I was distressed and bitter when our resolution was defeated in the North Carolina Senate in 2022. I felt like there were Senators who were disingenuous, if not downright duplicitous; imagine that. Given the perspective of another year in our movement, I have a different outlook.
We are attempting to enact new and potentially revolutionary public policy. We should be expected to suffer opposition from all corners of the political spectrum. New and different means many are entrenched in the current system and stand to lose. We should expect and embrace opposition as a clear sign of proposing a methodology to break the current norm and establish an entirely new political order.
It is always easier to oppose change than it is to propose change. There are dozens of time-tested strategies to defeat proposals that might alter the balance of power in our political system. We may find that political enemies will ally themselves to work against us. The change will mean uncertainty, which will always work against those in power.
One effective method to defeat change is to delay for an hour, a day, a week, or a month. For our opponents, delay equals success. We need to understand that dynamic and accept that delay is expected. Our primary weapon against uncertainty is steadfastness. If we are here today, tomorrow, next week, and next year, continually getting more robust and relentlessly working to enact our agenda, we can be more potent than those seeking to eliminate us by ignoring us.
If we get angry, we will get frustrated. If we get frustrated, we will get impatient. If we are impatient, we will become sloppy or turn to other less comprehensive methods to express our political dissatisfaction. The moment that we do that, we lose.
We want to be like a tidal wave, an overwhelming force that sweeps away our opposition with sudden and violent righteousness. However, a tidal wave comes with enormous power but recedes and dissipates, only to be replaced by the same landscape that was predominant before its appearance.
We need to be like a glacier, inexorably moving forward, changing the landscape forever with slow but dominant pressure. The delay means nothing to the glacier. Opposition means nothing to the glacier. The glacier is ever-present and relentless.
The glacier always wins.
