Beware Cold Hearts

Be prepared. The political left is dying slowly and publicly. Have you noticed? Those desperate to shut the rest of us down, to centralize power, are failing. As they fail, Cold Hearts rise, and violence.

What are Cold Hearts? Cold Hearts – the kind communists, fascists, and ideological radicalizers cultivate – are those indoctrinated to believe violence is justified in the name of ideology.

In our constitutional republic, they are recognizable – vehement non-constitutionalists, ideologically captured, in a word, radicalized. They learn to demonize, to suppress their conscience.

The difference between those who fight injustice legally, confront unfairness with words, and seek reasonable adjudication by peaceful means – and those who default to violence, is simple. One is civilized, the other barbaric.

So, why are we at this historic juncture, where constitutional, civilized discourse meets neo-barbaric behavior? What are the signs that we tripped some invisible wire, and what are the remedies?

We are at this dangerous juncture for big, not-so-obvious reasons.

First, the left is on a long push. For decades, the anti-liberty “power concentrators”  – communists, in particular – have worked to undermine American cohesion. They attack three sources of “Americanism,” which hold us together: our largely Christian faith, families, and freedoms.

If you doubt me, check out Russell Kirk’s “The Conservative Mind,” which suggests this assault began early last century, rises and falls in waves, the Soviet push into American society with “fellow travelers”  the 1930s, communist attempts on Hollywood in 1940s and 1950s, leftist terror acts in the 1960s and 1970s, and – after brief relief under Reagan – a calculated push up to now.

There is nothing conspiratorial about this assessment; it is simply recounting American history. Attacks on Christianity began to pick up late 1940s, accelerated (with drugs, riots, and terror) in the 1960s, in sync with attacks on the family, and chipping away at constitutionally-protected liberties.

Second, Democrat governments and Justices – and some Republicans – have taken individual rights. Look at academic scholarship, court opinions, and what gets taught in schools. You see a gradual erosion of moral compass and established norms, forces fracturing the family, a slow erosion of individual liberties in favor of more government, higher regulation and taxes, cuts to free speech, religious freedom, gun ownership, privacy at home, due process, equal protection, and trial rights.

What has happened is that these forces – call them “power concentration” forces – have, until recently, been gaining in society. We have been fractured, pulled apart, our differences emphasized over common interest in faith, families, and freedoms – allowing “power concentrators” to win.

That stopped recently, first in 2016, then after a morbid, horrifying distortion of our laws, attacks on a former president, and disrespect for laws, faith, family, and historic freedoms – and then in 2024.

Third, society is waking up. While still churned up by the left’s frustrations with not holding power, society is beginning to again “up-value” faith, family, and constitutional freedoms. You cannot forever keep bubbles from the surface, nor candles under baskets. A solid US Supreme Court majority is restoring legal norms, protecting minorities when peaceful, and stopping political violence.

Fourth, the political left – power concentrators – are angry. They are losing their hold on political dialogue, so have nearly killed a Supreme Court Justice, conservative members of Congress, twice tried to kill a president, and sadly did kill a young, Christian civil rights leader, Charlie Kirk.

Their agenda – forced compliance with power-concentrating, anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-freedom policies – is being replaced by a return to founding ideas, faith, families, and freedoms.

What they imagined they had locked in 2016, desperately tried to steal back, then lost – imagined they could force from 2020 to 2024, but then lost – and again imagined they could grab in 2024, is not happening. Americans are not having it. Americans are finding new appreciation for old values.

So, that brings us to now. The left is dying, visibly, before our very eyes, media outlets going under, “diversity, equity, inclusion,” “critical race theory,” misinterpretations of Title IX that hurt girls -all dying. Dying too are the made-up things, 29 flavors of gender – instead of two.

Common sense, the shared realization that their “power concentrating” ideology is dead, that “the emperor has no clothes,” is rising. America has figured it out – God is God, Government is not God.

But here is the kicker: Like serpents, leftist ideology, communist ideas, anti-faith, anti-family, anti-freedom – dies hard. The last defense is a default to violence. That is why we must be hopeful and vigilant. As the left dies, Cold Hearts and violence rise, until finally defeated. Be prepared.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!