Recently, my friends Shantelle and John were discussing politics. Both are married with kids. Both are church goers with similar values. Both would consider themselves conservatives. But with political candidates, they can’t seem to agree on anything. John can not stand Donald Trump, but he sure likes Nikki Haley. John likes the clean-cut, traditional GOP candidates that seem to be exactly who people on FOX news seem to rave about. Shantelle, on the other hand, would consider Nikki Haley a bit of a “RINO” (Republican in name only). She thinks Trump is the best president we’ve ever had, but would take Ron DeSantis in a heartbeat, too. John physically winces at the mere mention of Trump and couldn’t even vote in good conscience during the last election due to his disgust of him. Shantelle is baffled by this: did John not realize how good we had it? Conservatives, it seems, have a bit of a divide when it comes to political favorites. Open debate is important, and it’s okay to not see eye-to-eye on every topic. However, if people like John and Shantelle don’t get on the same page and realize who the real enemy is here and now-and it’s not each other–it will be too late. Conservatives-what are we conserving?
Traditionally, conservatives believed in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. They also believe the role of the government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals.[1] Socially, conservatives are committed to conserving traditional values, especially those that benefit the family. Mostly: government, stay out of our lives. Liberals, by contrast, want to use the government to help achieve equality. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If we think about equality as a mountain, with the top being as close to equality that we can possibly achieve in a world that will always have a level of evil, we are pretty darn close to the top.
But liberalism has morphed into progressivism, and progressivism, according to its name, is supposed to progress us as a society. By all means, we have certainly made tremendous progress as a society in America since our birth. We’ve succeeded from half the country owning slaves and women having no rights to a civil war, black men earning the right to vote in 1870, women earning the right to vote in 1920, to where we are today. There are laws in place that protect workers and individuals from being discriminated against due to race, orientation, gender, etc. As a country, we have strived to fix injustices and to make fair what is not fair to the best of our ability. We are near the top of the mountain. Individuals may still have malice, racism, sexism, or evil in their hearts, but you would be hard-pressed to see this accepted in our society by any group of people. To root out all the hatred in individual hearts would be an impossibility, and the best we can do as a society is to protect people groups from injustice at the hands of individuals with bad intentions. We cannot reach perfection, and although some work may still need to be done, it is vital that we appreciate the progress we’ve made and to maintain what is good and useful to our society.
But what happens when we reach near the top of our equality mountain, and we continue to press on past the point? The result is appearing not to be more progression, but regression. In an attempt to make things exceedingly fair, we’ve gone from focusing on equality (equal opportunities) to equity (equal outcomes). But to control the outcomes for individuals takes away from the drive and pursuit for everyone. Why work hard to achieve anything if the same can be given to someone else who didn’t put the same work in? We can try to make things as equal as possible as a starting point: in fact, I heard this often as I grew up. In America, you can “grow up and be whatever you want to be!” Of course, people have different advantages in life: the two-parent household privilege, the pretty privilege, the athletic privilege, the tall privilege. Life will never be completely equal or fair. But when it comes to race and gender, we have made so much progress that, legally speaking, people are protected from discrimination due to these attributes. But progressives want more. They want equal outcomes. This is also how communism works: equal outcomes for all-which means, a few at the top have much and the vast majority at the bottom equally have nothing. It has never worked, but it does make things fair: no one will escape poverty because there is no hope to move up in the world for anyone. It’s a trap, and one that societies have learned their lessons the hard way again and again, resulting in the deaths of millions. This is taking us backwards.
Progressivism is regressive in terms of both race and gender. Instead of building up and encouraging individuals to achieve their goals or grow regardless of what they look like, they victimize people based on what color they are. How does telling individuals they can’t or won’t amount to anything help do anything but breed division, hatred, and bitterness? Women are more equal to men than ever-except, once again, we are on our way down the mountain. Instead of building women up, we are telling them that they can reject their womanhood to become a man. Being a woman is an honor, and it is not something to be rejected. Meanwhile, we are allowing men to become a woman-a biological impossibility, but also a slap in the face to women: that our womanhood is fickle and can be tossed around, rejected, and replicated. Women and girls are to be protected in their private spaces from men, and no man should replace a woman for “woman of the year” or any other area that men have no business in. This is taking us backwards.
One of the biggest problems with progressivism is the hijacking of words and the push to relativism. They are the party of Science, yet objective, factual truth is hate speech. They are the party of Love, but only if it fits their narrative. Truth, according to them, is subjective as well. Your truth. My truth. Men can be women. What is a woman? Undefinable. But whatever it is, a man can be it. Wait, what? This is taking us backwards (or upside down or floating around in space since relativism has no ground to stand on).
Drag shows are popping up across our country where children are encouraged to place money in the lingerie of men dressed promiscuously as women. Sex Ed is becoming more and more grotesque and graphic. Kids can transition into the opposite sex with harmful medications that prevent their natural progression into puberty with parents either being gaslit or bullied into complying. Gay pride commercials stream on my living room TV as I type this from the Nickelodeon channel-a channel for kids. School officials, not parents, should be the primary stakeholders in your kids’ education, says progressives. Our children are being targeted as pawns and property of the state. Babies, up to and in some cases post birth, can be murdered by his or her parents in the name of convenience. At least in the primitive days, the throwing of a baby into a volcano had an intention to benefit the society. We do it because we can. This is taking us backwards.
This is where it is abundantly and urgently clear why conservatives need to be on the same page. What are we conserving?
We are conserving the notion that all have equal, unalienable rights, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or color. We are conserving that every human being deserves the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We must conserve the meaning of objective, factual truth grounded in reality. We must conserve the meaning of what a man or woman is and protect women from losing her place in society. We must conserve, protect, and respect the innocence of our children, providing them the childhoods safe from exploitation and oversexualizing that is being foisted upon them. Conservatives conserve the progress from the past.
We are no longer fighting against the liberals of the days of old: a little too much government involvement for our liking, a little too much social liberalism for our Christian values, a little too much secularism. No. We are far beyond this. The very fabric of our society is being ripped apart, shredded at the seams as our boundaries put in place to protect us from tyranny are being dissolved, and we are arguing amongst ourselves over whether the election was stolen or if January 6th was truly an insurrection. These are distractions. Our families, children, and American life are under attack. We must lock arms and get on the same page now. Not to take us backwards, like our adversaries like to say we are: that is precisely what they are doing. But to conserve how far we’ve come while still being open to true progress that will objectively move us forward.
Perhaps you reading this would consider yourself liberal, or at the very least, a moderate and the thought of considering yourself a conservative churns your stomach. Yet, the progressive ideology has taken over your party and you’re not sure where to fit. You are welcome here. As can be seen with John and Shantelle, debate amongst conservatives is alive and well. That’s because we won’t all be on the same page on everything. We can disagree without name calling or labeling. Open debate, asking questions, and the freedom to seek truth without being “canceled” are vitally important. But as this article suggests, fighting against the agenda of the progressive ideology is urgent and must be something we all get on the same page on now. If you want to be a part of the party that stands up for freedom, women, children, individual rights, families, and truth-we welcome you.
So what can be done? Get educated on what the ‘progressive’ agenda is and fight back against it. Get involved in your child’s school. Monitor what your kids are watching on their phones (Tumblr, TikTok, and the like are pushing the trans agenda on your girls right under your nose while you are sitting on the couch next to them). Pay attention to who’s running in what position and VOTE- getting involved politically is one of our best defenses to fight what is happening, and when a politician is put in place who will work against progressive forces, we MUST all rally behind them. Support people around you who are also working to conserve our values and stand for truth, like us here at Accurate Perspective. And perhaps most importantly, stand up! Stand up for truth and don’t play along with the lies. Stand up for our women and children. Stand up, even if it means you will be labeled or called names.
To the John’s and Shantelle’s out there-our country is worth conserving. Put your differences aside for now and focus on who the real enemy is. If not, we will no longer have a republic to conserve.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?
It’s up to us.
I appreciate this explanation of what is happening in our nation and how the decisions being made in a society that was based on freedom has morphed into a decisive nation with freedom being limited to ones perspective. Thank you for explaining the difference between what was once progressive and how it has changed into regression. It appears conservative values have also changed with a willingness to be a bit more progressive in some areas but the core values need up remain rock solid so there are standards we can anchor to. That’s where truth is critical!