There’s a saying I wish I had heard sooner.
It goes something like:
“If you aren’t a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you aren’t conservative by 35, you have no brains.”
Maybe I wouldn’t have believed it.
At 31 though, it makes perfect sense.
Because:
Life.
As children, we’re allowed to dream without responsibility.
Perhaps that’s how it should be. As adults though, we face a variety of “harsh realities.”
Or at least, that’s how it used to be. Modern American life is more cushy than harsh. And I’m not sure everyone is living in the real world.
Still, we face tough decisions as we learn to manage money, manage our families, and manage ourselves.
Not everyone gets “red pilled” by it.
For some, it’s easier to remain in the matrix.
But look around you.
You can see it in the world, in your family, and in yourself…
We are all:
Choking on the Blue Pill
For about 200,000 years, homo sapiens had to fight for survival.
Over the last 200 or so, we’ve been able to transcend that status.
Our lives are comfortable now.
Big problem though:
We’re turning into incompetent cowards.
🐔💩
Sorry not sorry.
We’ve forgotten how to work hard. We’ve lost the meaning of bravery.
Our society has no moral compass—and it shows.
Many people don’t think morals matter. Others think it’s all relative. Some would even say that morality is just another form of the “patriarchy of the tyranny” or some such nonsense.
🤮🤮🤮
Meanwhile, suicide rates have shot up since 2000.
😐😐😐
We have lost our way.
That may sound like an existential injunction.
Perhaps it is.
But it’s also a biological reality.
Humans need purpose to feel fulfilled.
Your brain is wired to pursue goals. It releases positive neurotransmitters as you pursue and accomplish objectives. This helped keep us alive when life was actually hard.
There is a deep type of morality built right into it.
Nowadays, life is too easy. We don’t have to try to survive. We just do. The “world” will take care of us. Plus, you can get your daily dose of happiness molecules on-demand, delivered straight to the palm of your hand.
Unfortunately, we fail to see the reality:
The world is still trying to kill us. Hurricanes. Coronavirus. Human nature.
It is society that takes care of us.
Obviously, it’s not perfect.
But it has done a bang-up job the last 2-20 centuries.
That might not be what the mainstream media narrative and Hollywood say.
However, it is what history says.
The Most Brutal Red Pill: History
The story of humanity is filled with pain.
War. Rape. Torture. Child sacrifice. Other things you don’t want to hear about.
Truckloads of it.
It might not feel good. But we need to learn about it.
Not just the historians:
You and I.
Why?
Because human beings are absolute savages, that’s why!
Yeah, Mother Nature can be a cruel b!tch too. But random tragedy can be dealt with.
Evil, on the other hand, must be contended with.
We have to fight it.
To a large degree, that is what modern society does so well. It protects us from each other.
Sure, people still do bad things. Sometimes they even get away with it.
But there’s much less misfortune than there would be.
How do we know?
Because there is much less than there used to be. There’s also less crime and general devastation in America than most places around the world.
Today, it’s popular to characterize the United States of America as some despotic regime built on genocide and slavery.
I understand why people believe it. In fact, I used to believe it myself.
But now I’ve done more research.
And I see that it is laughably untrue.
The Story of Humanity
I used to think that humans were “good” by default.
I no longer subscribe to such fantasies.
The data simply doesn’t back it up.
Too much malice. Too much corruption. Too much deceit.
You might even call us sinful creatures.
Certainly, there are many admirable people among us. There may even be the spark of good within each of us. But for all I can tell, our benevolence is more fragile than our malevolence.
The good in society plots a slow and methodical course up the mountain. Each step must be carefully placed and hard-worn. Meanwhile, evil spirals out of control quickly. Before you know it, the whole world is rushing downhill at breakneck speeds.
I wish our school system did a better job of painting this picture for us.
I think we could use a “rated-R” history class in senior year of high school.
Because the censored version simply doesn’t cut it.
We need to know about the tyrants and the despots. We need to understand how easily we turn on each other. And we need to hear the stories of how entire nations went crazy.
Nowadays, it is easy to look it up. But that doesn’t mean people do so.
If they did, they’d find example after example of humanity’s pension for self-destruction.
Dig a little and it’s clear why humans need:
Law and Order
Sicknesses of the mind.
Human beings have many of them.
So it’s not surprising that our society displays many pathologies.
Seriously:
How does someone actually become a serial killer?
Or a child predator?
How does an entire nation allow Nazis to take over their country?
More importantly, how do we as a society protect ourselves against the worst in us?
Well, “law and order” that’s how.
As a former Lefty, I’m not a big fan of our prison system. I have my complaints about policing in our country. And I’m against many of the actions of the United States military.
Yet I recognize that our society needs protection from the outside world. That’s the job of our military.
Individuals also need protection from each other. That’s the job of our justice system.
These institutions aren’t perfect. But Americans are blessed with arguably the best in the world.
And somehow, so many people are remarkably ungrateful.
I used to be one of them.
In fact:
When I was a (20-year old) kid, I used to claim that I was “going to kill a cop one day.”
There was no real justification for it. I had a few run-ins with police officers. And to be honest, they probably treated me better than I deserved. I never really had a bad experience, despite being an incorrigible degenerate. 🙄
If I hadn’t “woken up” I would probably be a BLM rioter.
Maybe one of the best.
🤷♂️😂🤷♂️
Today, I can’t quite make sense of it…
Except to say that humans are crazy—me included.
I’ve always known this. That’s part of why I used to be against guns.
But it is also why I’m now for them.
Law and order is not enough.
Self Defense
Truthfully, I think I’d prefer the age of the samurai.
Or maybe I’d like to be a Viking.
Guns aren’t as romantic as swords and battle axes.
However, gun rights bring equality to the use of force.
Though we think of the political right as the defenders of gun ownership, it’s actually a liberal idea.
More simply put:
Guns level the playing field.
They give the weak the ability to defend themselves against the strong
- Weak men versus strong men
- Women versus men
- The individual against the mob
The most violent people have a chance to dominate in any era. They are willing to do things that others wouldn’t. But with an armed populace, they are more likely to pay a price. Bad guys are more likely to think twice if they know they are risking their lives.
2020 guns sales numbers show that more Americans are coming around to this fact. (And even Tim Pool bought himself a gun. 😂)
Perhaps most important:
An armed citizenry can protect itself against government tyranny. This is why the Founding Fathers included it in the Bill of Rights.
Yes, bad things can happen. Guns can make crimes of passion more deadly. And obviously, a mass shooting would be harder with a bow and arrow (unless you’re this guy).
However:
Violence is wired into our biology. It may never evolve out of us. But I’m not totally convinced we want it too. Sometimes, violence serves a purpose.
Hopefully, most of us can agree that there are times when violence can be considered “right” or “good.” Self defense—and perhaps defense of others—would be one of those times.
For example:
The right to defend your family.
The Most Important Red Pill: Building a Family
Unfortunately:
Violence isn’t the only thing parents must defend their kids against.
Threats take many forms and lurk in every nook and cranny of human society.
Preparing your children to face life ain’t a joke.
It’s no surprise that parents have many fears. But maybe we don’t have enough. At least, life is too nuanced to prepare them for everything.
Still, the character of a family impacts the character of its children.
If we had perfect parents, we might all be perfect people.
Unfortunately, that will never happen.
That’s fine. It makes life spicy.
What we can’t afford though:
A War on the Family
Families are the building blocks of America.
They make up the foundation of this great nation.
As such, the destruction of the family is one of the most important issues facing our country. Our foundation is eroding away and what we have built is becoming vulnerable.
Somehow, there is a war against the family in America.
It’s oozing out our pores.
Yet some can’t see it.
Are you one of those?
If so, you must not have heard Black Lives Matter’s original mission statement:
This sentiment has seeped into elementary school curriculums, the Smithsonian, and elsewhere in our society.
Meanwhile:
In a time when every fact is disputed, few things are as widely accepted as the impact fatherless has on children.
From the Heritage Foundation:
“Studies have found that children raised without a father are:
- At a higher risk of having behavioral problems.
- Four times more likely to live in poverty.
- More likely to be incarcerated in their lifetime.
- Twice as likely to never graduate high school.
- At a seven times higher risk of teen pregnancy.
- More vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
- More likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.
- Twice as likely to be obese.”
This can’t be what we want for our kids.
Moreover, it can’t be what we want for our society.
We need strong individuals to have a strong nation.
Strong individuals are built in the home.
If I was an enemy of America, destroying the family would be at the top of my list.
Unfortunately:
Too few of us even realize that we have legitimate enemies, let alone that they may be capable of such subversive tactics. I’ll address this more in America Was Always Great. Even without their influence, self-inflicted wounds could easily knock us off our perch.
We need strong men and women. Our ideology is destroying that. With or without foreign interference, this is a crisis in the making. Or, maybe it’s a crisis already.
You might not think that sounds so bad.
What’s wrong with letting someone else lead the world?
Well, my fear?
Few (if any) other societies embrace America’s…
Family Values
Parents have two main obligations:
- Provide and protect.
- Create functioning adults.
We want our kids to be happy and healthy, sure.
But beyond that, we want to equip them to deal with life’s challenges. We want them to treat people well. And we want them to make the world a better place.
Basically, we want our children to be good people.
Not perfect, but good.
Through this we can become a nation that is not perfect, but still good.
Strong families create strong people who build strong nations.
A large portion of our country has rejected the idea that we even need a strong nation. This sentiment seems to mirror the rise in the victim mentality. If weakness is virtue, who wants to be a part of the Greatest Country on Earth?
Sounds like daddy issues to me.
When life was harder, family used to be where you learned to make hard decisions, take responsibility, and pull your weight. For some it still is. But that number is now in the minority. We’re getting and staying married less than ever.
From 1990 to 2016 out of wedlock birth increased from 28% to 40%.
The result:
Less and less of us learn to do what is right. Instead, we do whatever feels good.
And America becomes weak.
Like it or not, marriage is one of the most important pillars of our society. I’ll talk about this more in God Bless the Patriarchy. Now though, there’s another question that begs answering.
Why are we such a fractured country?
I’d say it’s because too few of us are…
Living for Others
Having children changes you.
In my opinion, men don’t become real men until their first child is born.
There is simply no love like it.
There aren’t many Mother Teresas, Gandhis, or Nelson Mandellas among us.
That is to say, there aren’t many of us willing to put ourselves on the line for strangers or principles. Yet most parents are willing to do so for their kids.
It’s not true for everyone. But I’ve completely transformed my life since I became a parent. Nothing could have pushed me to reach my potential like fatherhood has.
My life’s purpose:
Play my part in creating the world my sons deserve.
It’s extremely motivating for me. I suspect this feeling is not universal but still very common. However, we didn’t always need this.
For hundreds of thousands of years, we relied on family groups for survival. We worked together to find food, create shelter, and protect each other. Our interdependence was apparent in everyday life.
Living for others was necessary for survival.
With the rise of modern agriculture, manufacturing, and supply chains, we’ve become increasingly more removed from the work that actually keeps us alive.
Now, not even our local communities are self-sufficient.
Most people today work outside of truly “essential” industries—in terms of food, shelter, etc. We outsource everything that matters.
What’s more, the highest paying activity in our society is basically just playing number games with stocks or other tradable assets.
We live in a fantasy land, removed from how hard human life truly is.
To top it off, we reject institutions like marriage that may otherwise teach us to make sacrifices for each other.
Is it really any wonder so many people deride our military and police, the people who make sacrifices for us everyday?
I think not.
Family Karma
Karma is a meme in Western Society.
Based on my studies, it’s largely misunderstood.
It’s not just “what you do comes back to you.”
It’s more about the narrative of your soul across lifetimes.
You have a karma that describes the lessons you came into this life to learn. You have a karma that has to do with the story of your current lifetime. And you have a karma that represents the tale of your Earthly family across generations.
Like many things, I’m not exactly sure what I believe about it.
I find some truth in each kind.
I especially like the idea of family karma. At the very least, I think it is useful. It goes something like: your family line repeats challenges until someone transcends them. The responsibility falls on each of us to break the cycle for the sake of our family.
You don’t need to study Sanskrit to see the truth in this.
Studies have shown that childhood trauma “dramatically increases the risk for seven of out of ten of the leading causes of death in the United States.”
Not always, but these things often go hand-in-hand with broken homes.
>More from the Heritage Foundation:
“A single-parent Family background and the poverty that usually accompanies it render children twice as likely to drop out of high school, 2.5 times as likely to become out-of-wedlock teen parents, and 1.4 times as likely to be unemployed.49 These teens miss more days of school, have lower educational aspirations, receive lower grades, and eventually divorce more often as adults.50 They are almost twice as likely to exhibit antisocial behavior as adults; 25 percent to 50 percent more likely to manifest such behavioral problems as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, or dependence; two to three times more likely to need psychiatric care; and much more likely to commit suicide as teenagers.51”
Imperfect because we are imperfectly parented…
It seems we are “hurt people, hurting other people”
According to tradition:
Organizations, and indeed nations, also have karmic stories. It seems that in America, we’re coming to the end of an important chapter. We might have even reached the resolution of some narratives.
Just like family karma, the responsibility falls on each of us to play our part.
Breaking the negative cycles of both families and nations comes down to individual actions.
The Red Pill to Rule Them All: Building Yourself
I’ll scream it until the day I die:
Personal Responsibility > Everything
As humans, it’s easy to judge others. For some reason though, we have a harder time looking at ourselves honestly.
This is one of the things that contributes to the tribalism we see today.
Both sides have trouble seeing themselves.
I think it also pushes many people toward big government. When I was less self-aware, I was all for government intervention. Now that I’m obsessed with self improvement, I don’t want anyone else trying to fit me into their arbitrary box.
I firmly believe that most people aren’t willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve the things they want in life.
We need to free up high performers as much as possible.
In most domains, a fraction of the people do most of the work.
On the backs of these giants, we’ve been carried to greatness. For the last two hundred years, our great American system has harnessed the power of human innovation. Not only did they propel our nation to great heights, but we’ve also helped lift up the world.
If you study the mindset of these titans, you’ll see that most of them think differently.
For example:
“Everything Is My Fault”
I like to choose empowering beliefs.
This is one of the most powerful ones I’ve come across.
It is a personal responsibility mantra like no other.
Listen to how Tom Bilyeu explains it:
Or (if you don’t mind cursing) Gary Vee:
Nowadays, everyone wants the world to change. Yet few of us are really committed to self improvement. This is quite the paradox. We co-create the world we live in, after all.
If we aren’t improving, how can our society?
For some reason, many have become convinced that the change we need must come from the government down to the people.
Not only do I doubt that could work but I believe it would probably have the opposite effect. From what I can tell, the government makes most things worse.
Everyone has heard the Gandhi quote:
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Few live it. Some even reject its practicality.
For example, this exchange over Jordan Peterson’s sixth Rule for Life:
The girl in the video wants someone else to fix climate change for her. In reality, she doesn’t have to wait on a government mandate to reduce her daily impact on the environment. None of us do. Furthermore, if you aren’t living up to your own standards, it’s foolish to expect the world to do so.
Instead, I think we should take “extreme ownership” for the part we play.
After all, how can the world heal if its people remain broken?
I’m not sure it can.
In my experience, finger pointing is only useful when you’re pointing at yourself.
Broken and Rebuilding
I come from one of those “broken homes” I talked about earlier.
To my everyday-dismay, I’ve also created such a home for my own sons.
For me personally, this means I’ve failed in my most important duties. I don’t run from it. I embrace my mistakes and work hard not to repeat them.
It sucks to feel like you’ve let your children down.
But I think it would suck worse to be in denial.
That’s because there is no redemption. If I chose to pawn the responsibility off on someone or something else, there would be no coming back. There would be no way to transform the worst thing that ever happened to me into the best thing that could have happened for my family.
It’s my personal story, but I think it represents a microcosm of what is happening across our country.
Without a father in my life, it’s no surprise I failed when starting my own family.
Without understanding the Founding Fathers, we’re on the brink of failing as a nation.
We reject “the Patriarchy” and all the glorious things it’s done for us.
I believe the keys to American redemption mirror the keys to personal redemption—total accountability and the dedication to do what is right.
Since my sons were born, my impact on the world has gone from a net negative to a net positive. Or, maybe I’m just not so far in the negative. 😂 Either way, I’m improving.
I think we should approach America the same way. Acknowledge our mistakes and move forward. Laugh at ourselves a little bit and try our best.
And somewhat less obviously, we should learn to approach our country more like a business.
Entrepreneurship
This could be its own post.
Like many tangents from this series, it eventually may be.
Most people have a false idea of entrepreneurship.
They think of business owners as greedy and selfish. In truth, most great entrepreneurs spend their time obsessing over how to serve better. That extends to both their customers and their employees.
And honestly, I don’t know if there is anything that feels cooler than being able to give someone a job! It’s dope. Highly recommend. You should try it sometime.
As a Work From Home Junkie:
I’m always focused on productivity.
So I experiment with my Morning Routine. I read books like Getting Things Done, Tools of Titans, and the 4-Hour Work Week. I follow guys like Brendon Burchard and Robin Sharma. And I chase “deep work” and “flow” like a madman.
But it’s more than that.
To build a better business, I’ve had to build a better me.
I turned myself into a morning person and started going to bed early. I changed my diet. I create epic life plans and yearly goals. And I Journal religiously.
I owe a lot of that to Greensboro SEO Pro.
I’m committed to reaching my potential and becoming a better person.
This Site wouldn’t even exist if that weren’t the case.
I think if more people knew what it took to build a business, the world would be a better place. It’s hard to be a high performer.
You don’t have to get far into the entrepreneurial journey before government waste becomes flabbergasting. Taxes, regulations, and other bureaucracy starts to irk you shortly after. Finally, the obvious incompetence of many politicians becomes the final straw.
Or maybe the order would be reversed for you.
Either way, entrepreneurship will push you toward the political light.
The Red Pill of Life
To wrap this up:
Life experience is one of the main things that red pilled me.
The rated-R version of history, the raw lessons taught through family relationships, and the weight of adult responsibility all played a part.
These influence my biases.
I wanted to lay them out before I dive into everything else. It tends to color your lens, but experience is one of life’s best teachers.
The real world is harsher than we perceive in cozy our American bubble. We get a taste of it as adults, but we lack true perspective for the relative luxury we live in.
When it comes to mainstream politics, I think we need a heavy dose of reality.
We reject many of the pillars that make America great. Marriage is one of those, but there are others that are just as important. I’ll touch on those throughout this series.
Now you know some of the life influences that pushed me toward the conservative side. The next one will be about my sources of information. Then, I’ll get into the meat of my arguments for Donald Trump (and against the government establishment).
Of course, I’m not perfect. I’m sure I’ll get some things wrong. Please, if you possess pieces of the puzzle that I am missing, share them in the comments below. Or, if you’d like to get paid to present your position, I’m always looking for new writers for new brands. I want to know the truth so I welcome those capable of poking holes in my arguments.
Otherwise, please like and share this post if you have some lefties that might be on the fence. I used to be one of them. Maybe something I say can sway them back toward the light. It’s more important than ever that we speak up and every vote counts. Our country is on the line.
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