Nothing is what it appears to be. We know this deep in our bones, but rarely do we spend much time digging into ultimate realities. America’s wealth and vitality have made it possible for most of us to entertain ourselves and go about our business, rarely thinking too deeply about anything. We had a little flurry of shock and curiosity when JFK was assassinated, but that has petered out. The tragedy of 9/11 has worn off. Those things came and went, but didn’t seem to hit at the core of the American soul. All that’s happening now does.

If it weren’t for my firm belief that Almighty God controls history, I’d be beside myself; things seem so unsettled. We no longer have two political parties, rather two separate realities, which, given the Law of Non-contradiction, means one of them is highly delusional. Which camp is that? Which one is the cult?

One can’t watch the frantic activity in the progressive camp and not be both amused and alarmed. How did these nutcases end up in power? The answer to that question is thoroughly upsetting -- our fellow Americans voted for them. This has to mean that a substantial number of Americans either hate their own country, are mired in a quicksand of ignorance and self-indulgence, or a poisonous combination of the two. Did the Broad Squad run on ruining this country? Who could have possibly voted for Sandy O or Omar? How is it that lowlifes like Schiff and Nadler keep their seats? Who, in their right minds votes for them? Are there that many of our fellow Americans who have gone stark raving mad?

From where I sit I see the House Democrats running round pointing fingers and making up bizarre stories, dredging up make-believe semi-witnesses. They keep screaming things like, “Mommy, Mommy, Donny called me a bad name!” or, “I’m going to take all your guns!” And now they’ve gone and done it, announced and heavily publicized an impeachment dog-and-pony show. Is anyone but me wondering what they’ll do for an encore? Once Trump has called all of their bluffs, once the Barr/Durham investigation bears its predictable fruit, what will they do? It is not possible even now for them to pull a Gilda Radner, lighthearted “Nevermind.”

They’ve burned every available bridge back to normalcy. They’ve ruined people’s lives, destroyed their finances, their reputations, their livelihoods. They have severely damaged the morale of this country. And they have lied –- openly, brazenly, stupidly lied. “Oh, that was just a parody,” only works if there’s something to make fun of. The title “Prince of Lies” comes to mind.

Now these same wackjobs want the American people, who are just now starting to remember what it means to be proud to be Americans, to help said wackjobs attack the man who revived their dignity and patriotism, their hopes and their American dreams. I don’t think this leftist plane will even get down the runway, let alone take off. It’s going to sputter and die on the asphalt and where do they go from there? That dead plane is out on that runway, and obvious to us all. It has the word “FAILURE” scrawled across the fuselage and the tires will be flat.

What will be the next Democrat move? Right now they don’t have a viable presidential candidate. There isn’t one of that cuckoo’s nest collection of Marxist stooges that will ever sit in the Oval Office. We hear rumors that Hillary is gearing up, but I can’t imagine that she’d make it through another campaign, besides, she’ll be under indictment by then. Michelle? Maybe we deserve another dose of the Obamas, but I can’t imagine that a plurality of Americans are willing to erase these last three years and go back to “managing the decline” of our great country.

So how do we push that dead plane off the runway? I don’t know. I think Trump has a few moves in mind, but I don’t think the lunatics do. In the 70s when someone we loved got involved in a cult, we would gather friends and relatives and confront the cultist with the ugly fact of his ignorance and gullibility.

Our fellow Americans need an intervention. I’ve had to do a couple of those and they were not pleasant conversations. One wasn’t even, on a long-term basis, very effective. Neither discussion was one I wanted to be part of, and yet duty called -- friends tell friends the truth.

I suspect we conservatives have been too conservative in our willingness to confront those with whom we don’t agree, but one of Donald Trump’s greatest achievements has been to show us how to stand firm. He’s shown us how to fight back and has reminded us that we have something holy to fight for.

Why we are so reluctant to speak up? Are we unsure about what we believe? If so, that has to change and fortunately the facts are on our side. We have history to rely on, but we have to make sure we are reading the real thing and not some Howard Zinnish reshaping of actual events. We have science on our side, as long as we make sure we are reading scientists who haven’t sold out to peer pressure and funding greed. We have statistics on our side – stats about gun violence, about abortion, about sexual mores, but we need to learn those facts and pay attention to how they are interpreted.

And we need to know this information well enough that we aren’t shaken by the nasty retorts that will come our way. People who don’t know what they’re talking about will be the first to start calling us names, berating us personally, but it’s easy to slough that off -- naming-calling (Racist, sexist, homophobic bigot!), after all, is their first admission of guilt. They don’t have an actual rebuttal. The first point goes to our side.

But it isn’t easy. When they get done lambasting us personally, they go for our friends. That’s not fun. Then they start belittling all we hold dear -– our Constitution, our God, the Bible. They try to convince us that logic and facts are unimportant (In the delusional leftist world they aren’t of any value.).

I am done playing nice. This scares me because some of the people I love most are going to need an intervention and I don’t want to lose them, but we can’t keep pushing the moldy leftovers to the back of the frig. If we are to be a self-governed people we have to do the work required. We have to confront our schools about the propaganda they’re teaching – sixty-three million angry citizens pounding on the schoolhouse door should have an effect. We have to have those uncomfortable conversations at family gatherings and neighborhood get-togethers.

Bumper stickers and banners are good. Memes are fun and sometimes make a permanent point. It’s good that we support Christian filmmaking, watch conservative television, write our congressmen now and then. But that’s not joining the battle and we are in a place now where we either fight or run up the white flag and snap on our own shackles.

If we want the glories of this amazing country to continue we have to dig in and fight. Demonic forces have sickened the media, the entertainment industry, our entire educational system in a masterful slight-of-hand operation. These forces have even infiltrated and robbed our churches of their most positive influence. All have conspired to force on us an alternate, delusional worldview, one that will kill us all. We must bone up on reality and fight, for nothing is what it seems.

Deana Chadwell blogs at www.ASingleWindow.com. She is also an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College in southern Oregon. She teaches writing and public speaking.