So what do we do now? By James O'Keefe

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.” - Yeats, the 2nd coming.

Most of the messages I’ve been getting over the last 24 hours are the most hopeless and cynical things I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Nothing matters”

“Nothing will come of exposing them”

“Nobody is ever arrested or held accountable”

“Your work is of no use”

“We have already exposed them, and nothing happens”

“You’re naive, there is no more hope”

“The truth will set you free is pure bullshit because the other side has no morals”

My perspective is, the only thing we have to fear is hopelessness itself:

Play

People are worried about political prosecutions now. Targeted audits. Liberties violated. 

“They’re going to ban you and jail you” is what I am hearing.

People are willing to throw in the towel and say, “I’m done. Now it’s time for me to look after #1.”

Justice is a pipe dream, utterly impossible to manifest and unattainable. Because of this, the truth itself no longer exists.

I understand “the conservative movement” (which I do not condone) has failed you.  

Buy my books, read our white paper, buy the products our advertisers sell, sponsor these conferences, or give us more money. 

These are not the most effective means of persuasion and influence anymore. In reality, these are probably the least effective means.

To a certain extent, elections have failed almost everybody, depending on who is in power at the moment. Or at least they have become less meaningful as there is a permanent administrative state, a government in sclerosis, and an amoral political elite. 

Power becomes an end itself, the pendulum swinging back and forth as deficits rise and our rights diminish.

A small minority of our own supporters are even calling Project Veritas futile, upset that enemies of political freedom are not in jail, upset elections didn’t turn out their way.

And in the depths of this spiritual, moral, legal, and political crisis in our country, I see things differently. So differently, maybe I’ve gone completely mad, or at least behaving like a ridiculous man.

Dostoevsky wrote in the “Dream of a Ridiculous Man” about the hopeless man who had a great spiritual awakening after experiencing a transformative dream. When the man awoke again in this benighted world, he understood universal timeless truths that awakened his spirit. He understood how important it was to love others as much as he loved himself. 

“Nothing else is required. That would settle everything. Yes, of course it's nothing but an old truth that has been repeated and reread millions of times - and it still hasn't taken root.”

 Dostoevsky also wrote in “The Brothers Karamazov”:

 “Not respecting anyone, he ceases to love, and having no love, he gives himself up to the passions and coarse pleasures, in order to occupy and amuse himself, and in his vices reaches complete bestiality, and it all comes from lying continually to others and to himself.”

For me, the fight for the truth is so much bigger than this moment in time. Holding people’s feet to the fire and shaming them by creating righteous indignation matters. Fighting for what is right and standing on principal matters. Exposing them is the only thing they fear:

Play

We must make a conscious choice to “live not by lies” otherwise we become a nation of feckless cowards giving into corruption. Feelings of nihilism and futility, “Looking out for #1,” ratting on our brothers and sisters, is not where we want to go in our society. 

We can choose to say “nothing matters” if our vision of life is reduced to material pleasures and political outcomes. But we must choose integrity regardless of outcome, because otherwise, what’s the point of existence? Is life without integrity and purpose even worth living?

As for the concerns from all of you regarding our political prosecution or the effect losing power will have on our own liberties and well-being, let me say this:

I’m ready to stand trial, to be falsely accused, and go to jail. I’m willing to have my reputation shattered and take flak. So are my colleagues. I’ve been through this previously. I know the hell and wrath such events can put upon my loved ones. I know the brutality of trials by media. I know attacks sometimes hurt. 

But I also understand it will take more than this to actually stop this movement of transparency and accountability. I understand the path to truth includes suffering and sacrifice. Whitaker Chambers wrote, “life is pain, that each of us hangs always upon the Cross of himself.” But I don’t think it’s the worst of all possible outcomes. The worst outcome is this dream of an army of exposers not coming to fruition. The worst possible outcome is a society without faith. “Human societies, like human beings, live by faith and die when faith dies.”

Said Dostoevsky, “in one day, in one hour - it could all be set up at once!” 

Just imagine, if all of us stood up together, took out our cameras and exposed them all!

Imagine people with “skin in the game.” FBI agents, school administrators, Silicon Valley engineers, federal court whistleblowers and three-letter agency people followed their conscience.

Imagine infiltrating the bunker of a dark enemy regime and shining light in the darkness. That would change things, create consensus, inform the populace -- it would be the end itself instead of a means to a political end. 

I know this will succeed and I know the only thing that can stop it from succeeding is, well, stopping.  

When I was going through my darkest days on federal probation a decade ago, unable to travel and unable to work, and all hope was lost, I was told by family members, “even if there is one person who will listen, tell the truth.”

For it is “the courage to continue that counts.” I will never give up or give in as long as there is oxygen in my lungs and brave people willing to blow the whistle. 

These brave souls are the fuel that gives me hope.  They are, we are, our political leadership now, and our will to tell the truth despite the outcome is what makes our political leadership impotent.

I could see yesterday, among the 10,000 cynical emails, a few Brave souls were reborn. This is a birth of energy from a lot of people who were sideline warriors and are no longer on the sidelines.

While I was in DC yesterday, in a meeting with a federal employee, we watched live as the Capitol building was taken over. They turned to me and said, “that’s it, I’m going to record everything.”

“As long as it’s not classified, people have a right to know. They must know about this corruption.”

I asked them if they were worried about what would happen to them.

“Let them come after me, I’m ready for that, as long as you don’t stop, I won’t stop,” they said.

This whistleblower believes in their heart in the concept of “Veritas to the vulgate,” or truth to the people. 

They understand this is now bigger than all of us. 

Our job is to expose the truth.

Why does the truth matter? On a basic level, public sentiment “is everything,” said Abraham Lincoln. “With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces judicial decisions.”

Remember too, that there is great joy in fighting. May we die doing what we do or lose our livelihoods for the noble fight. For that is all we could ask for, “to die on our feet rather than live on our knees.”

“Then outspoke brave Horatius,

The Captain of the Gate:

To every man upon this earth

Death cometh soon or late.

And how can man die better

Than facing fearful odds,

For the ashes of his fathers,

And the temples of his Gods”

The investigative reporter is the propagandist’s natural enemy. Tyrants fear, above all else, a free press for a reason. The media is everything, so stop complaining about the media. Be the media. And if they ban us, we’ll distribute our content via a proxy of patriot distributors.

BE BRAVE. DO SOMETHING.

James

VeritasTips@protonmail.com