Day 302: Carry on, carry forward

It’s Day 302 of Ohio’s 15-day shutdown, Day 62 of a 21-day curfew, and the last full day of Trump’s presidency.

Deb and I are well.

My basement workshop, ordinarily the tidiest room in our humble home, is a mess right now. Every flat surface, from floor to benchtop, is a-cluttered with supplies to be organized, packed and carried out to the snow-covered bus sitting in our driveway.

The Acquisition Phase is, for the most part, over. Now it’s time to generate actual motion. The state of my workshop, along with small piles of gear throughout the house, testify that we haven’t made that transition quite yet.

I blame the weather.

I’ve never been one to complain much about winter — it is, as they say, what it is. This year is different, though, because snow and cold are in my damned way. Every morning I pull up the forecast to gauge what’s possible and what’ll wait for a drier or warmer day.

This Thursday, partly cloudy with a predicted high of 41F, might be the best we’ll see for a good while. Until then I’ll be occupied in that disorderly workshop.

Impatience is a harsh mistress. There’s no doubt we’ll adapt, defer what we must and get everything done. The payoff will be worth it.

The White House yesterday issued a news release that’s been pretty much ignored by the popular media. (natch) It announced the publication of a report (pdf) produced by The President’s Advisory 1776 Commission,

“…presenting a definitive chronicle of the American founding, a powerful description of the effect the principles of the Declaration of Independence have had on this Nation’s history, and a dispositive rebuttal of reckless ‘re-education’ attempts that seek to reframe American history around the idea that the United States is not an exceptional country but an evil one.”

The report is solid, as far as it goes, and it does, correctly and honestly, what it says it does. It effectively counters pseudo-intellectual “critical race theory.” It intellectually crushes the morally bankrupt “1619 Project.”

Particularly credible are the report’s citing of “progressivism” and “racism and identity politics” (which belong together) among the “challenges to American principles.” It’s refreshing to see those threats identified for what they are.

Good as The 1776 Report is, it’s too little and it’s too late. True as it is, it’s thin. Necessary as it is, it’ll be burned and its ashes buried by the Daffy-Chuckles administration and The Permanent State.

All we got yesterday was an unenthusiastic one-paragraph release and a 45-page pdf from a commission appointed by a president with two days left in office. No follow-through and no structure. No battle plan to combat the Left’s hate-America propaganda and “re-institutionalize” a sense of “informed patriotism.”

That’s what Ronald Reagan called for in his farewell address, delivered to a grateful nation 32 years ago today. He sounded the alarm and issued the rallying cry. Two subsequent Republican presidents would do nothing to support citizens answering Reagan’s call and, of course, neither would a pair of Democrats. And this president, despite four years of proudly pro-America leadership, waited until six weeks after an election he ended up losing to appoint the commission that produced this report.

So, as usual, it’s up to us.

It’s up to us, Americans of patriotism and purpose, to carry forward. With the aid of private institutions like Hillsdale College and organizations like The Heritage Foundation, we’ll celebrate and preserve the truth of America’s founding. We’ll raise our children in commitment and tradition, and we’ll demand that our schools provide “authentic civics education.”

It falls to the citizens. And that, after all, is as it should be anyway.

Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay free.

#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath

(Header image: Behind the bar at Squeek’s Bar & Grill. Pass the Bubba Wings and let the good times roll.)