Retired Lieutenant Colonel Allen West (Flickr Photo/Gage Skidmore)

While we Americans watched a human tragedy of epic proportions unfold in Texas after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, we also bore witness to that which is stellar and exceptional about Americans: our willingness to serve and help each other in tragic times.

We saw the valor and heroism that has always been the foundation of Americanism. However, something else happened this weekend that revealed a crack in that foundation: Black-clad, masked domestic terrorists reminiscent of Hitler’s Brown Shirts attacked other Americans — and that’s not overstating the case.

Just yesterday, a very dear, close friend asked me what’s going on with the Left in America? He asked me, specifically, about the “transgender” agenda.

I had to stop and think for a moment before it struck me: We shouldn’t focus on the singular actions and tactics of the Left, but rather we need to understand their bigger strategy — their desired endgame. That’s the difference between strategy and tactics, and why the study of great military philosophers such as Sun Tzu and Clausewitz is vital.

And why more of us need to read, understand, and highlight the progressive socialist Left’s strategic playbook, “Rules for Radicals.”

Strategically, the Left has embarked on an endeavor to defeat absolute truth and redefine the United States of America. Its failed, progressive, socialist belief that the state — the government — is preeminent and the giver of all rights cannot be debated.

I’ve said it previously and will say it again: Why is it that you don’t hear leftist voices speaking out against Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela? Simple. Because all leftists are the same — they embrace coercion, intimidation and violence in order to achieve their goals, which cannot be attained otherwise.

And so, here in America, the Left has employed the radicals of Antifa, who are no different than Maduro’s street thugs.

But how do the tactics and policies that the Left is promoting advance their endgame? Let’s go back to the issue of transgenderism, or the mental condition of gender dysphoria. This isn’t about a bathroom; it’s about the negation of absolute truth.

What the Left wants us to believe and embrace is that there’s no such thing as man or woman, male or female. That it’s up to anyone to determine their own truth and what they “feel” they are.

It ties into the philosophy of secular humanism in that it refutes the sovereignty of a Creator, or God, and goes with the Left’s entire “identity” agenda. Rachel Dolezal is a good example; you can identify with whatever you feel, as there’s no absolute truth — and to believe otherwise is racist or whatever the denigrating moniker de jour may be.

Marriage isn’t an absolute truth between a man and a woman; it can be between anyone that the Left determines. And since it’s not a sacred relationship ordained by the God in order to promulgate society, family is whatever the Left decides it should be.

If you don’t consent to this, you’re castigated as a “homophobe” and coerced, intimidated and demonized. Or, in the words of Colorado multimillionaire and LGBT agenda financier Tim Gill, you’re wicked and must be punished.

The same applies to the Left’s true religion — “climate change.” God, you see, doesn’t control nature and the weather. Nope, man does, and man must institute policies to control the weather. And again, if you don’t conform to all of their delusional assertions — mostly rooted in wealth redistribution — you’re disparaged as a neanderthal, a climate-change denier, a member of the flat earth society and worse, as someone willing to kill the planet.

Everything comes back to exerting control. In some horrible instances — such as the University of Tampa professor’s tweet blaming the arrival of Hurricane Harvey on Texans’ vote for President Trump — even catastrophic weather events are used for political attack.

Here once again, there’s no absolute truth about weather and its patterns.

Former Vice President Al Gore coined it, “An Inconvenient Truth,” which is another example of the Left’s strategy to defeat absolute truth, and redefine it for their political and ideological advantage.

And what of the all of a sudden assault on historical symbols, memorials, and statues?

This is truly no different from what the Taliban did in the Bamiyan province of Afghanistan or ISIS in Palmyra, Syria and elsewhere. This is about the redefining history — at least, declaring what’s “acceptable” history in their minds.

I truly believe that the Left doesn’t want Americans to know their history of ascension and their relationship with the black community, historically.

What’s amazing are the similarities between progressive socialists and Islamofascists; maybe that’s why there’s an acceptance of Islamic jihadism by the Left. They both advocate for the collective subjugation of individuals to their respective ideologies.

Islamism is rooted in supremacy, and if we’re honest with ourselves, progressive socialists possess the same ideal — hence the reason they both seek to enact violence and terror in order to bring forth compliance.

Progressive socialism and Islamofascism both embrace dictatorial and tyrannical rule, and that’s achieved when you destroy the meaning of absolute truth and replace it with your own. It’s enabled when you destroy and redefine history. What has been considered right is now wrong, and there’s no semblance of morality because it’s all “relative.”

And relevance is determined by the imposed norms of the Left. That which is the law is no longer the law, and shall not be respected as the law, if it doesn’t conform to the ideological agenda of the Left.

The progressive socialist Left doesn’t believe in a sovereign America; they want open borders. So there’s no such thing as illegal immigration. Establishing sanctuary cities, counties and states is the “new law” because the Left has decided what’s law and what’s not.

There’s no freedom of religion, but rather freedom of worship, and the Left will define where that worship can take place. Furthermore, the secular humanist Left favors the eradication of our Judeo-Christian faith and heritage. So don’t be surprised if the Bible is declared “hate speech,” as it’s about morality, God’s saving grace and absolute truth — all of which contradicts the Left’s ideological agenda.

The Left only wants faith directed at them, in the state and what it provides; nothing else can save you. Rights are instituted based on their ideology — so they believe in the right to own a home, to free healthcare, to free education, to kill unborn babies. Those other freedoms — such as the freedom of speech and expression — are only viable if the speech and expression is accepted by the Left.

The right to keep and bear arms? Nope; they don’t like you to be armed, as it precludes them from total domination and totalitarian rule. The Left doesn’t want individual rights, freedoms and liberties; all of that’s antithetical to their base concept — the collective over the individual.

The Left doesn’t respect or regard the individual; you know, “if you own a business, you didn’t build that.” Those words, spoken in 2012 by America’s most progressive socialist president, were utterly condescending and dismissive — but sadly, an American businessman challenging him for the presidency didn’t take him to task over them.

So this is what MUST happen if our Constitutional Republic is to survive: We must recognize the strategic endgame of the progressive socialist Left. It’s not about Democrat or Republican, but rather a dangerous and cancerous ideology. We must reject those who advocate for, and embrace, this subversion of our nation’s foundation.

And we need more elected officials to speak about this perverse philosophy of governance — but not in terms of political party. We must read, study and pay attention to the tactics and the expansion of the progressive socialist Left.

Let me say this very simply, concisely and succinctly: Those on the Left need to remember that Americans have a right to self-defense in order to preserve their first unalienable right endowed to them by the Creator: Life.

The violence by the Left, and the lack of condemnation from the leftist, progressive Democrat politicians and media, as well as cultural and entertainment elites, does not end well. If your mantra is truly “by any means necessary,” then expect Americans to protect themselves “by any means necessary.”

Now, of course, the Left will condemn me because they’ll twist any words that oppose them — just ask Dana Loesch. But I won’t tolerate or watch tolerance become a one-way street. That only leads to cultural suicide …

Not on my watch.

Allen West is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. During his 22-year career, he served in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, receiving many honors including a Bronze Star.