The right response to Trump’s conviction? Press on for the republic

In today's world, everyone seems to get a trophy, which makes the trophy absolutely worthless. Unless it’s fought for, unless it’s earned and struggled for, the trophy doesn’t belong to you. The same goes for freedom. I’ve never earned the freedom we enjoy in America. I fear I spent too much of my life squandering it. And for what? Ease? Money? Just to go along to get along? A trophy that everybody gets but was never earned?

I do not accept, nor do I want that trophy. I want one that means something, and that means standing up for something.

Defeat is not an outcome. Defeat is a choice.

We were given an opportunity on Thursday to stand for something: our republic. The weaponization of our government to snuff out Donald Trump’s campaign represents a greater attack against the foundational freedoms that forged our republic: the right to a fair and impartial trial, the right to free and fair elections, the right to defend yourselves against your accusers. Will you stand for it?

Now is the time to decide, and our decision may very well determine whether our republic is heading toward victory or defeat.

I will never say we are finished. I will never utter the words, “We have lost!” Because defeat is not an outcome. Defeat is a choice. It is the choice of the person who is pushed down and refuses to get back up. It is the choice of the person who backs down when pitted against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The posture of defeat is the one who backs down when things get hard. Will you take that posture? Or will you stand for freedom and rise to the occasion that our republic demands?

It always sucks before you get to the summit. The question is: As you're driving your wagon train over the Rocky Mountains, do you press on? Do you actually have an unwavering belief in our republic? Do you really even know the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution? Do you know why we fight? Because if you don't know, you will lose.

Will enough of us call upon that unyielding spirit that has always been inside us? Will you stand for those values that we’ve been told our whole lives are self-evident? Apparently, they are not self-evident any more, according to our ruling elites.

Our country forged the greatest mission statement the world has ever witnessed, that all people are "endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," where justice and freedom can be had by all.

That is the summit of the mountain we now face, and it is a summit worth pressing forward to reach. We are still on the side of the mountain. We have a long way to go, and last Thursday, they tried to knock us back down. We must ask ourselves today: Do we just go back down? Is this as far as we go? Or do we just say, "Press on, America."

We must press on. We must not accept defeat. If we do, we are not worthy of the freedom that is worth fighting for.

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