What does wartime conservatism look like right now?

Good friend asked me this tonight, I immediately launched into what could be called a philosophy of wartime conservative. In rough summary form, I’d list it as adopting the following principles:

1. Everything is now political
2. Your enemies do not seek to convert you, but to destroy you
3. Your basic freedoms are under assault- and we’re losing
4. Winning matters, a lot.
5. This is a ideological street fight
6. Act with honor, but expect none in return

Sure, there are things folks on the Right would add or change, but that’s the basic essence of it.

Then my friend asked the much more important question- how the hell should wartime conservatives fight NOW?

what is a “wartime conservative” supposed to do?

I had to admit,

I didn’t have a ready answer. Yes, I want Trump to deploy National Guard when necessary against rioters, and mainstream GOP needs to stop bending the knee with this “protestors have a valid grievance” stuff. This is a Marxist cultural revolution, it’s not about police reform

But what I think we are seeing in action is the disparity between how the Right fights- with ideas- and how the Left fights- with activism.

We keep thinking “hey, they’re crazy and their beliefs are self-contradictory. It’s gonna collapse.”

They turn around and say-

“That’s cute, conservatives. While you were comparing notes on Edmund Burke, we turned the schools, universities- even the law schools!- into Left wing activist factories. Now bake that cake or our army of woke lawyers will sue.”

We say “well hold on a second, this is what the law says!” and the produce a pocket copy of the Constitution.

The Left laughs- they’ve never read the constitution and never will- but know that the media can pressure “conservative” judges into just making stuff up on big cases

Essentially, we’ve been focusing on putting out the best team on the battlefield of ideas- the Left has just bought off the refs, leased the stadium, and already sold the television rights for the next 50 years.

So I see two modes of counterattack here-

One is that the Right does need more platforms. I appreciated very much that Rush read my whole thread on that on his show. He has done more for conservatism than any living American I can think of, and he wants the the best for the movement and the country

But I recognize platoftms are a long term, strategic goal. We aren’t going to win control of institutions where Leftists are entrenched by this fall, but we need to build now. That means media platforms, academic institutions, and companies explicitly devoted to free speech

This doesn’t help win the election, I get that. So what is a wartime conservative to do? Everything he or she can. That’s going to mean yes, we need stalwart right wing boomers to get on Twitter not just Facebook. but more than that, we need a narrative to counter the Left

If you use the language they dictate to us, we will lose. What is the right’s version of “BLM” as a political mobilization?

We need to start there. What is the story of our movement right now that will get people fired up and, if necessary, out on the streets?

I don’t think I have the answers on this. Nobody does yet. But this is a critical issue. I’ll be thinking about it and talking to others.

But one idea to start: don’t call the mobs “socialists” or “the Left”
Etc

Call them what they are: DEMOCRATS