Every so often, it’s wise to reassess our support for elected officials. Civic duty doesn’t end with voting, it begins with it. While no politician will ever prove to be the perfect reflection of your views, it’s not asking too much for them to bear some resemblance to the person who campaigned for your vote.

We all understand the changing circumstances of politics. Sometimes compromise is necessary, with the crafting of such agreements described as the “art of the possible.” However, that paradigm no longer serves in a legislature where the goals are not merely divergent, but diametrically opposed.

Compromise is only acceptable when both parties are heading to the same place, only differing on how best to get there. When the ends are exclusive of each other, compromise becomes slow-motion surrender, or worse, an occasion for betrayal. This is where we stand today.

The differences between Democrats and Conservatives have never been more clear than right now. Gaining political power in order to guide policy to better reflect the values of the Democratic Party has been jettisoned in favor of using that power to upend the system itself. Believing themselves to be agents of “justice,” Leftists are sparing no effort to overturn our Constitutional Republican form of government, replacing it with a collectivist wet dream of the sort the world has seen fail spectacularly throughout the 20th century, usually amid waves of innocent blood.

There can be no compromise with those who view your inalienable rights as unacceptable impediments to the realization of their dreams. Make no mistake, the Democratic Party no longer believes the Constitution to be essential to governing the United States.

For the last 80 years, “Progressives” have been wholly engrossed in delegitimizing the very concept of individual liberty; claiming for themselves the power to grant rights as a function of government, in order to bring about such amorphous and ill-defined goals as “equity,” “inclusiveness” and everyone’s favorite buzzword, “tolerance,” which of course, means whatever they say it means, as long as it furthers their agenda.

We have arrived at a point in our nation’s history where there is no longer enough common ground for us all to stand. There are indeed only two sorts of people in this world; those who just want to be let alone to live our lives as we see fit, and those who cannot keep their hands to themselves. Today’s Democratic Party cannot stomach the idea of people deciding for themselves when others (Democrats of course!) can make better decisions for them. When our political opponents’ vision of the future is mutually exclusive to our own, compromising with them becomes betrayal.

The astute reader may have noticed I spoke of Democrats and Conservatives earlier, not Democrats and Republicans. While Conservatives are far more ideologically aligned with the Republican party than any alternatives, it is a mistake to believe Republican and Conservative are interchangeable terms. If we learned nothing else during the Trump years, we now recognize the Republican Party label is no guarantee of Conservatism, or even a healthy respect for the Constitution. Too many “Republicans in name only” have routinely ditched both integrity and principle in pursuit of power, prestige and, in some cases, money. So many in fact to have besmirched the entire Republican brand.

Recognizing this is important for two reasons - first, to finally shatter the idea that one cannot support Conservativism without supporting the Republican nominee in every race, and second, that a lukewarm Republican in office is better than a full-blown Democrat.

Permit me to address the latter first. If our federal government were still involved in guiding policy within the framework of the Constitution, the worst outcomes we could expect would be to have wasted time and/or treasure pursuing an unworkable means to a desirable, agreed-upon end.

However, one party has fully divested themselves of our form of government and our legal foundations. Even our way of life. They have staked their claim, notoriously and boldly. There is no ambiguity in their positions, which means we can rely on their actions to always be in furtherance of goals we do not share. Electing a full-blown Democrat takes away all doubt. The “devil we know,” if you will, must always be thwarted in their aims.

But what of the unreliable Republican? How damaging is it to the cause of conservative government to empower someone who cannot be counted on to do as they say? Having one such as this in office creates intolerable confusion. Never really knowing when the betrayal will come ensures no strategy involving that individual can be implemented. Worse yet, will the betrayal be limited to poorly cast votes, or self-interested decisions, or will it extend to actively undermining the principles they were elected to uphold?

The enemy of stability is uncertainty, and a faithless politician is the embodiment of that. The time when we could tolerate rogue representatives ended when the fondest hope of our political opponents became our total destruction.

Our current 2nd District Congressman, Don Bacon, is running for reelection. Just six months from now, Republican voters will decide whether he deserves renewed support, or if we should place our trust in another. We call this a “Primary,” but in reality, it’s a referendum on the quality of our representation in Washington DC.

In coming months, candidates to challenge Bacon will emerge. They will make their case, both in favor of themselves and against the incumbent. These distinctions are important, and deserve your attention, but I would urge you to make your decision with one overarching thought in mind…

Will he do what he says?

Don Bacon has not, and no longer deserves our support.

I don’t know who will take his place, but I know it can’t be him. Don Bacon has proven he cannot be trusted. The stakes are no longer just wasted time and money, the stakes are the survival of our nation as founded, and with it, our inalienable rights.