Requiescat in Pacem

I’ve read that Colonel Jeff Cooper has passed away. His was a voice of reason amidst a cacophony of politically correct foolishness. When I first started reading him, in his column in the back pages of Guns and Ammo, I thought him a barbarian. He offended me. Yet, rather like that car wreck on the side of the road, for reasons I didn’t understand, I just had to look - to read him. Several years passed before I realized that I had been so ‘educated’ by the forces of socialism and political correctness that I could no longer readily recognize truth when I saw it. It looked crude, brutish, unrefined, unthinking. But Col. Cooper’s writing style and command of the English language eventually forced me to realize that here was someone who did think - and thought clearly. I didn’t always agree with him, but by God he called it like he saw it and he never candy-coated it. I owe him for that. To repay that debt, I’ve sworn to eschew political correctness and tell the truth in as unvarnished a way as I am capable. It is not easy. Anyone who’s ever tried it will tell you that. I am by nature a diplomat. I detest confrontation and crave conciliation and consensus. But the time for that is past now. Jeff Cooper's blunt, soldierly recitation of the truth allowed me to tear away my blinders and see - and realize - the gravity of the situation that the citizens of the United States are in. May the God who he frequently invoked and petitioned to save our Republic, now take him to his bosom and grant him rest.