From talk show hosts, to Fox News, to Trump himself, today's conservative movement is marked by disruption, the rabid belief that the "system" is stacked against us and that it must first be disrupted and torn down before conservatism can possibly have a safe place to thrive.

But the problem w/ a movement solely focused on disruption is that this kind of "fighting" is largely a performative & ultimately impotent futile gesture. We appear unhinged & motivated by a hatred of what we oppose. Our principles become shrouded by a countenance of rage.

It's bad enough that this "fighting fire w/ fire" thinking becomes an excuse to set aside the ideals & values that have long marked conservative thought. It's even worse that the ultimate result of the exercise has been little more than slinging cheap shots and changing nothing.

We don't need disruptors. We don't need conservative leaders, conservative media, and a whole generation of young conservatives whose interests lay narrowly in reactionary response to what those who have wrested power and influence in our society are doing.

We need builders & invigorators, who can forge new institutions & breathe life into existing ones. We don't need Twitter trolls, we need CEOs. We don't need talk show hosts, we need PhDs. We don't just need our own media, we need credible conservative journalists everywhere.

We have to engage. We have to learn how to speak with those who disagree with us. We have to be a part of the republic we seek to preserve. We need to be more than the peanut gallery we've become. We need to put in the WORK, and not just content ourselves with "fighting".