In the introduction of A Memoir of Mary Anne (1961), Flannery O’Connor warns about a society driven by feelings rather than truth:

“In the absence of faith now, we govern by tenderness. It is a tenderness which, long cut off from the person of Christ, is wrapped in theory. When tenderness is detached from the source of tenderness, its logical outcome is terror. It ends in forced-labor camps and in the fumes of the gas chamber.”

For generations, this country was anchored by something real. By faith. By actual moral truth. But that’s gone now, isn’t it? It’s been completely scrubbed away. And what did the people in charge replace it with? They replaced it with “tenderness.” With empathy. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? It’s designed to make you feel warm inside.

But it’s a lie.

It’s a totally manufactured, highly theoretical brand of compassion that has absolutely nothing to do with God, and everything to do with control. And the terrifying part that no one in Washington wants to admit is that when you detach kindness from absolute truth, it doesn’t stay kind for long. It turns into something completely different. It turns into a weapon.

Suddenly, it’s not about doing what is right; it’s about feeling what is right. And who gets to decide what those feelings are? The ruling class.

And if you agree with their state-sanctioned empathy, you’re one of the good guys.

But if you look at their theories and say, “Wait a second, this doesn’t make any sense,” you aren’t just wrong, you’re evil. Deplorable. You must be silenced.

This isn’t just hyperbole. We’ve seen how this movie ends. Because when your entire moral framework is based on your own self-righteous feelings, there are no limits to what you can justify.

When it comes to abortion, we see this all the time. “I’m going to kill you In the name of preventing discomfort or in the name of eliminating suffering.”

When it comes to you not supporting their gender madness. They call you “intolerant” and they label your insistence as “Violence” or “Hate Speech.” Once that happens, arrests aren’t far behind.

Think about it. If you believe your “tenderness” is absolute, then anyone standing in your way is an obstacle to a perfect world. And how do you deal with obstacles? You eliminate them. History shows us exactly where this road leads. It doesn’t lead to a utopia of kindness. It leads straight to the forced-labor camps. It ends in the fumes of the gas chambers.

It turns out the people preaching absolute tolerance are the most dangerous authoritarians of all. Flannery O’Connor knew this. We’re seeing it occur live.