Vacuum

By Steve Woodward

I observe with astonishment the willful desire of fellow Americans to exist in a vacuum outside of which exists reality.

Yes, I know, this signals a certain arrogance, or a dampening of spirits. But I can’t get over it. So with that said I am retreating to a summer mountain paradise for awhile. I will continue to monitor our broken culture via social media and podcasts. I am not cutting the cord, writing poetry or imposing on my body a violent juice cleanse. I will enter my WiFi password within minutes of inhabiting our temporary home. And re-engage.

The objective is mainly to escape the oppressive humidity of the Sandhills for a few weeks. I do not view climate change as an imperative. If I desire a different climate, I travel until I find it. In my case, west, and ascending to a place where morning fog is welcome and mental clarity is achievable.

This journey still fails to deliver me from the vacuum, as much as I try. I do not dwell in it but it surrounds me. It’s not about me, really. It’s our culture. It is a weakened culture. It is a vulnerable culture. If the Marxist Left that infiltrates our politics, our education system and our entertainment industry was properly acknowledged, Americans would put on ideological masks and submit to quarantines to protect our communities and families from this perpetual “virus”.

In Moore County, we have a choice. We can pretend that we’re a sleepy retirement community comprised of “white supremacist golfers” (claims the Left) and encroached upon by wealthy golf tourists celebrating the fruits of their labors by recklessly spending their money on tee times, cigars, cocktails and steaks. Or, we can recognize that Marxists have infiltrated from west and north, infecting religion, education and daily life. And, more alarming, some of the radicals among us are home grown. Yes, native North Carolinians poisoned by the state’s compromised universities or by religious denominations strangled by “woke-ism” are living next door.

They’re here. It’s time to call them by name. It’s time to expose their agenda.

Unite NC Town Hall is one such insurgent body. It is a ripple in the stream championed by the Moore County NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Moore County, and the recently formed Sandhills Coalition for Peace, Love and Justice, among others. They infiltrated Carthage on July 24, 2023, to fret about “dangerous legislative proposals” in Raleigh such as a bill vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper (D) that would spare children in public schools from subjection to puberty blockers and gender “reassignment surgery”.

In the July 23 Pilot, marginally a newspaper, a “neighbor” complained about efforts by the Moore County Board of Education to regulate access by elementary students to books in school libraries that celebrate under-age sexual encounters and gender fluidity.

Wrote Jay from Southern Pines: “Students want to learn about the dynamics of race and gender and history as it actually happened. Books can help students see that they have feelings and experiences (emphasis added) similar to other students.”

This would make a lot of sense if we were talking about college students. But the targeted are children who are not equipped to comprehend “the dynamics of race and gender.” How does he know what a 10-year-old wants to learn?

The challenge before us is to take up a zero tolerance offensive as if we are on a war footing. We are at war. The good news is that the Left does not know how to fight when Americans rise up. The Bible, in Ephesians, advises that we put on the armor of God and stand up.

When we do, the Left will retreat into its vacuum. They call it a “safe space”. They choose safety imposed by government. We choose freedom.