Funding the Resistance

We need a resistance in these dark days to fight those whose bumper stickers say “resist” but whose voices and actions tell us to “submit.” For those who cannot be in the frontlines, funding the campaign is an honorable and necessary task. And one that might just bear fruit.

If you are on the side of big tech, the major media, Hollywood, the academy, local, state, and federal bureaucracies, and the entrenched party in power, you have no right to say you are part of the “resistance.” You are on the side of the establishment. When people talk about “the man,” you can look in your mirror to figure out to whom any sticking should be done. Who then are the true resistance?

The true resistance in this country consists of those who are fighting against the imposition of Critical Race Theory in schools, universities, corporations, and everywhere else. The true resistance fights against the use of racial categories in the distribution of COVID relief funds and the opportunity to apply for jobs. The true resistance believes that people are to be judged not by the color of their skin or by their sex but by the content of their character. The true resistance demands that people not be fired or accused of racism because of the use of the “OK” sign since that hand gesture is not racist but a gesture that everybody uses.

The true resistance fights for the rights of churches, synagogues, and religious educational institutions to follow the same COVID rules as Walmart, liquor stores, and BLM protesters when it comes to allowing people into their buildings or holding events. The true resistance fights against those who would punish churches, synagogues, and religious educational institutions for firing people who do not believe in or live according to the beliefs that these institutions hold.

The true resistance fights against the erasure of the categories of “man” and “woman” in favor of invented categories of gender that have no objective markers and are solely at the discretion of the individual. The true resistance fights against the demand that they acquiesce to those who say that they are something other than their biological sex.

The true resistance demands to know why the government’s video records of the supposed “insurrection” of January 6 are being kept from the public. The true resistance demands to know why first-time nonviolent suspects in that event have been held without bail, often in solitary confinement, when the Department of Justice seems to have no interest in finding out who bombed the Democratic and Republican headquarters. The true resistance wants to know who killed the only person—unarmed—who actually was killed on January 6. Say her name: Ashli Babbitt.

The true resistance consists of those who want to get to the bottom of the election shenanigans of 2020 and find out what actually happened. The true resistance wants elections that are free, fair, and untainted by irregularities that cause large sections of the public, Republican, Independent, and even Democratic to think that 2020 election was indeed rigged. The true resistance wants to know why saying the 2016 election was rigged was and is a perfectly fine view to have while saying the 2020 election was rigged is like unto Nazism.

The true resistance consists of the ones who are being banned by big tech and losing their jobs for saying things that do not comport with the big tech/media/left-wing’s views, whether it be about COVID policies, controversial court cases, or any other subject. I want the true resistance supported. And there are two things that need to be done to support it.

If the first rule of holes is to stop digging, the first rule of supporting the resistance is to stop supporting businesses and institutions that are trying to crush it. Some conservatives want to retreat to a world in which we could make decisions about products and services based almost entirely on how good a product or service is. That would be nice if we lived in a world in which corporations and businesses stuck to providing goods and services. But that is not our world. When Coke forsakes “teaching the world to sing” for telling employees to “be less white,” it’s time to skip Coke even if it’s the only soft drink on the menu. When Major League Baseball decides to insert itself into state laws about elections even though it knows nothing about these laws, it is time to watch college or amateur baseball. When Disney decides to stop making it a small world after all and goes all-in on race-segregated affinity groups in its corporate structure, you need to skip Disneyland and find a different vacation. When Amazon’s “community standards” allow the sales of the works of der Führer but demand the suppression of the works of Ryan Anderson and Heather MacDonald, it’s time to order from the companies themselves and forego the pleasures of next-day delivery.

Stop giving money to people and institutions that hate you.

The second rule of supporting the resistance is to support it financially. That means supporting the businesses and individuals that have been attacked unjustly. That means buying from those companies that have been attacked by other companies. It also means giving money to those who are supporting them. There are a number of good organizations doing important work in legal defense of those whose rights are being violated. Alliance Defending Freedom, Becket Fund, and the Thomas More Society are several that come to mind as ardent defenders of religious liberty. There is also a new Alliance for Academic Freedom, started to defend canceled professors. Such groups are great. But keep your eye out for those GoFundMe and similar campaigns that are fighting back for particular people, too.

A couple weeks ago I gave to a campaign for Nate Silvester, the Idaho police officer suspended by his employer for a TikTok video mocking Lebron James for his public statements about controversial police shootings. The campaign caught fire and has raised over a half-million dollars, the proceeds of which will not only cover Officer Silvester’s loss of income but also help other officers similarly disciplined. By fighting for Officer Silvester, donors found that they could help other officers being unjustly punished for speaking out as well as send a message to those institutions determined to do the punishing.

We need a resistance in these dark days to fight those whose bumper stickers say “resist” but whose voices and actions tell us to “submit.” For those who cannot be in the frontlines, funding the campaign is an honorable and necessary task. And one that might just bear fruit.

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The featured image is courtesy of Unsplash.