Editor’s Note: This column reflects the opinions of the author.
As our culture war rages on, with the Marxist leftists reeling but certainly not defeated, each one of us will have to make the choice at work, at school, in our families, or online between what is easy and what is right.
JK Rowling, the Harry Potter authoress, whose birthday is today, depicted Albus Dumbledore wisely counseling, “Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.” And in another place, Dumbledore comforts Harry — discouraged at the similarities he sees between himself and the youthful Voldemort — by highlighting choice over talent:
"[The Sorting Hat] only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, because I asked not to go in Slytherin." "Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.“
That, in fact, is a very American mentality, even though it was a British woman who wrote it. The Founding Fathers also believed that our choices define us, and that those who choose what is right over what is easy are the greatest heroes.
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This belief is firmly rooted in the Bible, too. Jesus in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14ff) warned us that entrance into Heaven is based on what we choose to do with the talents and blessings God gives us, a point He reinforces in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, with which Christ immediately followed up the first parable. The sheep and goats are sent to Heaven or Hell based on their actions.
The Founding Fathers took this so seriously that they defied centuries of mistaken political practice to found a nation where any man could use his talents regardless of his parentage or social station. The question is whether we still have the spirit of the Founders, the spirit described by Christ, the belief that surfaces even in the Harry Potter novels, or not.
Sometimes it seems as if we have gone very far from our founding indeed. Most of the federal government’s activities and agencies are unconstitutional. Most criminals who hold elected office get away scot-free with their crimes. Most Americans believe in abortion, homosexuality, and other evils that would have appalled the Judeo-Christian Founders. Most politicians of both parties are obsessed with arguing only about the degree to which government should be involved in areas where it shouldn’t be involved at all. On the other hand, more and more Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the dangers posed by rejecting our founding principles.
In fact, the reason that Republicans won the 2024 election is because Americans are tired of the political, economic, and cultural morass in which they are floundering, thanks to the radical Democrats. Woke movies tend to bomb, companies that choose spokesmen like Dylan Mulvaney suddenly have to scramble to fix their bottom line, and Democrats have achieved their lowest popularity among voters in decades.
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Winning the culture war is within our grasp, but that is why we must accept no compromises. Too often, the Democrats scream their propaganda until people give in, while Republicans tend to ask only how far they are going to compromise on good with evil. We cannot afford to do that, and it is not even conducive to victory. To win this culture war, we must be like George Washington or Winston Churchill, not Neville Chamberlain.
Or, in other words, our choices will define us, and we shall have to choose between what is easy and what is right.
