Column: Change is in the air. Can you feel it?

By Dan Kontos

What a wonderful weekend we just had, celebrating our nation’s 249th birthday. Parades, fireworks, and celebrations with neighbors, friends, and family. Independence Day is, hands down, one of my favorite holidays. It celebrates the founding of what was to become the greatest country on Earth.

I say this for a whole host of reasons. The liberties that we enjoy enshrined in our founding documents, the unrivaled economic prosperity that we have brought to ourselves and much of the world, our willingness to objectively give more to others in need (both in treasure and blood) than any other nation on the planet, religious freedom, freedom of speech, respect for the individual, etcetera, and so on.

However, this year feels different. With a hat-tip to President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 political ad, it feels like morning again in America. Over the last six months, the economy has improved, the borders are under control, criminals are being arrested, unemployment is down, the military is breaking recruiting records, manufacturing is returning to our shores, the stock market is hitting new highs, tax cuts are going to put more money in your pocket, fraud is being exposed, we are respected again all over the world, we’re moving back towards energy dominance, children are being protected, women’s sports are once again safeguarded from men, and the list goes on and on.

But oh, how the haters will hate. Against a backdrop of reality and common sense, many still cling to their venomous loathing of all things American. Did you know that, according to Gallup, only 36% of self-identified Democrats are proud of the USA?

With a precious few having the courage of their convictions to leave this nation that they so abhor, the rest of us are left to listen to the nonsensical ear-piercing gibberish emanating from the malcontents lamenting that their radical ideology is no longer taken seriously.

Rather than having an elevated platform to wail against reality and decent society, the militant malcontents have been discarded into the ashbin of irrelevance. People are just not listening to them anymore. Anyone been to a No Kings rally lately?  I didn’t think so.

We have come to recognize that we are right, and they are wrong, and the clown show that coerced our attention through deceit, violence, and social shaming just doesn’t work anymore. No one cares about your authoritarian aspirations, your antisemitism, or your desire to fundamentally change our culture.

Blue hair, nose rings, and platform boots? Love it. Be that individual and stand out from the crowd; I don’t care. I applaud your daring and sense of fun, even from someone who is the polar opposite. I appreciate your brashness and independence. However, we cross the line with a drag queen story hour for kindergarteners. That’s just wrong; period.

We unmistakably realize that the world is not ending in a perpetual 10-year apocalyptic deadline unless we surrender our sovereignty and earnings to self-proclaimed experts, our children are not pawns to be used to press evil ideologies upon society, free markets are not oppressive but rather have propelled the world into unprecedented prosperity, there is such a thing as objective morality, and pride in one’s nation is not inherently wrong. After all…’Merica!

But this is the United States, where even malignant misguided misfits have the right to free speech. After all, it’s in our big, beautiful Constitution. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see anything in there about how I must pay attention, accept it, and am prohibited from exposing the hypocrisy and malevolence of such speech. So, I am. After all, my pronouns are no/one/cares.

What once may have been considered edgy and avant-garde is now just weird, sordid, and tired. People care about your right to be a furry at the grocery store, as much as they long to see a picture of your favorite variety of tofu spread on a rice cake posted to your MySpace account. As an adult, you do you. Just don’t demand that I participate in your delusions.

What does this have to do with us here at home? Plenty. It’s both an instructive and cautionary example of how we ought to take charge of our own community, just like what is happening on the national stage. If we fail to speak out, fail to act, fail to stand up, and fail to elect good, moral, and properly grounded officials to local office, then we forfeit the chance to put these frankly unamerican ideas to bed.

We are who we are, and we don’t want to be a mini-Madison, San Francisco, or Minneapolis. But if we do nothing, say nothing, and don’t vote, we cede the battlefield of ideas to the lunatic fringe.

There are various events of local consequence coming up in the not-too-distant future. Elections, referendums, and substantial actions taken by local officials on our behalf. Don’t sit back and let events pass you by. Don’t get comfortable with your current circumstances that lull you into waiting until the damage has already been done. Be involved, be active, and be informed.

To my misguided friends, you know I love you, so I’ve got to give it to you straight. You must do a little self-examination and answer for yourself why you feel the need to try and fundamentally change what is good and wholesome, into what is rotten and divisive. For the life of me, I cannot fathom a good explanation, nor understand your reflexive disdain for all things American.

At that, we exist on opposite sides of the chasm. I will not stand quietly by while you try to change our slice of mid-west living, and I expect that you will not relent either. So be it. Just forgive me if I don’t take you seriously, and poke some fun along the way. 

Now, put your mask back on, and blast away on social media, you social justice warriors. I still have some leftover burgers and bourbon from the Fourth that I need to polish off. Cheers!

So, with that, let’s meet in the opinion section to talk about all of it, honestly, with an appreciation for all that our nation has done, and with a healthy respect for our military, first responders, and all our public servants. Things are changing in America, and here at home too. Until next time, remember that God really does love you, and I still do too.

Did you miss me?