With the left in control of multiple American institutions, conservatives must shake off their dependence on them.
American conservatives are in the midst of a political and cultural war with leftist ideology. The only way to avoid having to play by the rules of the left is to be creative, make some sacrifices, and put our money where our mouth is.
Conservatives and moderates have been sounding the alarm about the left for some time “long march for our institutions”, referring to the attempted Marxist takeover of American culture and life. In fact, the march has been long and spans decades, and while most can’t agree on exactly where or when it all began, many Americans are realizing where it’s headed. As conservatives, we are dealing with radical ideologies of gender and race, corporate ‘waking up’ and cancel culture, mob mentality, attacks on the nuclear family, and attacks on our Constitution and the framework of our society. Sometimes it feels like normal America is on a hijacked plane and all the passengers want to leave, but the pilot and crew are suicidal. Quick thinking is essential.
I don’t want to sound cynical, and I pray every day that America doesn’t collapse, but in many ways, much of what our founding fathers built has already been destroyed. And realistically, it would take generations to rebuild every aspect of American civil society after the looting of the left. I doubt that the universities will see any reform in the near future to go back to teaching classical education, as opposed to liberal indoctrination. The government education system, especially higher education, is too advanced. I also doubt that we will ever see an honest and uncorrupted American media. Likewise, much of the tech industry will remain an offshoot of the political left, much like Hollywood entertainment. But this does not mean that all is lost for conservatives and moderates, who together make up the majority of the American population.
What needs to be done now to salvage what we can, with the hope of regaining ground later, will require the kind of hard work and determination not seen since the founding of the United States. We the People must be more determined than ever to take back control of our future as a free society. To achieve our ambition to ‘Make America Great Again,’ we are going to have to do more than defeat the left at the ballot box. Elections are important, and being involved in politics is very important. But outside of government, we need to look to the private sector and the economy it generates, because that’s where we still have the freedom to make immediate change. America runs on free market capitalism. We have more power than we think, but we haven’t harnessed it yet. Instead of focusing so much on what we’ve lost, what can we build to counter the damage?
The tech industry has so far been a great place to start. When Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube began their massive censorship and banning of conservative (and even politically moderate) accounts several years ago, social media had become a kind of public square for how we communicate. So when half the country is being silenced, we have a big problem. It took a sitting president of the United States to be kicked off the biggest social media sites for Americans to truly wake up to the encroaching threat to free speech. As a result, multiple alternative social media platforms have since appeared. The rise of Rumble, Truth Social, Gettr, Gab and Parler are hopeful signs of a parallel infrastructure. Conservative-friendly internet hosts, web hosting companies and job boards have also sprung up.
All of this is really just the tip of the iceberg. We are going to need payment processing systems, financial institutions and other businesses that will not give in to extremist demands. This became apparent when PayPal, Venmo, and Go Fund Me decided that if you share an opinion that doesn’t align with leftism, you can’t do business or receive donations using their platforms. Just this month, the Gays Against Groomers coalition deactivated their Venmo and PayPal accounts. His crime? Holding the position that it is not okay for children to be sexualized. And who can forget when Go Fund Me froze donations for the Canadian truckers’ convoy? Alarm bells should be ringing.
There are many other alarming examples of accounts being frozen or closed due to political dissent against leftist views. We cannot allow this to go unchecked. The only answer, at least for now, is to create new ways of communicating and doing business, just as we may need to build other critical infrastructure to survive. The most important thing is that we must be able to think differently and put our money where our mouth is. Being lazy and uninformed is no longer an option. If business is the new battlefield, no one can afford to be left out.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was America. We can all start very simply by choosing to support companies that align with our values over those that don’t. It may not always be convenient, but where we choose to spend our money, and where we choose not to spend it, has consequences and is powerful. It sure beats trusting a handful of politicians to save us.