Thread by @DrewHolden360

One of the core beliefs that both parties agreed to for a long time was that, on the whole, our inheritance as Americans was a good thing. Imperfect, sure, and in need of upkeep. But good.

It’s impossible to argue that the modern Left still believes that. And that’s a problem.

The founding spirit of our country is still incredibly important: the first idea of nationhood that rested not on blood but on an idea.

Was that idea lived up to? Of course not. Has it been fully realized even today? No. But the idea always undergirded the American experience.

It’s what has always set America apart from the rest of the world: our indefatigable capacity to change & strive to live up to our ideals.

To me, that’s the core of American pride - not history (although ours is enviable) & not the people (ditto history). The impulse to improve.

There was always something conservative about that - wanting to preserve a mentality and set of assumptions which have been passed down throughout the ages and to play by a certain set of rules established before anyone alive had a seat at the table.

Liberals and conservatives could argue, based on their own beliefs, how to adapt that inheritance to the modern times - how much to give and change, and how quickly to do it.

But on a fundamental level, the playing field was largely constrained.

Those with a liberal bent have always, I think, seen the wisdom of protecting our inheritance: that there is a unique source of pride at the role of America in the human experiment.

I don’t think that’s true anymore. The modern Left has walked away from this shared belief.

Instead, the American experience is one centered not on our potential to improve but on our inadequacy: not our opportunity but our shame.

America, insofar as it is an ideal, is one that not only HAS never but CAN never live up to its founding principles within its current form.

Slavery, the original narional sin, becomes not a historical wrong that we should endeavor to ameliorate & whose impacts are still felt today.

It, along with other sins going back to our founding, become indelible stains on the American idea, with no forgiveness on offer.

Not only does America lose her place as the best hope of the world, but instead finds herself below other nations - a confounding reversal.

And so what does the modern left do? Self-flagellate. Beg for forgiveness. Insist that we must fundamentally reimagine America.

It becomes a religion that has no reconciliation rite. And it extinguishes our main hope, the animating spirit to imagine a better tomorrow, together.

That, to me, is our present challenge: how do we move forward when one party has abandoned the unique hope of America.

And much of what we see today is just the afterburners of that decision - the monument debate in particular, the rise of socialism & Marxism.

I wish I had some answer to all this. I don’t. It’s devastating. And maybe, if unchecked, fatal to the American experiment.

But when people like me - those long skeptical of Trump, but conservative in a fundamental way - get asked “why not just be a Democrat” this is what has and always will be the biggest impediment.

I believe in America, and don’t want to be part of a movement that doesn’t.