Gambling on the Future

Remember this song?

On a warm summer's evenin' on a train bound for nowhere,

I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sleep.

So we took turns a starin' out the window at the darkness

'Til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, "Son, I've made a life out of readin' people's faces,

And knowin' what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.

And if you don't mind my sayin', I can see you're out of aces.

For a taste of your whiskey I'll give you some advice."

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.

Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.

And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.

Said, "If you're gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.

There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

Ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin'

Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.

'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser,

And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

And when he'd finished speakin', he turned back towards the window,

Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.

And somewhere in the darkness, the gambler, he broke even.

But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.

There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

(Kenny Rogers, "The Gambler")

Just read an excellent column at American Thinker, a site that all conservatives should know about, that Gambler-like asks and attempts to answer what are right now the two million-dollar questions: what battles--at least for the foreseeable future--have conservatives lost? And in what battles do we still stand a chance of prevailing? If we can answer those questions with some accuracy we can focus our energy where we actually have a chance of making a difference.

The list of areas in which the author, Larrey Anderson, says we have been beaten and should resign ourselves to the Obama agenda is frightening:

1) The Judiciary
2) Socialized Health Care
3) Higher Taxes
4) The War on Terror
5) Bailouts

Here are the areas in which he says we should keep fighting:

1) Illegal immigration
2) Education
3) Freedom of Religious Expression
4) Global Warming/Energy

I encourage you to go read the entire article to see what he specifically says about each of these areas, both the ones he claims we have lost and we ones in which we still have a fighting chance.

Anderson ends with this admonition:

"My advice to conservatives for the next two years: Focus on the fundamentals--especially education and freedom of religious expression. It will be almost impossible for us to stop most of the socialist political agenda that will soon be law. We must educate our children, our neighbors, and ourselves in an effort to insure that next time around 'we don't get fooled again.'"

Good advice for any time, but never moreso than right now. I'm more convinced than ever that Christian homeschoolers may be the force that rises up in the next generation to lead this country back to its roots.

I think I'll go work on indoctrinating a few members of that next generation right now.