The Misguided Passion Of Wannabe Conservative Gatekeepers
This week was filled with a lot of petty infighting among the conservative Twitterati (and you know these people from the fact that Twitter is pretty much all they actually do) about who is or isn’t allowed to be Conservative, or who isn’t Conservative enough. Stop it. You don’t really have much to stand on. Take a seat.
Over the last forty years, Conservatives have managed to lose Hollywood, culture, public schools, AND colleges/universities. For some reason, the people with the same strategies and attitudes that allowed this to happen somehow think they’re the anointed gatekeepers of who should or shouldn’t be allowed to represent Conservatism. It’s all so very boring.
You can’t have a big tent without lots of people and lots of ideas. And frankly, what makes the Conservative movement fascinating is – unlike the Left – we actually ALLOW for these kinds of conversations to happen without fear of anyone being “Cancelled.” But what isn’t extremely fascinating is these conversations (especially this week) being centered around:
Who is or isn’t “Black enough” to have conversations about being a Black Conservative. Whether or not gays and lesbians can “truly” be Conservative. How much the “new” Conservatives who used to be Liberals really “understand True Conservatism.
These conversations are silly. While they may bring a certain element of online trolls over to one side or the other, they miss the big picture about what is going on. The Conservative movement is DECADES behind the Left precisely BECAUSE these kinds of attitudes have held it back. Instead of talking openly about what we’re FOR, many spend time talking about what they’re AGAINST. And politics is about addition, not subtraction.
So the next time you see someone griping about the “new influencer” Conservatives, questioning the “authentic Blackness” of one person or another, or debating whether or not gays should be able to exist in the movement, ask yourself: Is this a question being asked out of true concern or curiosity? Is this question borne out of a genuine desire to strengthen and empower the Conservative movement? Or is there something else going on there? Something with green eyes and that can be – at times – quite monstrous…
