Not Backing Down
“Well, I won’t back down.
No, I won’t back down.
You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I,
Won’t back down.
No, I’ll stand my ground.
Won’t be turned around.
And I’ll keep this world from draggin’ me down.
Gonna stand my ground.
And I won’t back down.
Hey, baby.
There ain’t no easy way out.
Hey, I will stand my ground.
And I won’t back down.
Well, I know what’s right.
I got just one life.
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around,
But I’ll stand my ground.
And I won’t back down.””
Tom Petty wrote this song after an arsonist set fire to his home in 1987. He believed it was a targeted attempt to murder him and his family, who were all home and having breakfast at the time. It was also his wife’s birthday. He was heavily impacted by the event and wrote the song “I Won’t Back Down” as a testament to not letting such terrorizing stop him from performing and writing music.
The link between this song and the times in which we live is obvious. I suggested in last week’s blog that we have now entered a war of ideas in America, and arguably around the globe. This war is between Judeo-Christian Western culture and free market economics against a Socialist-Marxist-Islamic cultural cocktail intended to replace the system we have had since the founding of this country.
In the week since I wrote that piece “We Are All Charlie Kirk” last week, my predictions that the left would not show any contrition or sadness or take any responsibility or back off their rhetoric or policies in any way has proven true. The hate for Charlie Kirk and Christians and Jews broadly on the internet and by Democratic politicians has actually increased as they seem to feel threatened by the coming together in grief and resolve of people on the right. Every day there is a new murder or attempted murder of ICE or other police officers, of Jews or Christians or other conservatives by Islamists or transgenders or illegal aliens or repeat criminals released from jail.
And the Democratic Party shows absolutely no sadness or outrage at this increase in violence inspired by their rhetoric. They seem to be fine with it.
The most disgusting display of this has been from California Governor Gavin Newsom. After starting his obvious but undeclared presidential run by debating Charlie Kirk and suggesting that men in women’s bathrooms and sports was not a good idea, he has pivoted to the full-throated Marxist Left. I have only met Gavin a couple of times, but he has no beliefs or principles outside of his own ambition. Therefore, he can take any position on any issue that he feels will serve that ambition without any noticeable tinge of regret or shame for changing positions. He had a massive press conference last week, which CNN broadcast instead of much of the Kirk Memorial service, talking about the new bill he just signed in California which forbids any police officer from wearing a mask at any time. This from the state that, not that long ago, required all citizens to wear masks any time they were outside of the home, even while surfing alone in the water.
Why this law? So that bad guys can know who the officers are, find their homes and kill their families. That is not an exaggeration. That is the only reason to do it and many illegals and criminals having been asking for it. They hope law enforcement will “back down” in fear.
That same disgusting Gavin Newsom is now making the rounds on leftist late night TV and active on X. He tweeted “I fear that in 2028 we will not have an election — I really mean that in the core of my soul.” He went on to repeat that on TV. He also said on TV that ICE was “an authoritarian secret police.” Hours later, a shooter shot some people at an ICE facility in Dallas.
Connection? You bet. Will Newsom apologize or tone down his rhetoric. Not a chance.
You see, Gavin is now leading in polling for the Democratic nomination in 2028. But AOC is nipping at his heals. A recent CNN report shows that AOC, who is the heir to the Bernie Sanders coalition, is in a much better position vis a vis Newsom today than Bernie was vis a vis Hillary Clinton prior to 2016. Bernie actually won that 2016 primary. The prediction, with which I agree, is that AOC will win the primary in 2028. Gavin is trying to get to at least as far left if not more so than AOC and hopes that his fabulous hair and teeth will put him over the top. He does not want to make the mistake of moderation that Hillary made.
So, the temperature is not going down. Our side can unilaterally lower it, but that would be capitulation. We can’t back down without conceding to the other side.
Also, for a long time, I did not associate the Democratic Party, writ large, with the far left. But clearly now, as you see from Gavin Newsom’s actions, the far left is now the “mainstream” of the Democratic Party. We will likely see evidence of that in the NY Mayor’s race in November. Many Democrat voters have not noticed this yet. We need to educate them.
The main battle here is for the culture. It is Socialist economics, Marxist governance and Islamic culture vs. the economics of market capitalism, constitutional governance and Judeo/Christian culture. The difference is clear as day.
Underneath this fight for our future culture and governance, there are lots of individual policy items. Budgets, debt, foreign wars, trade issues, education, environmental policies, on and on and on.
We revere Abraham Lincoln as one of, if not our greatest president. Even Barrack Obama agreed with that, although he ranked Lyndon Johnson ahead of George Washington. To save the union, Lincoln repealed the writ of habeas corpus and did a lot of other things that we would be horrified with today and would consider unconstitutional. Even the emancipation proclamation, though later confirmed by congressional action, was essentially what we today call an “executive order” that was probably outside of his authority to make. History does not punish him for those actions because we see the greater good of saving the union and ending slavery as having been worth it. Also, to be frank, because the victors write the history.
Though not a shooting war (although one side is doing a lot of shooting right now), we are in a war to save the union again. In my opinion, we need to cut the administration some slack on the things they are doing to make sure we use all the non-violent tools we have to win this war.
One obvious example is redistricting. What is going on is terrible. It is gerrymandering and politicians choosing their voters rather than the other way around and so forth. But, it has been done before and the country survived it. The term gerrymandering comes from districts drawn by Governor Gerry in Massachusetts in 1812. This round was started by the Democrats in Massachusetts again, and Illinois. If Republicans did not answer, we would for sure lose the House in 2026. So, we are doing something we don’t like from a pure policy perspective to counter the actions of the left. Amongst the many brilliant things said by Charlie Kirk was that the Democrats don’t play by our rules so we have to play by theirs.
If this were a fight over some policy issue, I would not mind being “the better man” and losing. But, we can’t lose the country and the culture.
Over the next few weeks, and perhaps months, I am going to review various policy areas including but not limited to economics, the budget and debt, foreign policy, education, the environment and so on in terms of how we may need to accept some policy positioning that may not be our first choice so that we win the broader war.
Continuing the military analogy (I am a student of military history) we win the war on land, sea and air and with logistics, manpower and strategy. Think of all of those as areas of policy (economics, foreign policy, etc.). The goal is to win the war. Those are the tools that help you win.
Be like Charlie Kirk and Tom Petty. Don’t back down.
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free
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