Will Bill Lee defend Tennessee patriots against federal overreach?

Tennessee is not just any state. In fact, it might just be the Christian conservative equivalent of California in terms of the combined wealth, ingenuity, and talent that resides there among those claiming a biblical worldview. My visits to the Volunteer State have left me inspired and impressed.

Yet, we are nonetheless in the position now where the federal government is going to brazenly take peaceful citizens from Tennessee and put them in prison for the crime of using their God-given constitutional rights to defend the God-given constitutional rights of others.

This is not a drill. Unless we rewrite the rules of engagement that we have become accustomed to, a host of Tennesseans are going to follow Jonathan Darnel to jail.

Four pro-life Christians were convicted this week of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act for protesting outside a Nashville-area abortion clinic in 2021. The defendants could face up to six months in prison, five years of supervised release, and fines of up to $10,000.

Meanwhile, six other Tennessee citizens from the same incident were found guilty of similar charges in January and are scheduled for sentencing on July 2 that could include up to 10-and-a-half years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine not to exceed $260,000.

So, I ask you this under such obscene circumstances: Have we arrived at the moment when Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R), the chief executive officer to whom state law enforcement answers directly, calls out the sheriffs or maybe the National Guard and directs them to protect the lives and homes of his constituents from any further infringements or usurpations by the federal government?

Before you answer that, maybe a little perspective would help from somebody already sitting in prison for the same so-called crime of protesting the murder of innocent babies. Jonathan Darnel is one of nine anti-abortion activists found guilty of violating the FACE Act during a protest at a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic. He has been in jail pending sentencing since September 2023.

“Most of Christian America doesn’t realize that we are not just harmless eccentrics being picked on by an abusive DOJ,” Darnel said. “God willing, we are the vanguard of a revived national rescue movement and an opportunity for Christian America to summon courage and defy a government that has grown too wicked to command our obedience.”

What do you say, Gov. Lee? When is enough is enough? Christian school children were already murdered by a transgender terrorist in your state. With that memory still so fresh, can you find the strength to fulfill your oath to defend the people of Tennessee against all enemies, foreign and domestic?

Can we count on Republicans to understand and implement the doctrine of the lesser magistrate, which makes Lee and the law enforcement officers under him every bit as obligated as the federal government to preserve and protect the rights of its citizens?

The hour is late. We have little time left to wait for answers after so many wasted years of Republican caving and equivocation.

I've been doing political activism as my full-time work for almost 18 years now, and during that time, I’ve had plenty of first-person exposure to how the other side rolls. Never once in any of those interactions has the phrase “that’s the best we can do in a red state” been uttered about a Democrat candidate. They go on offense whenever and wherever they are, while the GOP often acts like a permanent minority even when it has all the votes and all the power.

They do the “long march through the institutions.” We do “surrender now before it’s too late” failure theater.

If a nation is truly founded on the things we claim to believe in on the right, then we’ve been ignoring our duties and obligations as both citizens and elected executives for far too long. Our founding fathers would have been shocked at the injustices we tolerate in the name of our nonsense and our comfort. Heck, just look what happened when their tea was taxed too vigorously. War!

But we obviously aren’t a free people like they were any longer. Because any truly free people would not let things get to the point where they have to beg the leaders on their side to keep them out of jail for the crime of praying.

This is not a drill. Unless we rewrite the rules of engagement that we have become accustomed to — you know, where Republicans pretend they are some sort of tactical Sun Tzu bringer of glorious red waves when all we really ever get from them is Dorf on politics — a host of Tennesseans are going to follow Jonathan Darnel to jail.

Yet, look at the hope that Darnel still has while he sits unjustly behind bars. Why on earth can’t that be our hope while we still have the freedom to act? Why won’t we let that lion out of its cage and be the courageous vanguard of truth and righteousness that he speaks of?

If we won’t, the next one to end up in a cage could be you. And the fault will be yours as much as anyone else’s.

This is a time for choosing. You’re up, Gov. Lee.