What conservatives lack is a stated vision for what America would look like in a Conservative world. Where is the overall cultural impetus for conservative values? There isn’t one. It is a vacuum of “anti” socialist values.
We argue that they should not restrict our religion by taxing, say, contraceptives for Catholics. It is an “anti” argument.
What is the positive statement of that idea? Where are the conservatives who articulate that conservative idea?
That was the brilliance of Reagan. He articulated a vision of what he wanted, as well as a criticism of what he did not want.
The nation as a whole has violated and breached the social contract that is embodied in the US Constitution. As a people, we accepted that structure. As heirs, we disclaim it. There is no social contract and societal structure any longer.
I shudder to think of the terms of a Constitution if it were to be drafted at a convention today. I don’t think we could do it.
The key to understanding what has changed is understanding that the world does not want to work any longer and the individual is no longer regarded as the basic building block of society, followed by family, followed by community.
The hive mentality of the collective is now regarded as the basic building block of society, with the individual only important as a part of the overall hive production.
I am a wasp, not a honey bee. I don’t fit in here any more.
LLS