Mao Zedong was the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. He said that there were three phases to an insurgency. Although the ideas of one the most brutal tyrants of history should be thrown out, some of his teachings are still being used in some parts of this country.
The cultivation of a message is the first step in starting an uprising. This is what the radical left has done since the beginning of the 20th century. Saul AlinskyAt the very least, sooner. The central message of the left today is that America’s institutions—and Western Civilization as a whole—are structures of oppression which must be entirely deconstructed to make way for a new progressive social order.
The second phase focuses on controlling the spread of information. The liberal establishment has long been dominant in the education and media establishments, but the left’s complete control of the institutions has reached new heights in recent years.
From indoctrinating the young with critical race theory to calling parents “domestic terrorists,” the education system now disseminates propaganda instead of teaching students to be productive and patriotic citizens.
Similarly, we have seen censorship rise to new levels on social media, as those who counter the progressive elite’s narrative are silenced. The selective canceling of anyone who doesn’t engage in groupthink undermines the core of what makes this nation great.
Once enough people have been indoctrinated the third phase begins: direct conventional warfare. The left has moved quickly into this third phase since President Joe Biden’s victory one year ago—but perhaps too quickly.
From taxpayer-funded abortions on-demand to defunding the police, from their $3.5 trillion social engineering boondoggle to indoctrinating our children with critical race theory, the Democrats—like the North Vietnamese in 1968—tried to move into phase three too soon. They struck before enough people had been indoctrinated.
In 1968, the VietCong, an insurgent force from the North Vietnamese, launched massive attacks on South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese and U.S. military forces destroyed the Viet Cong forces.
The fighting continued with the North Vietnamese Regular Army. While the parallels are not perfect, the clear similarity is the Viet Cong chose to move into phase three—direct warfare—too soon. They failed.
Unfortunately, America, and especially the U.S. Congress, pulled its support from the fight for freedom-loving South Vietnamese people. Seven years later, Saigon fell.
Our nation witnessed the liberal progressives’ version of this Tet Offensive on Nov. 2. The left’s advancement into the third phase prematurely resulted in the decisive victory in Virginia, along with the failure of the defund the police ballot measure in Minneapolis, one of the bluest cities in America.
New Yorkers elected a former cop as their mayor. Maybe it was their hatred for former President Donald Trump or maybe they realize that their control over Congress is inefficient at best and will soon end.
Regardless, because of the left’s premature and extreme overreach, the American people were awakened and thus able to end their efforts to create their socialist utopia, for now.
As in Vietnam, we won a major battle by defeating their premature move to the third phase of their insurgency. However, the war is not over—and our fight for this great nation must and will continue.
The Daily Signal is open to all perspectives. This article is not meant to represent the views of The Heritage Foundation.
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