"Today, conservatives have made a shocking discovery: They are the ones in danger of appearing out of touch with middle America." -- Paul Weyrich, 1999. True then. Truer now.
To be sure, his idea wasn't entirely original. Years earlier, the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed, "The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society."
So true it's worth repeating in bold font:
For example, over at Red State, conservative commentator and blogger Erick Erickson argues, "Republicans should turn their attention toward — family." Erickson quotes Rick Santorum, who, during a 2012 Republican primary debate said:
The bottom line is we have a problem in this country, and the family is fracturing.
Over 40 percent of children born in America are born out of wedlock. How can a country survive if children are being raised in homes where it's so much harder to succeed economically? It's five times the rate of poverty in single-parent households than it is in two-parent homes. We can have limited government, lower tax — we hear this all the time, cut spending, limit the government, everything will be fine. No, everything's not going to be fine.
EGGS-ZACTLY. As opposed to liberals like Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich who argue that Republicans need to "get with it" and allow same-sex marriages.
Conservatives have largely lost the culture, and it can't be won back by passing some landmark piece of legislation. Instead, it's going to be a long, hard slog. The good news is that, though conservatives typically hate the term "reactionary," most conservative victory is first predicated on liberal overreach.
It may be that if things get bad enough, America will finally start looking inward.
Correct again. America is like a junkie. Only when (not if but when) liberalism drops America into the gutter fiscally, culturally, socially, and literally, will conservatism bring America back to it senses.
Finally, we need to drop out of this culture, and find places, even if it is where we physically are right now, where we can live godly, righteous and sober lives.
Very sound advice. This is why I hate popular culture, I may go the the movies once every 2 years, but only family friendly movies, I don't watch TV, I don't listen to talk radio or even watch Fox News. My main problem is spending too much time here at FR engaging in silly political debates that don't mean a damn thing.
I love my country, but there is nothing politically that can be done to save it.