Dakota Beacon

After reading the Wall Street Journal article “Where’s Socrates When You Need Him?,” my mind went immediately to what has transpired in the ongoing series of letters, blogs and columns in local publications concerning the NDGOP.

What should be a healthy dialogue, i.e., in its traditional meaning referred to people with divergent viewpoints coming together in hope of discovering different, more complex, and perhaps higher truth, has become something that is hardly recognizable as any kind of a search for “truth.”

Instead it bears an uncanny resemblance to the way my grandmother used to describe her monthly church ladies’ meetings: “Tit for tat.”

In all honesty, it feels like gossip. So much of the content is just this: small, petty, and unproductive. The "woke” posture of the establishment fails miserably in its attempt to take the “moral high ground” in opposition to the conservative voice which they characterize as out of step with the majority. 

We need to be reminded what is at stake. It’s the future of our country! It isn’t like there are no substantive issues confronting the America we find ourselves living in. Listen in on conversations at the student union of a state university to supply a description, and you would probably be aghast at what you’d hear.

Instead of thoughtful discussion about the history of the State of Israel and the geopolitical response to the heinous crimes committed against her, you would probably get a bleeding-heart response to the necessity of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

Or take the border crisis and the millions of illegals as we wait for the next terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Who knows the enemies of our Republic who have crossed illegally and made their way into America’s heartland unannounced and unnoticed?

What about the national debt of $33 trillion and disregard for sound monetary policy?

Or what about the axis of power: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea?

It is indeed a very dangerous time in the world. So, if we need a code of conduct for the Republican Party maybe it should include talking points to guide the average family dinner conversation about things your family “needs to know” to navigate life in these United States and the world around us. 

Back to the college campus where many of us have sent our young adult children, hoping against hope they won’t get sucked into the nearly certain vortex of "wokeness" that awaits them.

The culture has been infiltrated with socialistic ideology and the collective values of the left—but mind you, it’s for the common good—for the good of the order. “Says who?” is the response I would suggest is the one to arm your college student to give back to the professor trying to silence the dissenting opinion.

It’s high time to ditch the “woke” mentality and have some real conversation! Let’s get off social media and spend some time in dialogue.

Gary Emineth is the former NDGOP state chairman and host of "Open Range" on BEK TV.