One thing I often notice among our bunch—i.e., people who believe normal things about the world—is an overabundance of worry, hand-wringing, and self-lament about how the world has just gone crazy. We cower before the priests of this age, who can’t figure out what bathroom to use. Yet too many who know the truth refuse to live as if it has power. G.K. Chesterton wrote in The Everlasting Man, “Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” Try telling that to most among the Western church today, who seem to believe the lie that the progressive arc of history has arrived and will wipe all trace of the truth from the earth. Too many among ours lay as limp dogs, waiting for the next kick. In passively accepting the crumbling of the society that granted them freedoms barely imaginable to most who lived before, perhaps they deserve it. But that can be changed if some among them decide to stand.
The first place we must actively reengage is in our local municipalities. Most Americans who pay attention to civic affairs are focused on national topics, as the agenda-setting function of the news cycle intends. But the timeless fact remains that all politics are local. While we were obsessed with Washington, D.C., progressive anarchists worked to seize key ground in state capitols, county courthouses, city halls, school districts, and your local library. It is time to drop our gaze from hundreds of miles away to what’s happening next door.
We must start with acknowledging the purpose of government. Many would assume that its purpose resides in tactical functions that include paving roads, managing public facilities, and providing emergency services. No doubt, these are essential functions of local government. But the question I present asks about the government’s most fundamental purpose.
That answer is timeless and clear: The purpose of government is to provide order, encourage virtue, and restrain evil. By that standard, governments across America are failing at all levels. There is no need to inundate you, dear reader, with peer-reviewed studies or pages of statistics to prove this. Though such evidence abounds, it is not required. One need only open his eyes to the prevalent poverty, chronic obesity, sexual frivolity, acceptance of obscenity, blighted streets, the scourge of opioids, the epidemic of suicide, and the breakdown of civility among neighbors to name just a few indicators. These are as plainly visible as rush hour traffic in the morning and late afternoon—no expert analysis needed.
Too often, discussions about how to address such ills reach for even more policy as the sole solution. The logic goes: Write another law to fix what’s broken. But what’s broken is not the lack of policy on the books—it’s the lack of shared moral foundation, of courage, of clarity about right and wrong. For example, we have just concluded the month of June. Its name derives from the Latin juvenis, meaning “young people,” and was traditionally associated with marriage. Its Roman namesake, the goddess Juno, was seen as the protector of women and matrimony. How tragically ironic, then, that in our day this month is branded to advance an ideology that undermines both.
I speak of the LGBTQ+IA movement, which challenges the very foundations of human identity and family. In a bitter irony, this ideology proves both the full flowering of third-wave feminism and a hyper-misogyny. This is a doctrine so insidious that it insists girls sacrifice their beauty and reproductive capability, so men may show ladies how to be women. It tears masculinity from men, making them incapable of satisfying any kind of noble purpose. Tragically, governmental assent to these things has been an accelerant to this attack on human identity and physical nature. Indeed, we see proven again that the law is a teacher.
As June recently came to a conclusion, the mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas, unilaterally proclaimed it as a “Pride Month”— singling out people who deviate from the biological pattern for civic commendation. In this context, that very word pride refers to “a high or overbearing opinion of one’s worth or importance,” as described by the Oxford English Reference Dictionary. Mayor Holly Pittman attempted to mask her conclusion in the premise, using the usual boilerplate language about being "welcoming and accepting" to all… those who disagree with her position exempted. As Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” With this proclamation, Pittman demonstrated something critical: It is never a question of whether the state will teach morality, but which morality it will teach.
Mayor Pittman was backed in this enthusiastic activism by local librarians, who seem to likewise feel it their duty to lead children to consider the most basic things about their human identity as questionable and worthy of rejection. In a mark of brazen hypocrisy, the Leavenworth library board of trustees refused to allow county commissioners to speak at its most recent meeting—the same county commissioners it criticized days before in the local newspaper, in concert with sending letters of objection to each commissioner personally. They expect the right to conduct public comment, but not to receive it—as revolutionary activists are apt to do.
A city magistrate and allied administrators went rogue. The county magistrates must answer. Declaring one group as particularly special implies that their worth depends on governmental recognition. This stands in direct contradiction to the principles enshrined in our Constitution—that all are created equal, not because of their identity group, but because they are endowed with the Imago Dei—the image of God. To elevate some based on intersectional identity is to reduce the dignity of all. But to recognize and affirm truth—that is the proper and noble work of government in its God-given mission.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to show up and remind our lawmakers of their responsibility to wield municipal authority righteously. Here in Leavenworth County, I proposed a proclamation affirming the extraordinary and indispensable institution of the nuclear family, reminding commissioners that the family has always been the bedrock of civilization, the first school of virtue, the first shield against poverty, and the first source of hope.
In affirming that all, regardless of circumstance, are valuable as created by God, we must boldly speak the truth: Strong families rooted in moral clarity and mutual commitment offer the surest foundation for a happy, stable, and prosperous society. Between the traditional family and the so-called "pride" movement, only one is truly special. Only one stands the test of time across human history. Only one begets. Only one builds civilizations. One is the real deal, the other an impostor.
The law is a teacher, and has been used to lead the masses astray for too long. Let us make it politically impossible for lawmakers to continue this trend, whether as active or passive agents. We must do our part to restore the law to teach what is right—as a guide back toward human flourishing and the kind of future we should want for our descendants.
Author’s Notes:
1. This essay is adapted from remarks delivered to the Leavenworth County Commission on July 9, 2025.
2. To hopefully assist readers in joining this mission, I offer example text to use for proclamations in your municipalities
Proclamation
Whereas, traditional families, consisting of a natural mother and father, children and extended family have been a cornerstone of society, fostering security, stability, and values of citizenship for millennia—as noted by the International Federal for Family Development: “Children in healthy, married, two-parent families are more likely to lead happy, successful lives… Families are the most powerful, human, and economical system for building competence and character”;
And,
Whereas, the freedom to uphold these values, rooted in the laws of nature and protected by the U.S. Constitution, is vital to societal well-being;
And,
Whereas, children in single-parent households face higher risks, with 63% of youth suicides, 90% of homeless/runaway children, 85% of behavioral disorders, and 85% of youths in prisons coming from fatherless homes, while children in stable, two-parent homes have an 80% chance of escaping poverty compared to 50% for those raised by single mothers, and children raised in homes under homosexual couples are more likely to require governmental assistance, suffer emotional challenges, and spend time in the foster care system, and less likely to find successful employment than children from traditional households;
And,
Whereas we need a return to the values of traditional family that made America the strongest nation in world history.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE (YOUR MUNICIPALITY) COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FORMALLY DECLARE THAT IT IS THE OFFICIAL POLICY OF THIS MUNICIPALITY TO ENCOURAGE AND EMPHASIZE IN POLICY THE LIFE CHOICES THAT SUPPORT THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY STRUCTURE, AND REJECT POLICIES, SPECIAL INTEREST MONTHS, AND AGENDAS THAT WORK TO UNDERMINE THE HETEROSEXUAL, TRADITIONAL FAMILY UNIT AS THE NUCLEUS AROUND WHICH FLOURISHING HUMAN SOCIETIES ARE BUILT AND MAINTAINED.
SIGNED THIS DAY BY (RESPONSIBLE AGENT AND YOUR MUNICIPALITY).
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