In The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe's tribute to American greatness, exemplified by the original Mercury Program astronauts of the 1960s (and one incredibly heroic X15 test pilot), you'll find a manual showing why you might want to be proud to be a citizen of the United States.  If you've never seen the movie, I strongly recommend it.  It captures the romance, innocence, and patriotism of an era that the United States of 2021 desperately needs to look to as a guide.

There are many conservatives — and many moderates — who read the essays penned in American Thinker.  Those essays typically inform and guide thinking.  However, we are past just thinking about things.  This essay is different.  With The Right Stuff in mind, this essay is a call to action.

What we've seen for the past 18 months (and this is an incomplete list) are

• Antifa/BLM riots;
• the questionable election of 2020;
• the Deep State's COVID overreach (both federal and local);
• the ascendancy of the radical Marxist Sanders / Omar / AOC / Lightfoot wing of the Democrat party;
• the tight control the tech oligarchs exercise over our national discourse;
• the malignant invasion of oligarch money of Soros, Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos, et al. into our national and local elections;
• the progressivist money-printing that masks itself as a congressional budget;
• the politicization of the U.S. military;
• and U.S. corporations kneeling before both the radical domestic left and the CCP in Beijing.

Given these drastic changes to America, it's not unreasonable to say that conservative patriots are being or about to be driven underground.  Within your company, house of worship, school, or family, you may be underground right now.  Like many "undergrounds" of the past, however, there is still a great deal one can do.  Witness the accomplishments of the French and Polish undergrounds under Nazi occupation or the Philippine underground during the brutal Japanese occupation.

It is time for all of us to show "The Right Stuff" and exemplify courage.  This does not require breaking the law or engaging in any type of warfare.  Instead, it means simply stepping out of the shadows in which we've been hiding.  Let's begin with a partial checklist.

• Are you a congressional staffer who becomes aware of the left's fascist overreach in upcoming legislation?
• Are you a corporate middle manager who becomes aware that your company is striking a nefarious deal with the CCP?
• Are you a public school teacher or aide who is aware that your school or school district is about to implement a radical, false textbook or curriculum?
• Are you a student being forced to sit through lectures spreading lies and deceit?
• Are you a police officer being told to stand down when you know that public safety and property are being threatened?
• Are you a media producer or a newsroom staffer aware of certain news stories your station is suppressing or warping?
• Are you a military officer being asked to cross a line between national defense and political indoctrination?
• Are you a medical caregiver being ordered to participate in procedures you know are morally anathema?
• Are you a medical researcher being asked to participate in research you know is flagrantly dangerous?
• Are you a statistician being urged to massage data to generate politically correct conclusions?
• Are you a computer technician being asked not to notice "irregularities" in voting machines or surveillance equipment?
• Are you a family member or neighbor who is afraid to "not get along" when something has been said that you know is false or morally repugnant or both?

There are just some of a thousand examples permeating American society that see the left need your acquiescence, cowering, or indifference for it to prevail.  Over the past 50 years, it has typically had all three.  That needs to stop

Stopping starts with us, the "little people."  We need to stop being afraid to report or oppose what we see or to speak or stand up.  Whenever and wherever it comes to the left, we need to put a spoke in its wheels.  Just think of that brave school teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia:

https://t.co/onwNQRZAa5

— Bookwormroom (@Bookwormroom) August 13, 2021

That young woman is just the most recent example.  The conservative media have been catching a growing avalanche of brave people — teachers, parents, corporate employees, etc. — standing up and speaking out.

The left is undermining America by spreading its ideas through our institutions.  We sabotage that effort by countering with our own ideas, our own speech, our own willingness to stand up and be counted.

In the past, we relied on our leaders, but they're not leading.  Now we know we must do it ourselves.  Let's just see how the left likes it when ordinary people practice personal courage, free speech, and peaceful resistance in the face of the unjust ideas and authority the left is now wielding.

Image: Refuse to bow down.  American Strong meme.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.