"Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason, mastery demands all of a person." - Albert Einstein

"It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down." - George MacDonald

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Words Matter

The language we use to define issues often determines how we will solve them.

### Words Matter by Michael Quinn Sullivan The key to winning a fight isn’t found in the fight itself, but in defining what the fight is even about. The great military philosopher Sun Tzu understood this, warning his students not to let their enemies pick the times and locations of battles. He wrote, “The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.” When you fight on your enemies’ terms, it rarely works out well. You’d think this would be self-evident, but time and again, American conservatives have allowed liberals to define the fights. It is no wonder the war for our culture and republic has been in such shambles! Words matter; they shape how we approach the world and its problems. In culture and government, language also determines how we will solve them. And all too often, conservatives have allowed themselves to be backed into rhetorical corners, letting the left define the debate by dictating the very words used. Conservative politicians will say they are adopting the language employed by the cultural and political left as a reasonable concession to civic dialogue. In many cases, though, they are instead revealing their own insecurity or laziness … Or, maybe, they are just revealing their true beliefs. Take the barbaric practice of surgically and chemically mutilating the sex organs of children to achieve the appearance of the opposite gender. The left wants to call this “gender modification,” leaning into a worldview that devalues human life to little more than a knock-off Lego set. Nothing is being modified on those children, but rather mutilated. Only by calling the practice of gender mutilation what it is can we hope to see it stopped. That culture has been at war with marriage for a long time is not news. From “no-fault divorce” to “gay marriage,” holy matrimony has devolved into little more than a casual legal arrangement. The latest verbal assault is on the way spouses are referred to culturally. Gone are “husbands” and “wives.” Now they are “partners,” putting your husband on the same rhetorical footing as the fellow who services your office’s copy machine. The examples go on and on. Consider the invasion at the southern border … or the problem of “undocumented migrants.” “Undocumented migrants” is addressed in a vastly different manner than “illegal aliens.” One presumes a paperwork problem created by a bureaucracy; the other defines an existential threat to our national survival. How we describe any problem goes a long way in dictating how we will solve it. If conservatives want to be competitive in the war for culture and government, they must stop letting leftists define the terms used to describe the world. Conservatives must discipline themselves and not allow the manipulated language of the left to cross their tongues.  Conservatives must impose on the national conversation honest language to describe the issues of the day if we are to save the republic.

"He who stops being better stops being good." - Oliver Cromwell

"Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." - Ben Franklin

Quote-Unquote "The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted." – James Madison

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid." – Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Good choices come from wisdom. Wisdom comes from bad choices.

"Life is too short to be little. A man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly and expresses himself with frankness and with fervor." - Benjamin Disraeli

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." – John Adams

Beer.

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel

Quote-Unquote "The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray, but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!" – John Peter Muhlenberg

"The education of a man is never completed until he dies." - Robert E Lee

Boss: “What on earth are you doing?” Me: “Watching a tutorial on effectively dealing with co-workers.” Boss: “That’s a kickboxing video.” Me: “Yep - sure is.”

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws." – John Adams