By Matthew Purucker · News Editor
Nick Freitas, a former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, spoke and answered questions on a wide variety of political topics Tuesday in Crawford Hall Auditorium as part of an Institute for Faith & Freedom event.
After the opening 30-minute speech, attendees asked Freitas for his thoughts on issues like critical race theory, sanctuary cities, biblical marriage and family raising, moral relativism, Christian apologetics, Christian self-defense and global and domestic policy, among others, for over an hour.
Titled “No Nonsense Truth,” Freitas’s talk emphasized the influence of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” on recent political movements he said the “radical” political left has led, like ICE protests in Minnesota.
“And the way the negotiation always works is they (the political left) escalate. They get the reaction they want,” Freitas said. “They freeze everything in space right there; they become the victim. … And now we have to compromise, and they have to get 50% of what they want, and we (the political right) get none of what we want.
“What we get is the temporary alleviation of the looting of Foot Lockers, the temporary alleviation of the burning of cities, the temporary alleviation of the obstruction of law enforcement, until, of course, the next demand comes.”
Freitas highlighted his view that the left’s political tactics lead to an unending cycle of violence, victimization and escalation. The Green Beret noted that while violent events like ICE protests in Minneapolis will occur, it should not surprise people, and law enforcement must enforce the law regardless.
“What really kind of infuriates me to the point of just absolute unmitigated frustration at this point is watching people on the right, or just people that agree that maybe we should have borders and maybe we shouldn’t have unlimited immigration, look at something that’s going on with ICE right now and say, ‘Well, yeah, I know it’s a problem, but I didn’t know it would look like that,’” Freitas said. “What did you expect?”
However, Freitas also urged the audience that everyone should still hold law enforcement to the highest standard.
Freitas called for the Overton window, the range of political topics acceptable for a society to discuss, to shift to the right to prevent the left from dictating political discourse.
“If we (the right) continue to allow the left to do what they have been doing, to follow these rules and continually shift the Overton window to the left, no matter who wins elections, no matter what happens, because all we want is peace, well, I don’t know what we’ll end up with, but I guarantee it won’t be peace,” Freitas said.
The social media talk show host concluded his talk by emphasizing that Christians should remember that forgiveness is important.
“We can still look past all the frustration, all the animosity, all of the evil and we can save the humanity which exists in another person created in the image of God,” Freitas said.
“Our goal is ultimately not just to win a political battle. Our goal is not just to save our country. Our goal is to engage (in) that all-important work given to us in the Great Commission: to help save souls.”
