A great nation is built on firm moral foundations and sustained by rich time-honored traditions. National identity is based on our shared values and expressed in our customs and habits. It’s how we conduct ourselves daily, so it may not be exciting or exotic. It may be somewhat boring, but boring is okay. It’s stable, steady, tested, and true. Average folks certainly like variety and a little surprise here and there, but most Americans like and want predictability and reliability. That’s why most Americans just want to be able to take their kids to a movie, watch football, or just enjoy some good down home biscuits and sausage gravy without progressive lectures or prurient content.

Americans are sick and tired of all the woke nonsense. Political wrangling is exhausting and tedious. Regular people can’t understand why it’s so hard to follow the law or even just commonsense. Boys should not be playing girls’ sports and definitely should not be in the girls’ bathroom. Illegal immigrants should not be given commercial driver’s licenses and should absolutely not be registered to vote or even counted in the census. It’s not hard; just commonsense, so Americans are quite irritated when they can’t escape liberal lunacy in entertainment and leisure.

The intense backlash to Cracker Barrel’s recent makeover seems to have come out of nowhere. The Cracker Barrel CEO claimed the chain was dated and had lost some market share the last few years, so changing the brand was necessary. But the brand is good hearty food in a nostalgic wholesome atmosphere. Cracker Barrel is literally every family’s go to restaurant after church; those folks love the old timey stores. The pancakes are delicious, they have great gifts for elderly relatives, and you can find Dolly Parton’s greatest hits.

Sure, the décor and store are old fashioned, but that’s what Americans love about it – the history and traditions ground us. It’s like going to Grandma’s house; it’s dated, but familiar and welcoming. The Cracker Barrel CEO took a wrecking ball to Grandma’s house; she ripped out the wagon wheel light fixtures, trashed the old curtains, and threw out her knick-knacks and pictures. Grandma is upset and ready to just go to the nursing home because her home is not home anymore. Customers find this callous and uncaring, so they might as well just go to Waffle House. The CEO’s condescending snide tone doesn’t help; she clearly does not understand the Cracker Barrel brand like generations of customers do.

If Cracker Barrel after church is out, Americans could just go straight to football, but the Minnesota Vikings are trying to ruin that, too. Americans are quite tolerant of all the LGBTQ+ dogma; we don’t throw them off buildings. Anyone that wants to see or mingle with LGBTQ+ weirdos can easily find them, but average folks resent being forced to indulge them especially when their kids are also watching. Vikings Cheerleaders added two flaming gay men to the squad, so families must see these guys prancing around like a drag show with pom-poms. Beyond the visceral revulsion most Americans have to men trying to be women, it’s wholly inappropriate to expose children to such a repugnant display. Cheerleaders tend to be oversexualized, but adding a homosexual dimension is going in the wrong direction.

Okay, get the kids out of the stadium, so Americans might try taking them to a movie. Not so fast. Snoop Dogg was shocked when he took his grandson to see Disney’s failed “Lightyear.” He said in the middle of movie, his grandson asked him how the lesbian couple could have a baby? The child was bewildered how two women could have a baby. He was correct—they cannot, but Snoop Dogg was annoyed and flummoxed that he was put in such an awkward position. He stated he did not go to the movies for that nonsense and resented it. Not a conservative or a prude, even Mr. Dogg declared such topics are inappropriate for children.

American culture and particularly our morals and values have been under relentless woke assault for years. It seemed hopeless. Everything and everyone would be gay or transgender and Christianity was constantly mercilessly mocked; and anyone that objected would be castigated as a bigot and cancelled. That was until President Trump was returned to the White House.

The tide in the culture wars has turned dramatically. Girls’ sports teams are finally forfeiting games against boys in drag, and Trump is threatening to withhold federal funding from states that do not comply with Title IX established to protect girls’ sports. Parents are demanding LGBTQ+ propaganda be removed from education and entertainment. It’s still available to whoever wants it, but it’s abnormal. So, it has no place in decent society.

After years of dumb woke ideas destroying our culture and diminishing our country, the results are in and progressive ideas about morals, policies, and values are abject failures. The media has compromised their integrity and lost any trust, so leftists can no longer sell their ideas unchallenged with their media accomplices rendered ineffective. With President Trump in the bully pulpit, Americans finally again have the courage to simply ask what is wrong with normal and traditional? It works. It built the most powerful prosperous nation in history. And we like it!

When looney leftists howled about a good-looking white girl selling jeans with a play on words about her genes, Americans dismissed it out of hand. American Eagle and Sydney Sweeny stood their ground and were rewarded by Americans who just like normal. That tempest in a teapot ran out of steam quickly. It appears Cracker Barrel may be learning albeit a bit late, since they have announced they will retain their traditional logo. If they lean into their brand as plain good country cooking in a wholesome restaurant with renewed robust marketing, they too will be rewarded.

The point is not to deny anyone their freedom of expression or persecute anyone. Leftists and the alphabet mob can have their kooky ideas and immoral values, but they cannot impose their destructive policies on the rest of us. They can have whatever opinion they want, but none of us are obligated to accept them or even listen. The majority of Americans cherish our normal values and traditional morals; they made America great. Let’s get back to basics and spread peace and prosperity to all Americans. Nothing is wrong with normal and traditional, embrace it.

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Pete Riehm is a Navy Veteran, conservative activist, and columnist in south Alabama. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.