It is a profound mistake to believe that people can be compelled to acquire a higher level of consciousness by coercion. This applies to all forms of consciousness - spiritual, social and political. That is because coercion is a negative force. When applied, it produces resistance in the person upon whom it is exerted.

Of course, throughout recorded history, we can see how coercion takes root in human society. Our police use coercion to restrain those who attack the citizenry. Parents use coercion to restrain their children from acting out self-destructive impulses.

At a tactical level, coercion is effective and arguably necessary. But, at a strategic level, coercion is always inferior to persuasion, because persuasion taps into Free Will and thus has the power to circumvent the resistance that coercion inevitably engenders.

Our national government today is controlled by people who do not understand that coercion is strategically unworkable in a democratic Republic. Executive orders that establish Czars who rule dictatorially over people's lives, and legislative enactments that criminalize how people live their lives, inevitably produce resistance in the citizenry.

To govern successfully in a free America, the governors must honor the Free Will of the people. They must learn that a nation is like a group of people at a party. Everyone wants to receive an invitation. Nobody wants to be compelled to attend.