What kind of idiot brings a sword to a gunfight?

Despite what Richard Weaver so eloquently tells us, ideas don't matter, not at all. What matters is power. And power, indeed, has consequences.

"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.” Orwell

There is no need to debate ideas when all the Right Ideas are already known, already catalogued, indexed, memorized, and endlessly regurgitated. Argument is pointless when you simply OWN all the right answers. True Believers in the very best Eric Hoffer sense, the Truth the Progressive Left preaches is one revealed only by Dogma.

Climate change burns Australia, mudslides California, and endlessly tornadoes the Plains. Men can become women and women men; they simply have to think it so. Of course ALL restrooms should contain tampon dispensers (only a bigot would believe otherwise). A kiss is not just a kiss -- it is a sexual assault. The best way to end racial discrmination (pardon me Chief Justice!) is absolutely to continue to discriminate on the basis of race. Guilt is blood-borne; equally victimhood. Merit is a lie. Quality is injustice. Inclusivity is everything (save for all those bad racist, sexist, patriarchal, male, cis-gendered, heteronormative capitalists -- them we MUST exclude: "Lean Back All You Evil People, and SHUT-UP!" (Senator Hirono sez so!).

Go down the list. Pull the Chatty Cathy cord. The answers come out embossed, and stamped indelibly on every Progressive talking head: homosexuality is just a more likable form of normal (did we mention the higher lesbian orgasm rate?) Can we start a Drag Queen reading hour? Disparate Impact reveals always systemic, micro-aggressive, subconcsious bias (and there's nothing you can do about it). To be colorblind is to be racist. Fossil Fuels are sins. Logic is oppression. Standards are hatred. These lists of Correct Thoughts are endless.

And everything's a litmus test. Tell us how you feel about Colin Kapernick's knee....Al Franken's tongue....the number of Black headcoaches in the NFL today.... and the fact that the American College Quad is the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman. Tell us if you went to see Little Women. Tell us about Affirmative Consent. Tell us what is NOT toxic about masculinity (be careful, that's a trick question!).

Ideas? Hell, ideas have absolutely nothing to do with anything in the socio-political swamp.
But being a card-carrying Progressive Party member who can recite chapter and verse (Trump is the Devil! Say it again!)....that's priceless.