Part 1: The Courage to Tell Ourselves the Truth

Approximate reading time: 4 min.

I want to thank Magic Valley’s own Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld for her latest Substack entry, “Are you a Warrior?” It finally got me to sit down and pen this first installment of what I hope to be a series on cultivating courage in these scary times. If ever there was a time to be brave, it is now.

The first step in breaking the bonds of our own private cowardice, indifference, and demoralization, always begins with telling ourselves the hard truth(s) we fear most – yet it is by facing inconvenient truths about ourselves that has the cleansing power to set us free from our self-fabricated prisons of lies, half-lies, ensuing shame, AND set us free.

Acclaimed historian Victor Davis Hanson in his excellent book, “The End of Everything: How Wars Descend into Annihilation” (2024) sites one of the common precursors of when civilizations are nearing self-induced collapse is the people’s insistence of their own self-aggrandizement, despite evidence of the moral, financial, and social degradation all around them.

Today’s politicians and patriots are not the only ones quick to proudly point to American gleaming exceptionalism, as a city on a hill, a beacon of hope, the greatest nation on earth. God bless America!  Hey, I am as guilty as the next liberty-loving citizen reluctant to admit that our post-Christian, neo pagan America is but a wisp of her former glory – some at the hands of nefarious actors, some by the negligence of apathetic citizens.

Telling ourselves the truth begins with having the courage to ask ourselves hard questions: Does an exceptional nation murder its babies by the millions? Should God bless America when it is the world’s largest producer and purveyor of pornography? Does a city on a hill let their cities descend into cesspools of homelessness, crime, and drugs? Does the greatest nation on earth indoctrinate its children with transgenderism?  Does a beacon of hope borrow $1trillion every 90 days? (we are $35 trillion in debt and counting).

Telling hard truths to ourselves also means refusing to let those hard truths demoralize us into apathy, paralyzing shame, hopelessness, and moral compromise that inevitably leads to people-pleasing and self-loathing. True Christian repentance for our sins is meant to restore us to a joyous relationship with God, with others and with ourselves.

Facing hard truths about ourselves always confronts us with a choice: continue to conceal our shame with the fig leaves of prideful insistence of our self-aggrandizement, and inevitably add America to the list of nations that have lied themselves into extinction. Or we can humbly admit to ourselves and to God our part in squandering our God-given liberties and neglecting our duty as citizens.

If you decide to choose the latter, and I hope you will, don’t stop there! Courageously commit your life today to the restoration of our Republic, one nation under God.

The truth is, We the People are the solution we are looking for in restoring our country, IF we will but act courageously. Courage is contagious. When you see your fellow citizens acting courageously, you will act courageously as well. Courage is forged, not in the isolation of solitude, but in the company of committed small groups. Liberty awaits us in fellowship.

MVLA is a small group of everyday citizens who are committed to restoring liberty in the Magic Valley. We are parents, grandparents, homeowners, business owners, employees, persons of faith, who love their community, just like you. We invite you to become part of the solution by joining us on Facebook (Magic Valley Liberty Alliance – MVLA), X and Substack. Visit our website (www.mvlibertyalliance.org) and be sure to visit our Take Action page.

I welcome your comments. Email me at news@mvlibertyalliance.org/webmail

Hilber Nelson, MVLA