Why “Leave us alone” isn’t enough

There’s a common theme in history: the people who passively ask to be left alone are the ones who eventually find themselves either conquered, or forced to fight the hardest. 

Think of the American colonists—ordinary men and women who simply wanted to live their lives, trade freely, worship as they pleased, and build something for their families.

They didn’t set out to fight a bloody revolution. 

They petitioned. 

They debated. 

They warned.

They tried every peaceful means to reason with a government that refused to listen. 

Eventually, they realized something critical: Those who benefited from controlling them were never going to leave them alone. 

So they changed. 

The same pattern plays out time and time again. People who want peace and freedom find themselves pushed to the edge, and eventually forced into action because the alternative is annihilation. 

Now, many Americans are starting to realize they’re in a similar situation. 

A lot of us have the foundational understandings that come from knowing history, studying philosophy, and doing the hard work to educate ourselves on the principles and ideas that have the best chance at making people truly free and prosperous. We’ve built our worldview on the shoulders of some of the greatest minds the world has known. 

But it’s not enough to simply know that things are wrong. It’s not enough to just read about how things should be. 

The days of armchair activism, thought experiments, and theoretical debates are past, and it’s time for something more.

I’m not saying we should turn our backs on the ideologies that have helped shape us. But I think we are seeing an unprecedented time in our history where we need to take what we already are and turn it into something more. 

Something that maybe doesn’t have a name, or a party affiliation, or a rigid framing. 

Something… else.

We’re seeing big victories at the federal level—changes that seemed impossible a few years ago, and that makes it tempting to think we’re just going to keep on winning. But the people who seek control over every aspect of our lives aren’t going to be defeated so easily.

They aren’t going to just go away.

They never do. 

They shift strategies, push harder, and find new ways to manipulate and coerce.

That’s why we—each and every one of us—have to become people who do more than just wish to be left alone. 

It’s why we need to teach our kids not just the what, but the why; so that when their time comes to choose between submission and action, they’re prepared to fight for the right things. 

This is why we write books like The Tuttle Twins and the Fate of the Future and The Leviathan Crisis—because if we don’t arm the next generation with the knowledge and courage to navigate the battles they’ll face, who will? 

We’ve spent years giving parents the resources they need to help prepare their kids with the foundations they’ll need to spot the dangerous ideologies and nefarious schemes that those who profit off of control and coercion have always used to keep people complacent and afraid. 

But knowledge alone isn’t enough. Because once you know something, you have a moral obligation to act. 

And now is the time for action. 

The way we change from people who know what’s wrong to people who do something about it looks different for each of us. And that’s actually a great thing. 

Because it’s going to take each of us—putting our talents and resources to work in the ways that are unique to us—to fight (and win) this multi-front battle. 

For some people it might mean deciding to homeschool; for others it might mean deciding to become a single-issue voter. Others might decide to run for office, or to start a business that helps people learn to be more free. 

How you take action isn’t going to look the same as what others decide to do, but that’s what makes us such a powerful force for good.

I’m fully confident that we will be the ones who not only raise the generation that will finally have the freedom to prosper and thrive, but that we’ll use our own wisdom and courage to act—even when what we really want is to simply be left alone. 

And speaking of taking action, start with downloading our free activity book for Valentine’s Day. It will help your kids understand how to show their love to friends and family not just on Valentine’s Day, but all year long.

I’m grateful to be able to do what I do. I see the fruits of our labor every time I talk to parents who have taken up the call for freedom, and who are actively working toward building a better world for their kids to inherit.

Because in the end, history doesn’t belong to those who just want to be left alone. 

It belongs to those who decide to act once they realize they won’t be.

—Connor