At the heart of every societal transformation is a significant change in cultural leanings. For example, in the mid-1700s leading up to and after the Revolutionary War, colonial leaders embraced the Enlightenment. In a short time, it led many Americans to cast off the paternalism of the monarchy, eradicate the wealthy as the only leaders of virtue that could lead a nation of liberty and freedom, and forever change the world.
Today, America’s culture is changing at a breakneck speed. There are numerous reasons for this, including the advancement of technology. Still, societal transformation can be good or bad. In today’s instance, it could change America as we know it. Before you come to any conclusions, allow me to explain.
There is no doubt the Left has moved more radically left than anyone could have foreseen a decade ago. For years, conservative leaders lulled themselves to sleep through the insistence of debating legacy policy issues such as taxes, regulations, foreign policy, and other traditional issues. In 2008, then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama signaled he was preparing to move America in a new direction by “fundamentally transforming” America. What he began, Democrats have continued.
It’s essential to understand how much has changed and how it happened. Progressives use cultural issues to impress negative feelings on citizens. If one opposes them, they must be uneducated bigots of all sorts. This elicits strong emotions to whip up angst and distract people from what the government is doing that runs contrary to the historical beliefs about America’s ability to inspire hope, opportunity, and happiness — i.e., the American dream. Because of inequality and the new need for equity (meaning equal outcomes), the Left’s narrative has paralyzed too many conservatives and left them impotent and all too willing to compromise while they continue to see the world through an old prism of what once was instead of what is.
Today, the cultural revolution is along fast-changing boundaries. It started with a redefinition of marriage and has moved into other areas, such as,
- Transgender rights
- Critical Race Theory
- Wokeism in business
- Illegal immigration
- Public education
- Welfare programs that leave people destitute and hopelessly dependent on the government to provide for their means.
These radical changes come while the upper echelons of conservatism in think tanks and political leadership continue to focus on traditional conservative issues to America’s detriment.
What will there be to conserve if most voters are so beholden to party over country they could be continually tricked into something they don’t truly believe at their core? Or, worse yet, realize the dream of the Left is actually a nightmare after it’s too late?
It’s time for conservative leaders to wake up. Voters know the reality. They live it every day. They experience wokeism when their children come home from school or receive an email from their company about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. They know the media has lied to them and can’t be trusted, as few tell them the truth. Many were censored wrongly on social media. Others were attacked viciously by left-wing activists.
If the Trump era showed us anything, it was that candidate Trump understood what was happening. He said something very few would say in conservative leadership — the American dream was dying. You won’t hear that from establishment types. The people know it’s true. Still, much of his presidency reflected traditional Republican outcomes such as lower taxes, fewer regulations, trade, illegal immigration, and Supreme Court picks. These were good things. Still, the administration didn’t tackle the political and cultural landmines and instead was swallowed up by them.
I won’t retrace those stories, but I will say that on Monday, the Washington Post admitted it overhyped the Trump/Russian collusion scandal. It had to after Democrats secured the nothing burger of Trump’s tax records improperly and released them to the public. Trump’s taxes proved he had no financial affairs with Russia. It’s funny that the media and Democrats aren’t talking about the former president’s taxes.
Moreover, consider this… President Joe Biden had the best result of any in history during a midterm election. That’s despite a terrible record on the economy. He, and the Democrats, avoided traditional issues in the 2022 midterm elections. Instead, they created cultural labels and attacked relentlessly.
If you’re a Republican candidate for office, you’re likely an insurrectionist who was threatening democracy.
If you believe in the Constitution, you hate women and want them to die instead of getting an abortion.
If you think it should be easier to cast a ballot and harder to cheat in an election, you’re an election denier, voter suppressionist, and a racist.
If you oppose transgender women competing in women’s sports, you’re a bigot.
To complicate matters, they’ve replaced the virtue of equal opportunity for all with equity. Equity is the government’s way of forcing equal outcomes. In most places around the world, this is called socialism.
If conservatives are going to win this common sense battle, leaders at the top must become as urgent in their response as the base. Complacency is no longer an option. If we keep going down this road, tax cuts won’t matter if there isn’t a country to conserve.
In the meantime, we must keep the candles burning in conservative areas of the country. At the same time, conservatives must build a strong political and cultural infrastructure to resist the onslaught from the Left. There’s one place doing this very well, and it’s Florida.
The point is that there is only one philosophy of government that ensures hope, equal opportunity, and happiness. The American dream is still alive, but its flame is glowing less brightly. As I travel around in liberal circles online and offline, the one thing I’m convinced of is they will fight to transform America. The question is, will our leaders join us in pushing back?
America is the greatest nation in the history of the world because of our Constitution. When we hold to its principles, most, if not all, of the solutions to our problems and struggles are found. Our system isn’t broken. What is broken are woke politicians who claim the Constitution, system, or laws are broken because they don’t want to follow them. Instead, they want to alter our system of government.
The radicalism of our day is very different from that in 1776. They wanted to increase personal liberty and freedom. Today, the radicals want to restrict it. The evidence is in plain sight for all to see. The only thing preventing that from happening is people unwilling to recognize it on both sides of the political aisle.
Let’s hope they wake up before we all regret it.
The Conservative Era, Copyright 2022
