Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin Read Free Book Online Page B

more articulate than before, who seek to blunt the Statist’s counterrevolution—not imitate it—and gradually and steadily reverse course. More conservatives than before will need to seek elective and appointed office, fill the ranks of the administrative state, hold teaching positions in public schools and universities, and find positions in Hollywood and the media where they can make a difference in infinite ways. The Statist does not have a birthright ownership to these institutions. The Conservative must fight for them, mold them, and where appropriate, eliminate them where they are destructive to the preservation and improvement of the civil society.
    Parents and grandparents must take it upon themselves to teach their children and grandchildren to believe in and appreciate the principles of the American civil society and stress the import of preserving and improving the society. They will need to teach their offspring that the Statist threatens their generation’s liberty and prosperity, and to resist ideologically alluring trends and fads. Parents and grandparents by the millions can counteract the Statist’s indoctrination of their children and grandchildren in government schools and by other Statist institutions simply by conferring their knowledge, beliefs, and ideals on them over the dinner table, in the car, or at bedtime. If undertaken on an intimate, purposeful, and consistent basis, it will shape a generation of new conservatives.
    And education should not stop at the front door. We, the people, are a vast army of educators and communicators. When the occasion arises in conversations with neighbors, friends, coworkers and others, take the time to explain conservative principles and their value to the individual, family, and society generally.
    The Conservative should acquire knowledge outside the Statist’s universe. He should not ignore the media, Hollywood, government schools, and universities, but they should not be the primary sources of information that shape the Conservative’s worldview. Technology has made access easy to an unprecedented wealth of resources that contribute to the Conservative’s understanding, including the Avalon Project, 2 which makes available online, among other things, a large collection of the nation’s founding documents; the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, 3 which offers sources of free-market thinking; the CATO Institute, which produces scholarly materials oriented around Adam Smith’s philosophy; and the Heritage Foundation, which produces scholarly materials oriented around Edmund Burke. Moreover, established publications, such as Human Events and National Review, engage in conservative thought relating to current news events. Talk radio provides a dynamic forum for conservative thought and debate. There are academic institutions, particularly Hillsdale College and Chapman University, that provide formal educational opportunities. Groups such as Young America’s Foundation, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and the Leadership Institute promote conservatism on college campuses throughout the nation. There are, in fact, many outstanding conservative organizations and institutions, too numerous to list, that are accessible to the public.
    The Statist has also become masterful at controlling the public vocabulary. For example, when challenged on global warming, he accuses the skeptic of being a “denier,” “favoring corporate polluters,” or being “against saving the planet.” Draconian measures that threaten liberty and prosperity, such as cap-and-trade, are marketed in appealing and benign slogans, such as “going green.” The Statist never destroys, he “reforms.” He never disen-franchises, he “empowers.”
    President Ronald Reagan understood the power of words. He framed the debate on his terms.
    How can limited government and fiscal restraint be equated with lack of compassion for the poor? How can a tax break that puts a little more money