Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

WILL WADE: Teach Your Children How To Change A Tire, Shoot A Gun And Treat Everyone With Dignity And Respect

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Kris Merrell hugs his sons after returning home from deployment, May 19, 2024. (Department of Defense photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Sophie A. Pinkham)

It is up to us to overcome the lies of the Left, teach our kids basic values, and encourage the next generation to keep on fighting for a better tomorrow.

Last week, Americans honored the brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy eighty years ago. These men fought bravely, putting their lives on the line and sacrificing everything for the country they loved and those back home waiting for them to return. Our world is a very different place today thanks to their heroic efforts and selfless sacrifice.

But that was a different time, and our country looked vastly different than it does today. Boys were raised to be men with a sense of purpose and destiny, patriotism was a part of everyday life, and God was still a central figure in our schools and government. Americans believed in something bigger than themselves, and we were better off because of it.

Sadly, it is hard to imagine sending today’s high school aged boys off to fight that same battle. Over the last decade, we have slowly lost sight of what it really means to be American. We have cast aside the true values that make our country great. And we have forgotten what it means to put God, family, and country above everything else.

In that time, the Left has been on a mission to dismantle those basic truths and values that we as Americans all share. Boys have been taught that their masculinity is toxic, our children have been taught that they do not have to work for what they have, and society tells us that we should not put God first.

Many young men don’t know how to change a tire, make a resume, write a check, or shoot a gun that is not operated by a video-game controller. Military recruitment is at record lows and college campuses are filled with pro-Hamas sympathizers. The unfortunate truth is we are seeing the effects that this mindset has on our way of life and the negative impact it is having on an entire generation of young adults.

It is important for us to remember that this rise of wokeness and anti-American sentiment did not happen overnight. Government officials, far-left Democrats, and progressive activists have been pushing their radical ideology on Americans for years—inflicting this upon society through money, influence, and power.

While we all share some of the blame for sitting idly by and not fighting back, the good news is it is not too late to raise up the next generation and encourage them to keep fighting for America’s future. Because the truth is, it is worth it.

We have strong men and women in government, public schools, and businesses who are fighting to keep the American Dream alive for years to come. These leaders ensure God still plays a central role in our lives, and they work every day to protect this generation from the lies they are being told from those who do not have their best interests at heart.

This fight is personal to me. As the father of a young girl, I have been working hard to stop the far-left’s agenda and protect women in every corner of the state. In the Georgia State House, I proudly sponsored and passed HB 1084 to save girls’ sports, requiring individuals to compete based on their biological sex at birth. I have also supported efforts to ban sex changes for minors and sponsored bills to ban woke ideology from infiltrating our schools.

Every step of the way, I have supported the efforts of Georgia Republicans to enhance women’s healthcare in common sense ways. We expanded access to pregnancy resource centers, passed measures to reduce the maternal mortality rate, and protected access to IVF for women who want to conceive. In fact, Republicans have done more to protect women in recent years than Democrats.

Now is the time for us to build back our country, little by little, one win at a time. It is about changing our society for the better. It is about putting in the work so that we can look back at this point in history and see that we succeeded in creating real, positive change.

We must be great fathers and teach the next generation of boys what it means to be a man. We must teach our children to work hard and always fight for what is right. And we must pass the American values and ideals that we learned from the generations before us down to those after us. Our future depends on it.

This Father’s Day, let’s take some time to think about what we can do to lead by example and raise up the next generation of Americans. Teach your children how to change a tire, shoot a gun, and treat everyone with dignity and respect. Do your part to ensure that chivalry, work ethic, and our American values live on.

As a father, I know that both my son and daughter will be raised to chase the dreams, passions, and ambitions that my grandfather’s generation fought to preserve for all our sons and daughters. That is the only way that we will begin to take this country back and restore its former glory–one small step at a time.

Will Wade is a Republican state representative in Georgia for District 9, which includes Dawson, Lumpkin, and White counties, and serves as a floor leader for Gov. Brian Kemp.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.