The first time I listened to Vivek Ramaswamy was early as he began his run for the Republican nomination, here is what I heard.

He believed in the America First movement.  He believed that the founding of America was extraordinary.  He loved what Trump had done, his vision, and what he did for the American people during his presidency.  He said he wanted to go farther than Trump in dealing with the statist bureaucracy we have.

He got my attention.

I began watching his interviews and followed him when he spoke.  My son in Germany had found him as well.  We both agreed he was a breath of fresh air — much like listening to Jordan Peterson.  We prompted each other about what he was doing.

He spoke eloquently.  He appeared to speak from the heart.  My take was that he was genuine, speaking quickly, with persuasiveness.  Barack Obama could speak, but it was very sloooow — which allowed him to prevaricate and deceive (which he did well).  I recognized Vivek as authentic.

He was a lot like Trump.  He was astonishingly truthful, in that same way.  Unlike Trump, he was not born to be the spear to take on the political disasters of the left.  Trump’s superpower is his brashness, his willingness to challenge the elites who rule us.  Trump has many other abilities.  He can distill the America first agenda into talking points that are easily understood.  He confronts like a businessman with the high ground.  He sees things clearly.  He gets things accomplished.  And so on.

Vivek shares Trump’s vision.  His love for America is genuine.  But he may not be made to take the role of Charles Martel (“the hammer”) in our time.  That is a characteristic of Donald Trump.  It is singular to him.

Vivek’s role will be defending America differently from the leftist wolves howling about.  His role will be powerful as an ally of Trump.  He may become one of the intellectual forces behind the MAGA movement.  One of his gifts is fighting for hearts and minds of the college-educated, or what I call the lost souls of America — those who have been taught intellectual narratives without truth, which is what our education system thrives doing.

Vivek specializes in truth.  It was a singular focus of his campaign.  He brilliantly gives light and credibility to our founding principles.  He shows them to be not just compelling, but necessary parts of the goodness that is the American experiment.  He eloquently explains American excellence.

The apostle John wrote this: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

That phrase is a calling for Vivek — to shine the light of truth about American goodness in the darkness of our time, to further the explanation of all that is good at the base of this country.  That is his gift; that is his calling: to describe and display what freedom can do for individuals, families, towns, cities, and a nation.

One of our demographics, people under 40, has been betrayed and deprived of the American dream.  These people own less than prior generations and have less opportunity.  They have been short-shrifted, having American ideals pulled out from under them.  While losing out, they have also been fed the lies of the American left: we’re founded on the wrongs of our founders, racist like no other, unjust, homophobic, sexist, and generally just bad.

I was young when Ronald Reagan came to power.  It was his gift to a generation to communicate about the goodness of American excellence.  It was his gift to help us return to our founding roots with his speaking.  He helped bring that back for a generation that had become lost.

I hope Vivek does that equally well.  I do see him being a major force in bringing that back to all generations, but in particular to the younger ones.  I am not suggesting that Trump does not do that well, because he does.  I am suggesting that Vivek has this calling to the next generation beyond the next four years of Trump.  I think his importance is in resetting the next generation with American pride, much like what Reagan did.

From his website:

Vivek Ramaswamy believes that America needs to revive its national identity in order to move forward as a united country. He understands that a strong sense of shared values and purpose is essential for progress, and he is committed to restoring American pride and patriotism. His vision for America 2.0 begins with a renewed commitment to the values that make our nation great: individual liberty, free enterprise, and American exceptionalism.

He clearly has the desire to implant the next generation with American values.  More important, he has the personality, intellect, and skill to do it well.

His various interviews with Dr. Jordan Peterson have been revealing.  In the latest interview, Peterson challenges him about the “divisiveness of Trump.”  Vivek is quick and decisive with his reply.  He responds that Trump isn’t divisive; it’s the media and the left repeating that falsehood ad nauseam that has created the issue.  Watching the great doctor nod his head in understanding was illuminating.  It showed once again the importance of Vivek to the MAGA movement.

Back to this next generation: Reagan said freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  And here we are again, closer than ever to losing it all.  And here we have the perfect opportunity to bring the light forth into the darkness once more.  We are blessed to have Vivek and his gifts as part of this solution.

The next generation will get much needed encouragement to join in the renewal of America.  They will be given the explanations necessary to change course and to bring us back from the brink.  If they were to remain in the darkness, all would be lost.  We would hurl our nation over the cliff.  But given the right prompts, this generation will return, and America will return to its birthright of greatness.

Vivek must speak truth to darkness.  He must shine that light to all, but particularly to the new generation.  Reintroducing them to American ideals and principles will be important.  Persuading them to look for themselves and how they can be part of the goodness of life is paramount.  Providing the opportunity for them to see the light — that is his calling.

Wherever he is in the Trump administration, Vivek will add his illumination.  He will also get the necessary experience in actually governing and changing the trajectory of our American institutions.  We need a new generation to push back against the left and formulate the new vision it will take to succeed once again.

MAGA cannot succeed without successors to Trump.  Hopefully there will be many, but as of now, Vivek stands out.  He is a huge addition to the new generation needing to step up, an important one.

Vivek is one of many who are rising.  That so many are now standing up is a great sign for a great future.

Image: Vivek Ramaswamy.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.