Don’t Underestimate the Power of Even a Little Political Pressure

I wrote for my police union newspaper throughout my career. That taught me not to underestimate the power of even a little political pressure. I felt compelled to write articles in response to the social justice warriors ruining my police department (and city). I aimed for those articles to reflect the concerns of the department’s rank-and-file. After all, when I wrote, I’d keep in mind what my fellow cops had said in conversation.

Still, I had no illusions I was anything more than a street cop expressing an opposing opinion. That’s why each time I got blowback from city and department leaders, I wondered why what I’d written had made them so angry. Why did they care so much about what I thought?

They took my words so seriously because the left cannot stand any opposition. They’re sure not interested in debating ideas. They’d rather just designate your beliefs hate speech. Still, this showed me even a tiny voice in the vast ether creates pressure. Even a slight pressure slows their progress.

I thought more about this recently after listening to The Rush Limbaugh Show on Christmas Eve with guest host Todd Herman. Herman spoke eloquently about applying political pressure through peaceful activism. The gist: any amount of pressure on the political opposition is better than no pressure.

Where I live, there is a 60/40 percentage advantage for leftists. In Seattle proper, it might be as high as 80/20, and in some neighborhoods, maybe even closer to 100 percent. This can lead conservatives to feel it’s pointless to mount any opposition. But we must remember, any amount of pressure can have an impact.

Let’s take a local school board meeting. If the attendees are 80 percent leftists, with eight out of every 10 people, they’ll likely dominate the agenda. But that’s only if neither of the two out of 10 people on the right is brave enough to speak. Even if leftists try to shout them down, the opposition will feel the pressure. If nothing else, the leftists’ anger and incivility will offend traditional, normal (if there are any left), Democrats.

The pressure is even more potent if a conservative delivers his or her points passionately, even eloquently. An example of this passion and eloquence was on display from a Virginia woman who called into that Rush Limbaugh Show and spoke with Herman. She expressed her opinions stirringly, and Herman urged her to organize others in her area to make an impact. In her case, her issue involved fighting the Democrats’ current attempt to steal the 2020 elections.

If you’re afraid of people getting angry simply because you provide alternative ideas, adjust your expectations. Again, their anger at your opinion is glaring evidence your pressure is working. What speaking out also does is spark others on your side to do the same. It gives people courage, knowing they are not alone. After all, right now the future of our republic as founded is literally at stake.

This anecdote involves applying pressure but in writing rather than speaking. In 2010, I wrote a series of articles critical of my city’s social justice indoctrination of the cops. This caught city leaders’, the police chiefs’, and the media’s hair on fire. They publicly criticized me and called me racist without ever speaking with me. They violated my First Amendment rights, as they “investigated” me for 7 months, after which they found I’d done nothing wrong—mostly because I’d done nothing wrong.

Their overreaction had the desired chilling effect on other cops’ free speech rights. A sergeant told me he’d also submitted an article to the union paper expressing similar sentiments. Another officer told me he’d written an article critical of their political reeducation. After the city and my department attacked me, the sergeant told me he’d withdrawn his article before publication, and the officer said he’d changed his mind and did not submit his article.

This political bullying has real-world consequences. I don’t blame those cops who changed their minds. Every person has to decide what they are willing to risk when standing up for a cause. But, when you don’t stand up, the radical left wins. They don’t care about what you believe, but they still don’t want other people to hear it. Someone may listen to you. They must keep you too frightened to speak your mind—pressured into silence.

Despite the city’s bullying, one brave officer submitted an article to our union paper defending me. Did the department/city go after him, too? No. The pressure from my opposition, and the pressure of that officer joining the “opposition,” had made them cautious. They knew they’d violated my rights and wanted attention off the issue.

Pressure. Maybe not a lot but, at least, a little—because some is better than none. While I advise people not to start political conversations, I encourage them not to allow leftists to go unchallenged if they start. There are ways to challenge while remaining civil. For example, I like to use questions, as a non-threatening challenge.

We should challenge arrogant leftists to answer questions that make them defend their political positions. For example, the other day my wife and I were strolling on a bike/walk path—maskless (oh, the humanity!). An older gentleman standing on the side of the path, making the virus political, admonished us, “No masks? The virus is mutating in Australia. Also, in Mexico, where it hasn’t been that bad, so far.”

Instead of telling him to, “mind your own business,” I asked him, “Have you heard that when a coronavirus mutates, which is normal, even if it’s more transmissible, it’s usually less dangerous?”

He looked at me like I had three heads. He didn’t appear angry but said nothing else. Pressure. Will my applying a little pressure affect what he says to the next person. Will he do some research and learn that the mainstream media and some governors and mayors have politicized a disease to terrorize the people? Will he discover those politicians and bureaucrats are scaring Americans and destroying their sense of wellbeing, and many livelihoods, by lying about what they claim is “science” and “data?” Maybe he will. After all, some pressure is better than no pressure.