By Joseph Chalfant
Progressives have found their way into the White House, and an empty-suit and a Marxist sympathizer now sit in Georgia’s Senate seats. Still, there’s no time to waste sulking over the past.
Our electoral failures aren’t the death of conservatism but reminders of what may be lost if we don’t put in the legwork. The American right must coalesce around our shared cultural philosophy to defend against those who would impose an all-encompassing secular, morally-relativistic worldview.
Abortion expansion, re-structuring education to fit the progressive worldview, destruction of the nuclear family, and restricted religious liberty are all on the docket. College students can play a crucial role in shifting our culture and localities back towards conservatism.
Here’s how, as a student, you can help stand against progressivism:
Take the fight to campus
Winning over fellow students starts in our classrooms. Speaking out against indoctrination is the first step in saving public education from becoming nothing more than a progressive propaganda machine. The average student can go through their academic career without hearing a right-leaning opinion, so it falls to us to change that. It takes courage to be the only student to say something. Students who diverge from leftist talking points, especially of a religious nature, are often met with harassment from their more woke opposition. Fear of backlash from professors and ostracization from liberal classmates are understandable, but we can’t allow that to stop us. I’ve made the mistake of staying silent too often, but if we don’t provide a challenge, then who will?
We must also establish right-leaning organizations on every campus in the country. Groups like Young Americans for Freedom and Young Conservatives of Texas give students a better understanding of conservative principles and arguments. They also provide a valuable in-road for principled speakers to come to our campuses. Bombarding universities with conservative firebrands will increase our audience, but progressive students and administrators’ pushback will also expose leftist intolerance.
We mustn’t give the left unfettered control over our student governments. Once progressives take control, they’ll attempt to bar right-wing organizations from forming. Students from my school, Texas State University, had to fight to practice their First Amendment rights after an attempt to prevent the establishment of a Turning Point chapter. We can’t cede full control to those who would silence any opposition. Conservatives must run for campus office, no matter the ridicule and pressure we may face from peers.
Contemporize our advocacy
Beyond the classroom, we need to wage the culture war in other areas of life. Speaking up is a great start, but we must normalize conservative views. Anything that challenges the secular leftist orthodoxy is stigmatized. The way to break that stigma down is by being proud and vocally open about our beliefs to bring them into the mainstream. We can do that by retaking our place in the arts. The Daily Wire’s bold endeavor into film will become a powerful arm of the movement, but we have to open our eyes to music and theater. Look no further than Hamilton to see the cultural influence that Broadway still wields.
The alternative media will be a crucial avenue of communication. An untapped market is a conservative expansion into the world of live-streaming. AOC had over 400 thousand viewers on her Twitch stream in October. Many of the more elitist members of the right may sneer at the thought of promoting our values through video games, but that leaves an opening for the left to influence the American youth wholly unchallenged. Why shouldn’t we be using that platform to our benefit? If we want to introduce conservative politics to thousands of young people, opening our eyes to the countless other mediums that hold influence over the youth is a must. Encourage commentators and politicians to utilize them.
Retake community culture
Be true to your values and take the time to volunteer to help the disadvantaged. By living out our beliefs, we can show our community that assistance needn’t come from the government but can come from individuals caring for their fellow man. Give people the help they need and the tools to achieve the American Dream, and they’ll see through the lies of “racism” and “classism” that the left and their ghoulish media allies spin.
We have to reinvigorate our sense of togetherness within our communities. Isolation plagues our youths and far too many working and middle-class families. Community engagement can be as simple as starting a neighborhood chess club. The real task, however, is to get our classmates and families back to church. Judeo-Christian theology offers a direct counter to the progressive social-justice platform. If we want to bring about conservatism’s resurgence, we must restore our community and culture, and a relationship with God provides no better alternative. Only then can we revitalize the core values and belongingness that built this nation.
Dominate state races
It’s always been true that local governments play a more significant role in our lives than the federal government. We understandably focused heavily on the federal level during the Trump era, but it’s vital to see the bigger picture during the midterms. An effort to subvert our nation’s principles and the Constitution is a certainty, and we have to continue to make in-roads on the state level if we’re to fight back.
A political war of attrition embroils us. Leftism and socialism won’t become mainstream in American government overnight, but rather through an incremental shift hidden behind smiles and waves. Conservatives must make it a priority to reject weak candidates who’ll downplay that threat. Let’s ensure their strength by starting the fight in the primaries. We have the energy, the time, and the skillset to influence those races towards the right people and get out the vote. If we take control at the state level, our impact could effectively neuter the Biden administration after 2022.
Republicans hold a substantial 24 trifectas while Democrats hold only 14. Students must volunteer for state chamber and gubernatorial races, especially in Kansas and Nevada, to expand our control. Those midterm races provide us with a critical opportunity to shift the balance of the states even further in our direction. Door-knocking is the cornerstone of a campaign, but we shouldn’t ignore the evolving landscape. We can use social media to influence races in ways that others can’t. Meme and internet culture wield far more influence over the average Millennial and Gen-Z individual than a knock at the door. Let’s utilize our strengths to cultivate the next generation of conservatives.
Be a Happy Warrior
Above all, we must remain happy warriors. Conservative students face adversity at every turn. Unless you go to Hillsdale College, Liberty University, or a few others, your administration stands opposed to you. We will lose some of our battles in the classroom and the community. We can’t get discouraged. If we take a hit, we have to dust ourselves off, stand up straight, and fight with moral righteousness.
Our generation can reshape our political landscape for the better. The left seeks to reconstruct the country with its anti-American, progressive-elitist culture. It’s up to us to take the initiative and fight back to protect it, lest our values are gone forever.
Joseph Falfant is the Director of Outreach for Lone Conservative
