Thread by @Doc_0

There is a part of the conservative sphere that has always felt populism is the ultimate sin, only the Left should be allowed to fight culture wars, and genuine conservative grassroots movements should be immediately run down with rhetorical lawn mowers.

There are different reasons why some conservatives gravitate to this way of thinking. Some are paid grifters. Some live deep inside the left-wing information sphere and inherit its prejudices, such as the notion cultural combat is toxic for conservatives but OK for lefties.

Some remain convinced there is a crucial group of "moderates" and "independents" in the electorate that will abandon Republicans forever if they fight the way left-wingers do. Perpetual fear of offending indy voters explains a great deal of conservative timidity since the 90s.

Some believe they can win ideological struggles without sullying themselves with filthy politics. If they just hold their principles high and visibly disdain effective political strategy, people will someday realize the Right has been right all along, and rally to its banner.

Some are quietly fatalist, believing conservatives can never hope to prevail against the absolute media domination of the Left or the vast power it wields through government institutions like schools. Engaging on cultural issues is like challenging Godzilla to a cage match.

For these timid elements of conservatism, the worst offense of the Right is questioning the motives of the Left. Nothing makes them spring into action against other conservatives faster than insinuations of bad faith or sinister motives against the Left.

The Left must always be regarded as the loyal opposition, good people who want the best for everyone, but are simply mistaken about how to achieve these noble ends. Accusations of malevolence or hidden agendas against the Left are denounced as ugly conspiracy mongering.

This attitude holds among timid conservatives even as the Left wages all-out war and loudly asserts there are no honest, sincere, good-faith arguments against its agenda. Is there a political argument on the Left that doesn't begin with denying the good intentions of opponents?

Run through the list of top issues: if you want border security, you must be a xenophobe. If you oppose abortion, you must be a blind religious fanatic or misogynist. If you want smaller government, you're cruel and greedy. Question global warming? You're a tool of Big Oil.

But as soon as any head of steam builds among grassroots conservatives for questioning the motives of the Left on similar grounds, the timid conservatives leap into action. Tut tut! That language is out of bounds! How dare you imply Lefty's agenda is deliberately destructive!

They'll tell you it's paranoia and slander to talk about the destructive agenda of the Left even as hyperventilating lefties are busy laying out their agenda with hundreds of social media videos and vowing to destroy anyone who gets in their way.

A great deal of the cancerous growth of the Left in the post-Reagan era was facilitated by this conservative mindset. No matter how blatant the Left was about its agenda, noticing that agenda and questioning its motives was considered rude, improper, and out of the mainstream.

You don't want to fight an ugly culture war? Well, guess what? EVERYTHING is culture. Everything either feeds into culture, or is shaped by it. The Left gets that, and deployed legions of paid shock troops to capture institutions and corporations while you kept your hands clean.

Too much of the conservative commentariat is exactly that: commentators. They were comfortable remarking on the passing scene, not changing it. "Activism" was a dirty word, something the OTHER guys did. Tossing harmless Nerf footballs of theory around op-ed pages was good enough.

Now we've arrived at the final destination, the fatal terrain, the fabled Hill to Die On: political and sexual indoctrination of goddamn FIVE YEAR OLDS using public money and state institutions - and it's STILL not time to take the gloves off, huh? Still time for tone policing?

Still out of bounds to ask what the Left's full agenda looks like, to question the motives of people who do this to children - and those who defend them? They think nothing of denying the very humanity of all who oppose them - and you insist WE must remain polite and respectful?

It's as if some conservatives fear the Left's true agenda is so hideous - as carefully laid out by lefties themselves - that if we expose it and speak honestly about it, the public will turn against US for putting such ugliness into their Twitter feeds and Facebook pages.

You've got a legion of parents out there, a real honest-to-gosh grassroots movement, sickened and disgusted by what they've learned about public education, enraged at the way they were treated by the establishment when they raised their voices. They come from every demographic.

What that grassroots army of parents needs right now is REPRESENTATION. They're looking for candidates to support at every level. And they need intellectual firepower, ideological support, a movement that understands their concerns and offers a philosophy to illuminate them.

That's where you're supposed to come in, conservatives - from activists to professional pundits. Or do we get another Tea Party debacle where the grassroots gets trashed by the establishment and left to the mercy of grifters because they threatened to rock the boat too hard? /end