Conservatives fail today and they will continue to fail. They are failing to win arguably the most important struggle, which, if there is not a change, will destroy them. What follows is a tale of finding my first intelligent conservative that demonstrates why conservatives fail today.
I like balance and the truth, wherever it resides. The purpose of this is not to persuade anyone to be conservative. The purpose is to provide a more complete picture.
I believe there are many out there who do not understand what conservatism is or why they take certain positions on issues. Lack of understanding defaults to assuming the worst, which today is always one step away from gas chambers.
The main takeaway
What I want you to take away from this is something that took me several years to find out: that conservatism is a perfectly decent way of viewing the world. Despite the fact that conservatives themselves do a terrible job representing their own side.
Whether you are for or against conservatives, instead of being converted, you will probably be disappointed in how they fall so short of what they should be and how unfairly they are portrayed. If you care about the truth, that is.
The First Intelligent Conservative
I was shocked when I discovered my first intelligent conservative. Growing up in a conservative state, surrounded by conservatives, and yet, had not met one. I could not say who was truly intelligent. Perhaps, in their own way, but not in the manner of Bill Clinton, Christopher Hitchens, Bill Maher, or Jon Stewart.
I thought the world had been turned upside down. Not only was he intelligent, well spoken, and well versed, but—and this is the kicker—he was polite. He was a nice human being! I honestly did not know what to make of this. I chalked it up to an anomaly not to be explained and moved on with my life.
Conservative equals Bad
Growing up, I had a negative view of conservatives. The impression was of a dark force engaging in thought and action policing bordering on cruelty. Constantly judging other people for how they live their lives. Even the slightest word or question would be stamped out like a campfire. “Holier than thou” was their mantra.
There was never a good justification for their rules and regulations, either. If questioned, they either became enraged, shut you down, or said something about a sacred text. They rarely explained why and would even default to “because”.
The actions of these religious conservatives have caused me on numerous occasions to explain to liberals how closely they resemble the intolerance, cruelty, and stupidity I grew up with. Of course, to no avail, as, “we have it figured out this time.”
Portrayal in Media
I cannot think of any religious or conservative characters in movies or television portrayed in a positive light. It’s always a hick or redneck, and they are always mean, ignorant, or incompetent. The only explanation for their actions is cruelty and intolerance.
Of course, it does not help that you meet people who are really like that. But in pop culture, they are always dumb, always authoritarian. From Footloose to the West Wing to Ricky Bobby, the people who believe in God are always portrayed in this cruel, negative, intolerant, and dumb manner.
Over the years and after studying advertising, I have come to place more stock in the totality of impressions over time. The totality of this portrayal is that conservatives and religious people are, for the most part, harmful to our society. But, conservatives fail today because so often they play right into these stereotypes again and again.
When so many people do not do much reading and studying on their own, where do they get information to form opinions? This is hard, as it took me a long time to get past my ego. I had to admit to myself that I had not done that much research into my tightly held beliefs.
Its impact on my image of conservatives
I had an image of a cruel tyrant filled with hate and disgust for anything different. I wanted to think of myself as intelligent and kind. Therefore, I felt obliged to be the opposite of a conservative. You see, the liberal side is the smart side, the intellectual side. And I wanted to be on that side.
I purposely ruled out anything from a conservative or religious person. I had that arrogance of a young person who does not realize how little they know. Now I know that I was regurgitating what I read in Dawkins, Hitchens, and others.
I styled myself and atheist, liberal in direct response to what I observed growing up. Upon hearing George W. Bush speak about social issues and winced. Upon hearing anything about religions, especially Christianity, I turned off. I would hear nothing from that cruel and heartless side.
First encounter with an intelligent Conservative
In my mid-20s, I was told that there was this guy who was really smart and, and, was a Christian conservative. I had to meet so as to destroy him. But, he destroyed me and my ridiculous undigested arguments against him. I confess that it is sad to have won so many debates without doing any real study of my side.
What was worse, he was incredibly polite and calm as he dismantled point after point that I had not thought through. It was like I was playing chess against Kasparov.
First encounter with a dumb Liberal
Around the time of the encounter with the kind conservative who actually knew why he believed as he did was working with a dumb atheist. Again, for the first time, I met a stupid liberal atheist. He was one of those people who was a terrible screw up on the job and poor in every way.
He loudly proclaimed the same lines I did to my horror. This was the first time I met someone who had all the same qualities of the conservative Christians’ I grew up with. Only thing was, he was a liberal atheist. And he had absolute know idea why he believed what he believed.
A smart conservative and a dumb liberal???
I was not converted but my encounters left me with one glaring conclusion: I had no idea why I was opposed to conservatives or religion. Not really. I did not fully understand why I believed why I believed. I used superficial arguments believing they supported my side without knowing why that was my side.
What bothered me the most was that I had not considered any merits of conservatism nor had I considered the demerits of liberalism. I had to do more research than I cared to admit to uncover what true conservative looked like.
The stumbling block to the truth
The problem with conservatives is: They are either dumb, or at least, sound dumb, or they are abrasive jerks, or they are so corrupted by the DC mindset they have lost touch.
Conservatives fail today because it should not be that hard to find an intelligent thoughtful member of their tribe who has not been tainted by Washington.
Three conservative types causing problems
I am referring to the loudest, most influential voices. One can make an argument that the National Review or Claremont are both intelligent and well tempered. This is true to an extent except that the majority are not exposed to the arguments contained in these places.
First type – Stupidity and lack of eloquence
Conservatives put their feet in their mouths more times than one can stomach. It is mind boggling how even the “leaders” of this side cannot make a decent argument. It leads people like me to believe that there are no intelligent conservatives.
On almost every single issue they come across as ignorant and dumb. Few present a legitimate counter to climate change or criminal justice or immigration and more. Their response boil down to “No, we cant, we wont, bad” then talk of conspiracy and other vague arguments.
Declaring climate change to be a hoax or to referring solely to the Bible does not do a good enough job to capturing those who do not already agree with you. It works for you and your base of support but not for the rest of the people.
Why is this the case?
They know what sells so say things which will play well to their base. Perhaps their best and brightest are not active in politics. Many are masquerading as conservatives or perhaps are not sure themselves what it means. Who knows? What I know is there is no one who does a good job explaining their side right now.
The problem with this is if there is no good explanation of your side, then you are susceptible to those who can explain… in different terms. Terms other than your terms and this is the part where the pouncing begins.
The past few years have been incredible with the lack of a presentation of what they believe and why they believe it. Conservatism is a perfectly acceptable way of doing the business of government but no one knows, including them.
This is one of the main reasons conservatives fail today. Failure to make an intelligent argument that makes sense to anyone outside their base.
Second type – abrasive jerks
Conservatives who are intelligent are almost always jerks. There is not decent word to describe them. They are snarky, they have glib sometimes witty remarks. Is this what gains a victory? ‘Other than ratings and clicks and views, what does this accomplish?
Its not that I do not understand why some conservatives end up enraged. Many times they are portrayed so unfairly that they understandably lose their minds. But there must some voice of reason among this group.
Third type – DC/Beltway
The third and final type of conservatives who cause failure are the members of the DC establishment. These people cause much harm for many reasons but the main reason is: they are out of touch with the republican base.
While these are good people, the very fact the others in DC approve of them, the fact that liberals approve, makes them an anathema. Lacking this type who gets the base causes them to turn to the more abhorrent members. Further, their solutions and ideas only make sense through a DC lens.
The Solution
The solution is to have someone who is polished, smart, and understands what is good for the country. The person is not angry, not ignorant or dumb, and they are from outside the establishment. Perhaps, there is someone inside who has not been tainted.
If this person could show they understand the average American, they could have the clout to denounce the extreme element. Accomplishing this does not mean accepting supremacists.
Do they want victory?
I am not sure if they actually want victory. The problem for conservatives is that their version of this abrasiveness or stupidity alienates younger generations. There are plenty of those pandering to your current base. What is needed, is one who espouses your cause suited to others.
The issue is that in order to win and especially win this younger generation, this will not work. This is one reason why Donald Trump failed in 2020.
When you simply say what you believe or propose your conservative solution, there is a built in base of people who will naturally more or less agree. Saying the same things on repeat but perhaps louder and cruder will do nothing other than speak to people who already agree with you.
Reaching out on their ground, in their terms
To convert people who do not immediately agree, homework must be done. The solution, is not to simply find a woman or minority representative, who says and does the same old things. The solution is to understand that other side and speak your same truth in a manner they will understand.
Minor Tangent: No one is buying the conservative ploy presented originally in the 2012 autopsy report – of finding minorities. What matters is what you do and say not who says it. Sense you all do not seem to know what that is, you can find the .1% of the .1% minority person and you still will not convince anyone of anything.
As a conservative, you must speak to the more liberal minded person according to what they care about. As mentioned in my series on this matter and in Jonathan Haidts wonderful book, that means harm and fairness. It is a caring side, and yes, an intellectual side that does not exist at present.
Another reason conservatives fail today is they cannot or will not attempt to make their case intelligible for moderates and liberals. You seem to be operating of of the Bush finding that the swing voters vanished. This might be but what are you doing to capture converts?
Be angry but sin not
Many conservatives are angry right now. The statements I dub crass and ignorant are from the heart. You are not masquerading, you are indeed upset about what “they” are doing. To which I reply, channel that anger, and do some homework. If its really about the country, and your children, as you claim, then its worth that sacrifice.
Dostoyevsky wrote of the Narodnik’s in his day and chastised them for blowing themselves up. He said, in many ways its far easier to throw away your life for cause. What is more difficult, is to do the hard work necessary to bring about real change.
Likewise, conservatives can get angry all they wish but the current tactics of getting dirty and rude are not working. It is far easier to give as good as you get than to do the hard work required to win.
The current method is not working
You cant continue to just say no. You cannot continue as you have before. You cannot keep sounding ignorant and crass to get your points across. Those point have been made and rejected by those you need at your side moving forward.
Conservatives fail today because they default to the easy win forsaking the great gain down the road.
Conservative arguments are not bad
The best part is, you do not have to lie or mislead or spin. You need to show on those issues where you differ that you do care, you just care about the entirety, the whole. You are concerned that a misguided, narrow vision will result in harm to the nation as a whole including whomever they are attempting to help.
Show that there is something called delayed gratification. To really and truly care means that we cannot grant every wish and whim that comes through our minds. Real caring, means tough love sometimes and going about things the right way.
Its fundamentals. It’s the same boring statement made by every sports coach the world round. Don’t make mistakes, play solid fundamentals. Play your game and focus. Forgetting this is yet another reason conservatives fail today.
Now is the time
Conservatives have an opportunity to imitate the conservative revolution of the 1960s and 70s leading to Reagan in 1980. The Liberal factions of the United States has handed you all a gift on a silver platter. .
You will have to expunge some elements but will gain so much more in the years to come. Conservatives will need to spend time doing some soul searching to know basic beliefs.
To take advantage, conservatives must offer something to the nation. They must provide a good argument about why they value what they value. Make the conservative case as to why those social issues are important. By doing this well, liberals cannot label you as they have.
Conservatives fail today because they do not recognize this gift.
Trump December 2016
Do you remember December 2016? I do. I was vehemently opposed to Donald Trump and scoured the world for news against him. But during a brief period, he had something like success. The “media” as you decry could not deny it. Me, being a trump hater, could not deny it. A conservative can be successful.
Your side does not have a firm footing. They are not fully sure how to react to the massive forces unleashed over the past few years. How can they get fired up if they do not know? How can anyone have confidence if they are not sure what the response is to the past few years?
As such, they default to obstruction, witch hunts, heinous arguments. and pandering to big business. None of which get people to the polls to win elections.
Conservatives fail today because…..
In sum, conservatives fail today because the thoughtful intelligent members who are not beholden to a DC mindset are not on center stage. This leaves a vacuum for people like Trump and causes much damage to the conservative cause.