That framed piece hanging in my office isn’t just wall art—it’s a gut check I see every single day. My staff at New Dominion School and Gerard Treatment Programs in Austin gave it to me years ago, and it has never come down. It’s Abraham Lincoln staring straight through you, with every brutal failure listed out in black and white:
Failed in business ’31.
Defeated for state legislator ’32.
Failed in business again ’33.
Fiancée died ’35.
Nervous breakdown ’36.
Defeated for Congress ’43.
Defeated again ’48.
Defeated for Senate ’55.
Lost for Vice President ’56.
Defeated for Senate again ’58.
Then, in 1860, the man who signed his name A. Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States.
The caption underneath says it all: “The difference between history’s boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often, simply, the diligent will to persevere.”
That word—persevere—has been burned into my soul. Not as some cheap motivational slogan, but as raw marching orders from the God who called me to this fight.
Minnesotans, it’s time we took the same orders.
You were never called to cower in fear while a slick network of political operators, nonprofit grifters, and their bureaucratic foot soldiers loots our state blind. You were not created to live under the thumb of career criminals who weaponize shame, guilt, lies, and gaslighting to keep you quiet while they rig elections, steal COVID relief, run daycare fraud mills, and turn our kids’ future into their personal slush fund. That is not freedom. That is bondage. And bondage is not our portion.
Jesus didn’t bleed on Calvary so His people could hide behind “Minnesota nice” while the wicked feast. He called us to freedom, to liberty, and to the fierce protection of the truly vulnerable—the unborn, the elderly, the farmer getting squeezed, the working family crushed by taxes and regulations they never voted for.
So here’s the charge, straight from a retired Navy intelligence officer who’s already blown the whistle on their scams and isn’t stopping now:
Step out of your comfort zone.
Push past the limits the enemy told you were fixed.
Pray harder.
Speak louder.
Vote like eternity is watching.
And persevere—because the same God who carried Lincoln through every defeat is the same God who can carry this state back into the light.
We are going to dismantle the racketeering machine that has hijacked Minnesota. Every last anti-American politician and lifer bureaucrat who sold us out is going to feel the heat. Their days of hiding behind fancy titles while Minnesotans foot the bill are ending. The fraud networks, the election-rigging schemes, the corporate-nonprofit-political cartel—they’re all on notice.
This isn’t about left versus right. This is about right versus wrong, good versus evil, liberty versus chains. And in a constitutional republic founded on “We the People,” the people still have the power when they refuse to quit.
Imagine Minnesota again:
Farmers free to farm.
Families keeping more of what they earn.
Schools that actually educate instead of indoctrinate.
Elections you can trust.
Streets you can walk at night.
A government that fears the people instead of the other way around.
That vision is not a fantasy. It is the reward of perseverance fueled by faith.
So hang this reminder in your own heart the way it hangs in mine. When the attacks come—and they will—remember Lincoln. When the machine throws every dirty trick at us, remember Lincoln. When the fear tries to paralyze you, remember Lincoln… and then remember your Savior who already conquered death itself.
Endeavor to persevere, Minnesota.
The best is still ahead, but only if we refuse to quit.
Phillip C. Parrish
Candidate for Governor of Minnesota 2026
Retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander
Fraud Whistleblower | Lifelong Minnesotan | Father | Farmer | Follower of Jesus Christ
Press contact:
(612) 460-1717
Let’s take our state back—one persevering step at a time.
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