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To the editor:

One of the positive benefits of the present pandemic has been the opportunity to slow down, read, study, and reflect.   George Orwell’s book, “1984,” published in 1949, is a good read and provides much food for thought and reflection. Orwell was a little off on his dates, but much of what he describes in his book about life in Oceania under a totalitarian government is spot on to what is unfolding in America today.

Totalitarianism is defined as a government in which one political group exercises complete control over the populace and outlaws all other groups. In Oceania, Orwell speaks, among other things, of the “thought police” (political correctness, elimination of offensive words and language, cancel culture, book banning, censorship, border media blackout), of “re-education programs” (social justice seminars, LGBTQ indoctrination classes), “surveillance by Big Brother,” (Big Tech, smart devices, social media), and the “destruction of historical monuments and works of art,” (Confederate statues). The people in Oceania have lost total freedom of movement, privacy, speech, assembly, and worship and live in fear of retribution by Big Brother who doles out rewards and punishments based on an individual’s behavior (think China).

And then there is “double-think” – holding two contradictory beliefs simultaneously and accepting both of them as truth. Today, we know, scientifically from genetics, there are only two genders and yet, Big Brother would have us believe there are many. We know scientifically from the mapping of the human genome, there is no “gay gene,” but we are to embrace and support homosexuality even though the evidence shows it to be a lifestyle fraught with emotional distress, disease, and heartache.  We know deep down that abortion kills innocent human babies, but we are expected to celebrate the 63 million babies that have been destroyed since 1973 in this country by this gruesome practice – and worse still, to support the abortion industry with our tax dollars even when many abhor the practice.   We know there is absolute truth, yet we are to embrace the notion that truth is relative and that two contradictory notions can both be right. Double-think.   

Oceania was a totalitarian, socialist society. In America today, there seems to be a growing acceptance, especially by the young, of socialism. Patrick Henry once said, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.”  Truly, those who ignore the lessons of history are destined to repeat them.   

Where has socialism ever worked?

And yet, some think the socialists of the past just didn’t get it right and that we can do better. Some are all too anxious to give up individual freedom, independence, and responsibility for the hope that big government will take care of them. But how has Washington actually done taking care of things in the past – like Social Security, the War on Poverty, the U.S. Postal Service, Obamacare, the Veterans’ Administration, or the federal budget? The only thing socialism does to a nation is impoverish it by destroying the incentive to work and get ahead and enslave it by taking away the very freedoms that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world. Like the Roman Empire, we are destroying ourselves from within.    

May God help us overcome the forces of evil in our land and place our hope and trust in Him rather than in Washington.  America must return to the firm foundation of God’s Word and faith in Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Light – the source of true freedom and security.   Everything else is destined to fail.

Neal Essic

Mocksville