Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Dear future Americans,

You don’t know me, but given my two children, and how many young’uns they’re likely to have, and so on and so on, down through the generations, it’s just as likely that if you’re reading this a hundred generations on as not that I’m one of your progenitors. So, for the sake of clarity, and to tweak my own already inflated sense of worth, you can call me Gran’pa Harry. You can probably thank me for the gray hair and I’d like to take some credit for your general disdain toward authority in all of its forms. For your smarts, good looks, and incredible grit you can thank your 100-generations removed grandmother. She’s a peach.

I’m writing to you today (January 1, 2020) to give you a perspective on your ancestors, so that you might know us better. See, I’m not sure how the history books will portray those of us that look at statism and socialism as an unnecessary Evil; Who roll our eyes at attempts to politically correct every aspect of life and history; Who keep out steel sharp and out powder dry, waiting until the Left takes things just one step too far. In all likelihood, we’ll be shown in a bad light, much as we are being shown now. We’ll all be looked at as antisocial, or racist, or sexist, to whatever are the bad guy tag lines of your time. So let me start off there: it just isn’t so.

Given the amount of folks that I have to interact with, through my job, and church functions, etc., I have the opportunity to know people of many walks of life, with as diverse a mix of social and political opinions as you’re likely to come by. And I can say, by and large, that there’s very few bigots in the lot of them. The people that are being violently maligned today are the ones who are in fact less bigoted, as they insist on (gasp!) holding all people, regardless of gender, race, or religion, to the same standards, giving preference to none. We’re hated, in fact, because we won’t turn a blind eye, regardless of who you are, but will hold everybody accountable, consequences be damned.

And make no mistake: there are consequences. We’re abused, both verbally and physically, by the same folks who say that we’re the violent, vulgar ones. We’re called fascists because we hold the Bill of Rights up as the highest law of the land. We’re accused of discrimination because we don’t go in for coveting what our neighbor’s got, and don’t want that neighbor to covet what we’ve earned. We’re labeled antisocial because we just want to be left alone, to live our lives as we see fit, bending knee only to God and the woman we want to marry. In short: they hate us because we’re a constant, savage reminder of just what an American is meant to be.

Ironically, as a group, we read lots of westerns, histories, and science fiction. Maybe it’s because we like to know where we’ve been, and enjoy speculating about where we’re going. It’s where we are right now that’s failed us. You see, for the better part of a century, at least as far back as FRD, we’ve been under siege, our livelihoods and individual freedoms (which have been rightly referred to as “God-given rights”) assaulted by people who can only be referred to as the enemy. Let me tell you a bit about them.

The liberal political establishment, regardless of whatever name they emerge under—democrat, democratic socialist, communist, what have you—is completely opposed to the American way of life. By any definition, they’re insane. They look at every example of their political ideology that 20th century history has to offer, and ignore the blood of millions. They see a failed experiment in communal living by force, and tell themselves that this time it will work. Just like every one of their predecessors said to themselves. And with the same inevitable result. The history of the last century is a tally of blood, drained from all of us, in the name of “Progress.”

One of the lessons that the left-leaning clusters of the world never seem to learn is that forced equality isn’t equality. They promote the idea of making everyone rich by stripping the already rich of their money property, and the economically downtrodden, who’ve been told for their entire lives that it’s not their fault they’re poor, it’s the wealthy that are doing it, hear it and jump at the chance. The same economically downtrodden who have been left behind by every single government works project, and welfare scheme, willingly become the foot soldiers of the lunatic powers that be. Millions die, in the name of some idealized equality whereby all are equal, at last, though in such a wretched state that they’d have been better off just leaving things as they were. This is the lesson that honest socialist history teaches us. Never forger it. And never forget that the people that promote this way of life, this monstrosity of a political ideology that has led to the deaths of millions in each and every case, are murderers. If not in fact then by proxy. And no matter who you are, they’re always going to be gunning for you.

-Aside: “Gunning for you” is a perfect, if ironic, choice of phrases, when it comes to these folks, who are perpetually doing their best to disarm the general populace. Make no mistake, my intelligent descendants: the only reason an authority wants to take away your means of fighting back is so that you can’t defend yourself against them. They fear you. They know what you can do, and it terrifies them. So hold on to your hardware with both hands, and be ready to fight to keep it. But, I digress-

I’m not sure what kind of a world you’re living in right now. If all goes well, you’re going to be living on many worlds, seeking out your living by the sweat of your brow, and not stealing it from those who can. I hope that this is the case. I feel a reason for my current optimism is the blatantly obvious fact that the modern left are losing their minds. Never stable in the first place, they were at least able to hide most of their lunacy/stupidity behind a smile that was nothing more than a shining turd. Nowadays, as their every step is getting either tripped or downright blown back, they’re losing even that fingertip grip on reality that’s kept them out of padded rooms for most of their lives. They’re showing the world just how unstable they are. And society is at long last standing up to them and saying, “No more.”

There are many here and now who think that a war is coming. I can’t help but think that it is already here, and has been for a very long time. It’s the oldest conflict, a perpetual stalemate between light and darkness, between advancement and an everlasting dark age. And though it may prove me more fanciful than I see myself, it does appear that light is winning.

I write. I mean, obviously. I try to write science fiction, though find that I’m not smart enough to pull it off. As such, I smilingly call my scribbles space opera or science fantasy. In truth, that still might be seen as delusions of grandeur. Though as I’ve said before: of what use are delusions of mediocrity? In much the same spirit, I believe that whatever future you find yourselves in is a good one. One in which the light has won, and the stagnant armies of darkness are at long last beaten back into the nothing that they’ve always been. I believe that you’re saved.

So, I will end this by wishing you all well, but also to remind you that things are worth fighting for, and we are fighting; that you should know your history, or else become history yourselves; that the price of your continued freedoms is your eternal vigilance. Never forget that you’re not only the legacy of those that came before, but are also the heroes or villains of those that will follow. You may never set out to be a role model, but you will be to someone. So: be worth it.

Sincerely,
Gran’pa Harry

Gran’pa Harry’s latest book can be found at Amazon.com via that link right there!