THE SECOND CIVIL WAR—THIS TIME WITHOUT CANNONS

 

The Civil War didn't begin at Fort Sumter in 1861. It began in the decade before—in the 1850s—when a nation that had stopped listening to itself finally broke apart. By the time the first shot was fired, the rupture was already complete.

That war didn't "heal" us overnight. Anyone who says it did hasn't read the history of Reconstruction. But it did place us on a slow, painful, and ultimately successful path toward becoming what no nation in history has ever been: a beacon of liberty, prosperity, and self-governance.

The Founders knew that a republic couldn't survive rapid, passionate swings of the pendulum. That's why they built a system designed for deliberation—not revolution. Amendments require supermajorities. Rights are enumerated, not invented. Power is diffused, not concentrated. This wasn't obstruction; it was wisdom.

Today, we are in another rupture. No cannons. No marching armies. But make no mistake: a war is being waged for the soul of America.

This time, the battle is between those who believe in the America of the Founders—limited government, personal liberty, free markets, and a culture rooted in Judeo-Christian values—and those who want to replace it with something else. Socialism. Globalism. A secular progressivism that treats American history as an indictment rather than an inheritance.

And here is the hard truth that polite society refuses to speak not all immigration is the same.

Immigration, properly understood, is when a person from another country comes here, adopts our language, respects our laws, embraces our culture, and becomes American. That has been the glory of this nation for 250 years. Millions have done exactly that, and we are stronger for it.

But when people come not to join our culture but to replace it—when they bring the very ideologies that destroyed the countries they left and demand that we adopt them—that is not immigration. That is infestation. And when a nation is infested with ideas hostile to its founding principles, it becomes sick.

 WHERE THE BATTLE RAGES TODAY

You don't have to look to Washington to find this war. It is being fought in your neighborhood, in your community, and most alarmingly—in your children's classrooms.

The Schools

Parents in many places across this country are waking up to a horrifying reality: their children are being used as laboratory experiments. Social engineering dressed up as "education." Gender ideology presented as science. Sexual content introduced without parental knowledge or consent. History rewritten to shame rather than inspire. Patriotism treated as a pathology.  I must confess, that while there are some issues and actions for my local school I disagree with, by and large, they seem to be genuinely interested in parental involvement and input.  But my sense is that we are the exception and not the rule.

The school board in Montgomery County, Maryland, added seven LGBTO-themed storybooks to the elementary language arts curriculum in November of 2022. This is one book for each grade from Pre-K through the fifth grade. The board did, initially, allow an ‘opt-out’ for the parents who objected, but in March of 2023, they eliminated the ‘opt-out’ entirely, so that now every child had to attend this highly controversial class. Not surprisingly, the lower court sided with the school board (this is next), but SCOTUS took the case and decided 6-3 in favor of the parents. Why? Because this policy violated the long-standing Constitutional edict known as the First Amendment’s Free Exercise clause.

This is not an isolated incident, many more can be found and articulated, because they are coordinated, funded, and are being pushed by school boards, administrators, and teachers' unions who have decided that they know better than parents what is good for their own children. Were I to embark further on the 'sex-ed' question, the many things that are of concern are 'parental notification of things like gender confusion, contraception, and more' are issues that confuse me. What educator thinks that the parents who brought the kids into the world, pay the bills, and love the kids unconditionally, has no right to know???

Parents are not the enemy of education. Parents are the primary educators of their children and desire the best for and from our children. The school exists to assist—not to supplant, not to indoctrinate, and certainly not to experiment. When a school board tells a parent, "We know what's best for your child," that is not partnership. That is, at best, arrogance, and at worse, tyranny wearing a smile.

The Judiciary

At the same time, we are witnessing an unprecedented overreach by the judicial branch. Federal judges, district courts, and even the Supreme Court have increasingly acted not as interpreters of the law but as makers of it.

The Founders gave us three co-equal branches for a reason. The legislature writes the law. The executive enforces it. The judiciary interprets it—nothing more, nothing less. And from reading the documents of those early days, the founders considered the Judiciary the weakest of the three branches, not the powerhouse that is perceived today.

TRUTH: We have judges who legislate from the bench. They strike down laws not because they are unconstitutional, but because they disagree with the policy. They invent rights that appear nowhere in the Constitution. They block executive actions not because they exceed statutory authority, but because they conflict with the judge's personal political preferences.

This is not jurisprudence. This is judicial activism. And it is a direct threat to the rule of law—because when the law means whatever a judge says it means, the law means nothing at all.

 The Elected Officials Who Still Fight

Thankfully, we still have men and women in office who understand this. As I write this, I still morn one of the true statesmen of our time. Lindsey Graham seemed to always see the country first. He was willing to talk with and work with anyone on either side of the aisle who wanted to better this country.  No, he wasn't perfect, but as his record would prove, he was a true statesman. In his passing, the torch was handed to others who are fighting daily—against the bureaucracy, against the media, at times against their own colleagues, and against an activist judiciary—to restore constitutional governance.

But they cannot do it alone. They need the people to stand with them. They need parents to show up at school board meetings. They need citizens to demand that their elected representatives actually represent them. They need voters to remember that the judiciary was never meant to be the final word on everything—it was meant to be the least dangerous branch, as Alexander Hamilton wrote.

 THE SOLUTION: ACCOUNTABILITY

Our system of government works well when we work our system of government. The Founders gave us the tools. We have simply forgotten how to use them.

We need to call rogue judges to account. Not through violence—never through violence—but through the constitutional mechanisms that exist for our and our country’s protection: impeachment, oversight, and the clear and unmistakable message at the ballot box that the people will not tolerate judicial tyranny.

We need to call school boards to account. Parents must become the most feared constituency in every district—not because they are angry, but because they are present. Because they vote. Because they run for office themselves. Because they will not stand by while their children are experimented upon.

 We need to call our elected officials to account. If they will not enforce the laws as written, if they will not defend the Constitution as ratified, if they will not respect the separation of powers—then they should be replaced. Peacefully. Decisively. Repeatedly. 

This is not extremism. This is citizenship.

Sadly, or so it seems, we have some elected officials whose main desire is to ‘tear down' what it has taken 250 years to build. We have some who do not believe in this great nation, The United States of America. With all our faults, flaws, and failures as a nation, this is still the greatest place on earth to live. But it’s changing and some of those changes fly in the face of the foundation that has made us great.

On August 28, 1963, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, stood at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and delivered his “I have a dream” speech. It is worth noting that, after all those years of prejudice, segregation, and discrimination, Dr. King didn’t want to change the system of government, but the application of governing. He believed this was the greatest land in the world and that this structure, when properly applied, would offer opportunity to all who gave the effort. Like a Biblical prophet, Dr. King ended his speech with a seven-fold call to what he envisioned America. I say this again: It is worth noting that none of his calls included nor hinted at a ‘fundamental transformation in the government of this nation’ but rather a ‘transformation in the culture of this land.’ 

He fought for this because he saw the inequity of the culture, one based on the ‘color of one skin and not the content of their character. He saw this nation was good, not perfect, but good even though it needed a little redirection.

 WHAT WE COULD HAVE AGAIN

Imagine, for a moment, an America that returned to its constitutional roots.

Imagine schools where children learned to read, write, and calculate—not to feel guilty about their skin color or their country's past, but to be equipped to build its future.

Imagine courts that actually interpreted the law instead of rewriting it. Where a judge's personal politics were irrelevant because the text of the Constitution was the only guide.

Imagine a government that stayed within its enumerated powers. Where Washington didn't try to solve every problem because the Founders wisely understood that most problems are best solved locally—by families, by churches, by communities, by states.

Imagine a culture where the American Dream was not a punchline but a promise. Where a young person could grow up believing that if they worked hard, told the truth, honored their family, and served their community, they could achieve anything.

That America is not gone. It is not lost, but has simply lost its way. It is waiting—waiting for enough of us to remember who we are, what we built, and why it matters.

My hope and prayer is that the people in the heartland—and in every corner of this country—will give their hearts to supporting that America. Not the America of cable news. Not the America of identity politics. Not the America that apologizes for its own existence.

The America we love. The America that welcomed millions and made them Americans—not hyphenated, not divided, but united. The America that defeated tyranny, landed on the moon, and lifted more people out of poverty than any nation in history.

That America is worth defending. Not necessarily with cannons or rifles, but with votes, with voices, with presence, and with prayer.

Our children are watching. Our grandchildren will inherit what we leave them. Let us leave them not a nation in decline, but a nation renewed—faithful to its founding, confident in its future, and grateful for the extraordinary gift that is the United States of America.

 ONE LAST THING that is deeply personal for me. This government was formed in the throes of being spiritually repressed They had largely been forced into their own religious belief system.  Even thought, there are modern-day revisionist historians who desire to remove God, the Bible, and the Judeo-Christian belief from the foundation of this nation, history cannot be changed. It can be rewritten, but not changed. The more we move away from our FOUNDATION, the weaker we become. Just like a house that has been blown off or has fallen off its foundation is weak, so is this nation. 

With the rise of 'non-belief' has come a decline in our 'culture.' My prayer is that people, individuals, everyone will discover or rediscover the God only found in the Bible, the Holy Spirit that helps lead and guide, and Jesus who saves us. This, alone, could change the direction of our nation. 

CLOSING CHALLENGE

So I ask you: What will you do?

Will you read the Constitution—not a summary, not a commentary, but the actual document? 

Will you hold your elected officials accountable, regardless of their party? 

Will you teach your children to love this country not because it is perfect, but because it is good—and because it is theirs to steward?

If enough of us say yes, the second Civil War—the quiet one, the cultural one, the one fought in courtrooms and classrooms—can be won. Not by changing the Government structure, but by the American people remembering who they are.

And that is a victory worth fighting for.