“Lead, Follow or get out of the way”…..you’ve probably heard that phrase before…..depending on whose opinion you value more the phrase has been attributed over time to Thomas Paine, General George Patton, and even Lee Iacocca…..whoever it was that said it I would hazard the guess that it came from someone with a strong personality, a sense of mission, and the need to get something very important done…..it sounds a bit like a rebellion phrase, but I would also say that “lead, follow or get out of the way” is in fact a leadership phrase….the kind of thing that gets said by the person who not only has a strong personality but the confidence to put their actual intent into action…..someone who sees a situation that needs immediate action…..lead, follow or get out of the way is the kind of phrase said by someone who knows that action must be taken quickly and with a sense of organized reckless abandon….someone who knows that the consequences of doing nothing could be far worse……

Lead, follow or get out of the way…..its a demand-phrase, it’s a logjam-breaking phrase, it’s a call to action, and it’s also not always popular because it tells others at a peer level, or even those of a superior rank, that theyare the problem….you don’t tell subordinates to lead, follow or get out of the way…..that’s a phrase that one General tells the other Generals….or that a business leader tells his Board of Directors…..or that a President tells Congress…..it is not only a statement of intent it is a rebuke to those who had the opportunity to fix something but have chosen not to……and sometimes it just takes one person to launch the change with the attitude, the authority, and the wherewithal to not only say to others that they should lead, or follow, or just get out of the way…..but that they can act on it…..

In my opinion America is at an inflection point…..in every way imaginable we are at a point where a turning is needed…..fiscally, militarily, politically, socially, culturally, and spiritually……we have been ravaged in the past four years from the pandemic and its big government policies, social upheaval with riots and immorality, political polarization, open borders creating chaos in our city streets, massive government spending and economic stagnation coupled with inflation……and this election is about whether we will turn back from the cliff or just take the plunge into an abyss…..I’m not trying to be dramatic or just launch into hyperbole…..I want our country back!.....I want the US to be the shining city on a hill…..to promote peace through strength…..to have a vibrant economy that leads the world in productivity……this election season is about all of that….which means that this election is about leadership…..not just an election of a personality, but an election of leadership…..and it will take someone who knows how to say “lead, follow, or get out of the way”…….

Victor Davis Hanson is an American scholar, a historian and author, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute…..I’ve said before that I feel like I gain points on my IQ every time I listen to him provide commentary on world events…..Hanson wrote a book called “the Savior Generals”…..it is a study in five historic generals who Hanson believes stepped into a losing military campaign and by sheer force of their will, by their ability to plan, strategize, cajole, convince, and execute that those single Generals in and of themselves turned the tide….that these particular Generals were the sole catalyst for snatching victory from the jaws of defeat….but they also were not popular for having done so….

Hanson said the book was designed to show “how contrarian and unpopular generals have often saved the day, defying the odds, …. to win a campaign and sometimes an entire war.” …… His review covered over 2,600 years, and detailed the events of Themistocles, Belisarius, Sherman, Ridgway and Petraeus. ……Hanson says that the five generals in his book all had common traits: “They all enjoyed their reputations for bucking conventional wisdom; they were all highly literate; they all spoke well and they all led by example.”

Each one of those so-called Savior Generals Hanson wrote about were men who forged their own path and who knew that without victory there would be no chance of survival…….One book review that I read on Hanson’s book pointed out that despite each of them being the right man for the right time that they were also not always popular…..It is said that Themistocles was subjected to trumped up charges of corruption; Belisarius lost his marriage and fell out of favor with the emperor; Sherman was branded by many as a terrorist because he had burned his way to the sea and had trouble getting along with others; Ridgeway was forced to resign as Chief of Staff by President Eisenhower; and Petraeus resigned as Director of the CIA due to an extra-marital affair…..flawed men, but yet great leaders…..leaders who were needed for their time…..

What does it take to be that person…..who else has stood up and done what needed to be done at just the right time for just the right reasons with just the right plan who had the moxie to tell those around him to lead, follow or get out of the way?........Oh, there have been others…..I remember a few years back reading the great book “1776” by David McCullough…..its an awesome read….if you love US History that book (1776) will give much greater insight into the depth and breadth of what actually had to happen for the original 13 colonies to become the future United States of America…..but one thing struck me that I had never realized until I read it…..that General Washington had to almost beg the Continental Congress to stay the course…..to be sure there were other patriots, there were other heroes of the Revolution…..but I had always envisioned the Continental Congress….those great men who signed the Declaration of Independence as being unwavering and steady and without doubt….oh no, they apparently had some stalwarts in the bunch but they struggled and debated and some wavered…..but Washington saw a way forward and wrote to the Congress urging them to stay in the fight…..what if it had been another man in charge of the Continental Army…..is it possible that one man can actually make a difference…..

Like I said before, I believe that the United States…..this country that we all love….. is at a crucial point in history….. we are now in the place where we have to ask the question “what kind of nation do we want to be?......Should the average person believe that government is there for them…..or will we be a nation in which the government presses down its influence against any who question it?.....are we a nation who values the sanctity of life? …..Are we a nation who appreciates the simple fact that a man is a man and a woman is a woman?.....are we a nation that stands for freedom and liberty, and one which our allies know will have their back? …..are we a nation that understands the value of the dollar and that fiscal responsibility and big spending are not the same thing?......the only way that I believe that we are going to win this fight as conservatives is if we stay the course and if we elect the kind of people to represent us who will say to those around them that they can lead, follow or get out of the way…….

One of those men who was featured in Victor Davis Hanson’s book was General Ridgeway…..over time history began to take more note of his efforts and successes in WWII and despite his falling out with Eisenhower after the war many years later President Ronald Reagan awarded General Ridgway the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 12, 1986. While speaking at the presentation ceremony Reagan said that “Heroes come when they’re needed; great men step forward when courage seems in short supply,”

We are in that time……we need great men to step forward…..because right now it seems that courage is in short supply…..we need some brassy leadership to say to those who are flagging and flailing and ducking for cover that they need to lead, follow or get out of the way……

And that’s a wrap for the Rightside Way