CONSERVATISM ~ it's Future

Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, one of seven Republican senators to vote to find Donald Trump guilty in his impeachment trial, thinks the GOP should “distinguish between conservatism and short-term-ism.” He wants a debate in the party about the long-term direction of the party and whether it should fashion an agenda for 2030 or a “20-minute Twitter agenda.” That last is an obvious dig at Donald Trump, who conducted most of his presidency via Twitter.

Before deciding on tactics, conservatives need to coalesce broadly on a strategy.

The first and easy option is, of course, to simply surrender and join up with the mob. Public opinion, at least on the left and among the young, argues for such a course. It’s over, we lost, may as well join the winning side.

But this is folly.

First, conservatives stand for what they consider to be right and true, even when that view is deeply unpopular. If we fought only for whatever polled well, we would not be the rock in the storm we ought to be, but a useless weathervane, easily discarded.

Second, it doesn’t work. One need only look at the long and ever-growing list of men and women who fought for liberal and progressive causes their whole lives—only to be cast out as pariahs because they took a wrong half-step—to realize there’s no riding that tiger. Just recently, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling encountered backlash for expressing concern that the transgender movement was “erasing the concept of sex.” There were no half-deals to be made with the devil that is Trump, and there are no compromises to be had with those who wish to hunt him down.