While activism and direct involvement is an effective response to many of our problems, the response to fear itself requires an additional approach. The good news is that confronting and defeating those who weaponize fear to control us can be achieved by anyone. It costs no money and can be done anywhere. I’m outlining here Five Pacts you make with yourself, establishing a conscious recognition of who you are, what you stand for, and what is important to you. Knowing and owning these things about ourselves makes us immediately less vulnerable to those who prey on confusion and insecurity.
The Pacts are not about creating new values or spinning up personal morality out of thin air. These actions are aimed at reversing the conscious and unconscious fear the establishment has instilled in us over time from political correctness to the new religion of wokeism.
Many of us have been so conditioned by Marxists through school, society, and politics that living our lives with fear and caution has become an enforced, almost invisible, habit. The left wants to normalize living in fear, but we can stop and reverse that as we start the personal fight by defeating the grotesque efforts to control our minds.
First Pact: Resolve to not allow strangers to control how you think about yourself, your values, and your opinions. Making a decision, a true decision, is a powerful thing. This can be accomplished by deciding you are in control of how you view yourself. This is key. Fear makes us question our own sense of reality, and even who we are. Over twenty years ago, I was at one of my first conservative events promoting one of my books. Two women approached me, and in our conversation, one noted that “perhaps we should just admit that liberals do hold the high ground on social issues, and we’re just better on the economic ones.”
I was stunned. It struck me that the constant hectoring falsely accusing conservatives of bigotry had been internalized by this perfectly nice and unprejudiced woman. The conservative argument for freedom and responsibility is the “high ground.” I informed her that leftist activists, in fact, don’t care about solving issues. By the end of our conversation she had decided to stop allowing bullies to control her perception, and to again trust herself. Decision-making in general, and especially about yourself, is a game-changer.
Second Pact: Use the power of decision-making to reinforce your own acceptance of your value, morality, and decency. The simplicity of deciding that the values that define us as people of faith, conservatives, classical liberals, or recovered leftists is important and meaningful. This provides a bulwark against those who are intent on gaslighting us into believing we’re the problem.
We can decide that someone calling us bigots is as meaningless as if they called us cocker spaniels. Bullies shouting their nonsense at us have no moral agency whatsoever. Making this pact with ourselves puts us in the driver’s seat when we’re confronted with direct or indirect challenges to our intentions, decency, and value as people. Much of this won’t even happen to our faces, but the constant rhetoric used by the left demonizing Americans for the color of our skin, the work we do, the principles we believe in, or who we voted for is brought to us through the media and other social contexts. No matter how the gaslighting makes its way to us, we won’t be caught off guard, inclined to wonder about an accusation, or be confused if we already know that what’s being said about us is untrue. We have the power to refuse to be emotionally mugged by disturbed Marxists.
Serious people can engage in debates about the issues and have differences of opinion. But we must recognize that anyone set on engaging in ad hominem attacks is a fraud and should not be taken seriously. The left wants to pull the rug out from under us, making us unsure of our own reality. But the truth is that we are the ones in control by the simple process of deciding to be in charge of our own minds.
Remember, these Pacts are meant, at first, to be a pact with yourself. We know about domestic abuse and how victims often end up believing what their tormentors tell them. It’s abusive, it induces fear, and it’s brainwashing. Actively engaging with thoughts and ideas you presumed you already had a handle on can only become stronger the more you contemplate them.
As I’ve explained in earlier chapters, fear itself is not the problem—the issue is how we respond when faced with a frightening and serious situation. Fear managed with deliberate consideration, logic, and reason can be a tool that improves and even saves our lives. What the left wants is for fear to make us unmoored, distracted, and overwhelmed. Leftists want us to react emotionally to fear, allowing it to become a mindless beast wreaking havoc on our minds. Ruminating and catastrophizing fear loops are habitual thought patterns that can be broken more quickly than many of you may realize, with the first step becoming conscious of what we’re doing and deciding to work on breaking the habit. We can never overcome fear—it’s an important natural instinct—so our goal is to manage our response to it, making us more resilient and personally powerful.
Third Pact: Regularly take small actions requiring courage. That act will be different for all of us. Merriam-Webster defines courage as the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”4 Mental and moral strength facilitates withstanding fear. Who knew? Marxists know, and this is why personal denigration, accusation, and condemnation is at the core of the Marxist mind-killing strategy. The bureaucratic establishment and the Marxists that run it want us to be alone, depressed, guilty, unarmed, afraid, living paycheck to paycheck, and high on edibles. Killing our critical and logical mind and the courage it naturally imbues is Job No. 1 for the disturbed left.
Expanding our comfort zones and building emotional strength improves every aspect of our lives. It also disrupts the habit of acquiescing to fear, both consciously and subconsciously. Deliberately moving outside our comfort zones has tremendous benefits. Afraid of public speaking? Confront it by taking a class requiring doing exactly that. I grew up terrified of bees because my mother was afraid of them. I was determined to overcome it and took an introductory beekeeping class when I was in my thirties. It worked. A simple three-hour experience changed a lifelong fear-based behavior. Courage is like a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it gets, and gifts us the feeling and reality of being in charge of our emotional life.
Fourth Pact: Take action on your beliefs. Keep in mind, taking action can be incremental and private. One of my favorite actions involved millions of people, all across the country. And yet it was private and anonymous for the people participating, but still packed a punch. I speak of the power and success of the Bud Light boycott in the aftermath of the company’s descent into wokeness.5 The establishment swooped in and insisted transphobic bigots were responsible for the outrage. Yeah, no. In fact, the response had nothing to do with transgenderism per se, but was Americans making a statement about being sick and tired of being lectured by the woke cult 24/7 in every conceivable aspect of our culture. It was a last straw.
This boycott was especially revealing because it was organic. There was no organizing for it or campaigns to convince people to engage with it—it just happened. I contend this was so powerful and important because it showed everyone that despite the left making it dangerous to speak up on issues lest you be canceled, attacked on social media, or even fired from your job, Americans had not surrendered. It was a natural opportunity for people to make a statement rejecting woke culture, and they were able to do it anonymously. No matter the obstacles, patriots find a way.
Acting on your values is important, and it does not have to get you on the evening news. Some people do take stands that could affect their job or schooling. The COVID mandates are a good example of people getting kicked out of school or losing their job because they refused to comply. The high school football coach got fired for defying the school’s prayer ban. There’s the baker whom bullies are constantly suing because he refuses to bake their gay wedding cakes that violate his religious beliefs.
Then there was Jaiden, a twelve-year-old student in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who was kicked out of a class because he had a Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag patch on his backpack.6 He and his mother went to a meeting with a school administrator who explained to them the flag had “origins in slavery” and was “disruptive.” The mom defended her son and gave the administrator an obviously needed history lesson. The mom also recorded the exchange and shared it on social media. She was steady, respectful, and forceful without being upset or aggressive. Throughout, the look on Jaiden’s face was priceless. You could see how proud he was of his mom and the fact that, together, they weren’t allowing the ignorant to determine their reality. Once the video went viral, the school reversed itself, acknowledged that what happened was a mistake, and allowed Jaiden to keep the flag patch.7 Funny what happens when the light is turned on, isn’t it?
Each of us has a different situation, and adjusting to your circumstance is important. Remember, pick your battles. Our goal is not to ruin our lives but to act within the frame of what will enhance our lives and serve our families, our faith, and our nation. We know that courage is contagious as it exposes how weak and spurious the left’s woke agenda really is. The left can only survive when it is not confronted.
Fifth Pact: Gather knowledge, develop skills, develop social support with like-minded individuals, and arm yourself. I’ll start with the last one first. I got my first handgun when I was in my twenties. I was a young woman living alone and had been violently mugged in Los Angeles, just a block from my apartment. The assault made me hyperaware of the fact that I had to be responsible for my own safety. I took self-defense classes, began to carry Mace, and while I wouldn’t carry a gun, I got one for my home.
But possessing a firearm had another unexpected impact on me, something I would learn Thomas Jefferson had described a hundred years earlier. Owning a firearm and being trained on how to use it gave me a unique “independence to the mind.” The Thomas Jefferson Monticello Foundation8 explains:
In 1785 Thomas Jefferson wrote to his fifteen-year-old nephew, Peter Carr, regarding what he considered the best form of exercise: “. . . I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprize, and independance to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.”9 [Original spellings maintained]
Beyond the practical comfort of knowing we can effectively defend ourselves if need be, having a physical reminder of our responsibility as gun owners is powerful and reminds us that we are worthy of defense and of independence. America’s founders knew this, as eloquently described by Jefferson.
Gathering knowledge is always necessary. Like with this book, the more information you have, the less mysterious events and situations become. Knowing there is a method to the madness of what we’re experiencing in itself reduces fear and anxiety. With this book, I hope I have unlocked the door for you to learning about fear and its weaponization, and how to overcome it. Look through the bibliography for more resources to expand on this issue, and many others.
I’ve suggested some approaches to develop new skills to help you through what will be a turbulent time in American and world history. Marxists and the worldwide left never stop because they’re driven by a pathological obsession to control and punish. War, crime, economic instability, harassment, denigration, racism, bigotry, have always been their favorite weapons. Your job is to always look for new personal skills to strengthen your own mental health and awareness. The less the left has to exploit with each of us, the less fear they can create.
Consider taking classes on issues at the local college. Or join a group supporting the Second Amendment or another cause you believe in, join a bowling league, or start a book group. During COVID, being afraid and even paranoid was promoted by enforced lockdowns. Humans are creatures of habit, and it’s difficult to not internalize years of being told going out and being with people might kill you or your grandma. But we are also social creatures and need human interaction, friendship, and encouragement. So make a point to gather, go out, meet people, and create an IRL (in real life) support system rather than living in the virtual world of screens.
In the end, remember as I did, that we are in charge of our minds, and they can only be co-opted or killed when we unconsciously allow it to happen. We have been the targets of techniques to quell populations for millennia, so of course we’re affected. The bad news for party apparatchiks, establishment bureaucrats, and Marxist bullies is that compliance and surrender are not American strong suits. They may continue to try to kill our minds, but they will fail.
Acknowledgments
I had the immense pleasure of meeting iconic American author Ray Bradbury when I was a radio host in Los Angeles in the 1990s. A hero of mine starting in my childhood, I interviewed him and found that he not only was a brilliant man, but funny, charming, and genuinely kind. After that first meeting, I had the special honor to accompany him to some of his appearances, or when one of his new plays would open in Pasadena, California.
Mr. Bradbury was a man who loved writing, and it showed. Ideas flowed constantly from him. I told him his energy and enthusiasm for work was unusual, and his point to me was that you will love your work when you know it’s important. If you want your work to help make things better, inspiration, determination, and enthusiasm will follow. Thoughts were powerful, he would tell me, and believing in what the future could be was an important step in making it possible.
We lost Mr. Bradbury in 2012 and while I knew him a short time, his impact on me has been lifelong, and felt especially intensely while writing this book. I remind myself every day about his lessons about gratitude, responsibility, happiness, and the power of ideas and writing. He was right about everything. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury.
Speaking of gratitude, I am especially beholden to my friends for their patience with me during this time. We’ve all been through a difficult several years politically and otherwise, and their understanding while I was hunkered down writing has been a special and generous gift. I will be spending quite a bit of time making up for missed lunches, dinners, and visits. You all know who you are, and I’ll be making sure you also know how much I love and appreciate you.
To the Broadside Books team at HarperCollins: Eric Nelson, Broadside’s editorial director and my editor, was so thoughtful and adept at helping me with direction and clarity, while making sure I was being true to my mission. My thanks to Eric, for challenging me when needed, and helping make this book as powerful as possible, and to his associate James Neidhardt, who was a terrific help with bringing everything together. Then there’s David Wienir, the assistant general counsel at HarperCollins, who had the assignment of providing the legal overview of the book. He proved that working with a lawyer who is critiquing your writing can actually be an inspiring and encouraging experience. His knowledge of and love for the medium was obvious, as was his professional expertise and respect for the work itself. Having David on the team has made this process even more transformative.
For almost twenty years now I have had the honor of being able to join the conversations and speak my mind on Fox News and Fox Business. I want to issue a special thank-you to everyone at both networks, and to Sean Hannity directly for his support and friendship. I love being a guest on his show and am always excited when I get tapped to fill in for him. It’s an amazing and fun experience. The very first show I did on Fox was Hannity & Colmes just after the network launched in 1996. I was still a liberal community organizer! It was getting to know Sean that added to my realization that maybe conservatives weren’t the bad guys the left had always portrayed them to be. My thanks to Sean and his entire team, including Tiffany Fazio, Alyssa Carey, Stephanie Woloshin, and Robert Samuel, for including me, keeping me prepared, and making everything so easy.
My thanks also to Lauren Petterson at Fox Nation and Fox News for giving so freely of her time and guidance. Lynne Jordal Martin at FoxNews.com is always a joy to work with, and a special salute to Stuart Varney on Fox Business with his eponymous Varney & Co., and his team, for their generosity with my regular Friday spot on his show to pontificate on the political and business news of the day. And they make it fun!
I’d like to share a special acknowledgment of some wonderful people for their kindness and support: Glenn Beck, Ruby Bruce, James Jay Carafano, Vince Coglianese, Kira Davis, Harris Faulkner, Steve Forbes, Newt and Callista Gingrich, Mollie Hemingway, Steve Hilton, Charlie Hurt, Caitlyn Jenner, David Limbaugh, Andrew McCarthy, Deroy Murdock, Charles Payne, Johnny Phillips, David Trulio, President Donald Trump, and Jonathan Turley; and Pam Smith, Bob Carlstrom, Andy Mangione, and the entire team at my column home, AMAC.us. It’s a pleasure and honor to know all of you.
And to you, the American people, who continue to make this nation the best place on Earth because freedom, and the power of the individual, have always mattered and always will. While there will be ups and downs, we will survive and continue to thrive because of your commitment to the values that make this country great, and the future possible. Thank you for including me on your journey.
Bibliography
Altheide, David L. Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2015.
Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973.
Aristotle. Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric. Translated by Robert C. Bartlett. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2021.
Bauman, Zygmunt. Liquid Fear. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2006.