The Shill: Op-Ed By James V. Ferguson, MD

Photo Credit: Phil Roeder / CC

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

–Edmund Burke

By James V. Ferguson, MD (contributor to the Tennessee Conservative) –

Some years ago, a friend told me that she once worked for a casino as a shill. I was clueless, so I went to the dictionary. Webster defines a shill as someone who is a decoy for a pitchman or a gambler. In my friend’s case she represented the casino at the gaming tables. However, her job was not subterfuge. She was to be her lovely and charming self. 

Another definition of a shill is a spokesperson, like Jen Psaki who pitches for iPOTUS and his Administration handlers. Her job is subterfuge, defined as “deceit used to achieve one’s goal.” I wonder if Ol’ Joe realizes he is shilling for his uber lib handlers. 

As we lurch from crisis to crisis – and I purposely use the WE pronoun – I’ve been thinking a lot about my purpose as a citizen. Though I am no bureaucrat, technocrat or member of any political party, I know what is wrong in America (and so do you) and what should be done to plug the holes in our sinking Ship of State. This is not hubris (arrogant pride) just common sense, something that is lacking in Washington DC. 

We have some good friends of another denomination who seem to be in the world, but not of the world. Jesus espoused this same philosophy in the Gospels which would be echoed in Augustine’s City of God rather than the city of man. Unfortunately, I live astride two realities. I am an American citizen and, perhaps, care too deeply to ignore the destruction of my country. I don’t know anyone who thinks things are going well in our “city of man” except the nut-jobs on CNN, The View and the 42% of Americans who approve of iPOTUS’ performance as President. I wish the pollster had asked those 42% if they thought Ol’ Joe was competent.

As a student of history and the Bible I can tell you with certainty that what we are doing in America has been done over and over before, always with disastrous results. Winston Churchill once said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The minor and major prophets in the Bible decried the injustice, abuses and apostasy of ancient Israel and Judah. How did that work out? Apocalyptic destruction and slaughter were the result. 

Apparently, science and medicine are unaware that mandated group-think, filthy politics and orthodoxy are destructive of science and free men.

The elites of the American Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Family Medicine and the American Board of Pediatrics issued a statement on September 9 threatening to “discipline doctors” by “revoking or suspending medical licenses” of those who provide Covid 19 vaccine information that the board experts deem non-factual or contrary to positions “approved by consensus.”

Similar threatening action was announced by the American Board of Emergency Medicine on August 26 warning physicians that they should not disseminate “inaccurate information” about the spread of COVID-19. The dogma of Fauci and the CDC has long arms, so the boards surrendered to Washington’s politicized orthodoxy. Big Brother is everywhere and watching. 

After studying the planets and moons with his telescope, Galileo in 1610 published his book The Starry Messenger in which he endorsed the heliocentric theory of Nicolas Copernicus. (Out of fear, Copernicus had his theories published posthumously.) Their investigations showed that the sun was the center of the solar system rather than the Earth. Galileo’s books were declared heretical by the Catholic Church and banned. And in 1633 the persistent scientist, after “being shown the instruments of torture by the Inquisition,” was forced to recant his scientific observations and theory. 

Nehemiah is perhaps less well known than the Biblical prophet, Elijah. After the Babylonians were destroyed by the Persians, Cyrus the Great allowed the enslaved Hebrews to return to Judea and rebuild Jerusalem. As the city’s destroyed walls were rebuilt, guards were posted as “Watchmen” to prevent the builders from being ambushed. Nehemiah is pictured standing as a look-out with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other. 

Perhaps eight years ago a friend paid me a stunning compliment which I’m not sure I deserved. Recently, she again called me out as a modern-day “watchman,” challenging me to consider my purpose. 

Becky and I are discouraged by the injustice and apostasy in America. We vote, we call our elected officials and we stay informed at the expense of souring our souls. And nothing is changing for the better. Nothing of substance is being done to oppose the same problems decried by the Biblical prophets.

Recently, I learned there are approximately eighty news sites/outlets in Tennessee. Interestingly, only three news sites across the state are philosophically conservative despite the fact that Tennessee is said to be the sixth most conservative state. The Knoxville Focus and the Tennessee Conservative are two of the three alternatives to the progressive liberal media. 

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Everyday there are reports of conservative opposition to media dogma being censured, banned or suppressed. To give one example, the Russians are pikers at influencing elections compared to the media which suppressed the Hunter Biden story of the New York Post. This actually resulted in the election of a shill for progressive Democrat socialism.

I’ve come to believe that my purpose is to stand guard as a watchman for Americanism and the Way. I don’t have a sword like Nehemiah, but I have the proverbial pen, said to be mightier than the sword, in one hand and the trowel of knowledge in the other. 

As yet, I have not been censored. Perhaps the elites consider the Knoxville Focus and its Four Horsemen (Steve Hunley, Harold Black, Jimmy Duncan and myself) as iconoclastic pests to their dogma and not worthy of consideration. 

On July 4th, 1776, King George wrote in his diary that “Nothing of importance happened today.” That was a mistake as grave as Biden’s Afghanistan surrender, his manufactured border crisis and his Covid mismanagement. Resistance is not futile; it is our imperative. 

Adapted from an article that recently appeared in the Knoxville Focus. Printed here by permission from the Author.

About the Author: Jim is a native of Knoxville, practicing Internal Medicine for more than 40 years, prior to retiring in 2020. Along with learning to become a “gentleman farmer,” he has written essays for the conservative weekly Knoxville Focus since 2007.