me a “fundamentalist” “extremist” “separatist”, as if those were bad things.

  2. The battle for free speech, like the battle for the rights of self defense, is never over. As long as humans are humans there will always be those seeking power
    over others. The path to total power REQUIRES that they disarm us and silence us. Therefore the attacks on these rights…..and all other rights of personal freedom will NEVER end. Freedom is never guaranteed. It exists
    literally from day to day and can be extinguished almost overnight if ignored
    and not defended. As long as humans are what they are freedom can NEVER
    be taken for granted.

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