Daly: Conservatives Should Keep Standing for What Matters

Even when it doesn't feel like anyone's listening.

If you’re an old-school conservative like me, who still speaks out in defense of conservative tenets (like limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedom, peace-through-strength foreign policy, the rule of law, good character, and personal responsibility), you probably feel pretty lonely — and have for some time. You’ve also likely been called lots of names over the last ten years (at least online) by people whose side of the political aisle you used to sit comfortably on.

Some days you’re a “RINO.” Others, you’re an “establishment cuck.” You’re almost always a “liberal” or a “libtard,” depending on the mood of your detractor (who’s reliably less conservative than you). Oh, and you’ve definitely been diagnosed with “TDS” (probably lots of times) because — as the Trump faithful believes at their core — only a deranged individual could possibly have substantive problems with the man who once again sits in the Oval Office.

Yes, it’s been a long, disappointing, exhausting ride for those of us who’ve watched the gang we once rode with swap out more and more of their long-preached principles for the grievance-fueled high of entertainment-politics. And while they still pridefully present themselves as anti-left, it seems there’s little we or anyone else can say to get them to properly recognize that they’ve adopted many of the leftist and statist positions they once feared Barack Obama — if left to his own devices — would destroy the country with.

It really is a useful (though depressing) exercise to get on YouTube, or pull up old writings, and revisit what conservative thought-leaders and pontificators from just a little over a decade ago were passionately saying about topics like free speech, limited government, executive overreach, the separation of powers, fiscal responsibility, free-market capitalism, moral character, populism, and cult-like political devotion. So many of their deepest fears at that time became the realities that many of them now rationalize and normalize in defense of their team. And as far as they’re concerned, you and I are the “sell-outs” or “turncoats” for noticing their conversion, and not following it.

For those of you who’ve maintained your conservative principles — not out of a sense of nostalgia or personal superiority, but because you understand the instrumental role those principles play in preserving our freedom, creating opportunity, and otherwise enhancing our lives and culture — it can feel like a lost cause. It’s much easier, after all, to just put on a red jersey, play the whataboutism game, and revel in your capacity to own the libs.

But despite our ever-present frustration with those who’ve given up so much for so little, I continue to believe that traditional conservatives (or classical liberals, if you will) must speak out, and do so loudly. Why? Because our country, and the principles and institutions that have made us exceptional, are worth conserving. And right now, for all the talking points and political sanctimony that saturate our online meme-culture, neither major political party is doing that. Nor are millions of politically-disengaged Americans who are understandably micro-focused on their own lives, and take for granted the many rights, freedoms, and opportunities that have long defined the American experience.

There is value in independence. There is value in advocating for the things you know to be right, and speaking out against what you know to be wrong. There is value in elevating the voices of those who argue in good faith, and calling out bad actors who operate only in their self-interest (whichever aisle they sit on).

Believe it or not, others are listening. Not everyone is as closed-minded, incurious, or susceptible to group-think as it can often appear. I hear from such people, and encounter them in the wild, all the time. Their numbers are not small. Cable news and social media may represent our political excesses, but they by no means represent America.

Life’s too short, and the country’s too important, to just check out. Make your voice heard.