Conservatives have long understood that moral sentiments “develop through repetition as we emulate and admire good behavior around us.” This is why, for instance, we understand the family to be so causal to the success or failure of a society. In the family and the outside social environment, the average person learns what is acceptable and what is not.
However, the Conservative movement has voices that increasingly forget this fact, even when voters, as seen in the most recent primaries, desire “good behavior” that is repeatable and consistent. The average person does not want the most vocal or attention-seeking person but the individual who will put the time in and do the hard work necessary for the good of their constituents and country. Principled and constitutional statesmen who place the nation’s interest first not only draw average Americans but are integral to the success and longevity of the nation.
Recent primaries show that many traditional conservative voters are ready to stick to these values despite challenges from populist movements. While some on the Right accuse the winners of the primaries this year of being RINOs, “good ole boys,” and thus obviously not Conservative. The vast majority of average Americans do not share this viewpoint. When the average American compares the pain, they feel at the grocery store and gas station, the constant constriction on the right to freedom of expression, and the assault on common sense on not only themselves but, more damningly, on their children in the name of gender and sexual liberation — they do not see the winners as faux-Republicans. Instead, the average American voted for the primaries’ winners because they can defend common sense and the American way of life while engaging in the charitable and intellectual behavior that the Conservative movement has been known for. This is in comparison to those that challenged them in the primaries who engage in chicanery and kabuki theater to convince the average citizen that they care while either unwilling or incapable of doing the hard work required for governance.
William F. Buckley argued that “the resistance to a corrupting demagogy should take first priority.” While it is unreservedly true that the Left is a direct challenge to this nation’s founding ideals, the issue is that if the Right forgets what it stands for, then, to quote President Ronald Reagan, there “will be nowhere else to go.” The luxury of living on the laurels of our nation’s past is closing. The average American is beginning to understand that the issues, such as a rising China, economic malaise, social unrest, and upheaval, that confront this nation are too significant for the ideologues and, in the words of Sen. Ben Sasse, “the screamers” to handle. The Republican primaries have shown that the citizenry is increasingly looking less to demagogues on whom they should vote for but on who promotes Conservative and traditional American ideals.
Those who desire good policy and leaders may have reason to be hopeful. This past month, the average Republican chose Governor DeWine of Ohio, who lowered taxes, signed laws to protect the unborn, increased gun rights for law-abiding citizens, and Governor Kemp of Georgia. He signed similar legislation to Gov. Dewine and protected women from being forced to engage in unfair, potentially predatory situations to compete in sports. They also chose a man whose adherence to the rule of law and sanctity of the American electoral system remained strong — in the face of the threats from powerful men. In Pennsylvania, the electorate bucked the desire of one man and made an election close enough that it has the possibility that the commonwealth would be represented in the Senate by a Conservative with a distinguished and honorable record of dedicated service to his country.
What can be taken from this is that there may be a reason to be hopeful. The screamers, the purveyors of anger, and those desiring to gain power and prestige off the back of social upheaval may be coming to a close. An opening in the clouds and storms seemingly has cracked open, and a ray of sunlight has come through — Americans, for the first time in a while, maybe returning to desiring levelheaded statesmen and women who have been faithful in the small and thus have shown themselves capable of greater things. In closing, with work, dedication, and discernment, I “know that for America, there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”
