Tomorrow morning, conservatives will be waking up to the first full day of Joe Biden’s presidency. After four long years of turbulent and partisan ideological warfare, we find ourselves on the losing side.
It doesn’t feel good. After all, nobody enjoys losing, and certainly not when the stakes are so immeasurably high. Not only did we lose, we lost to Joe Biden — a geriatric career politician whose one defining success is a crime bill he abandoned in order to pander to the radical left — and Kamala Harris — a disingenuous power-hungry liar who is demonstrative of everything wrong with our identity politics obsessed culture.
In addition to the sour taste of defeat left in our mouths, we must also grapple with the fact that many of President Trump’s accomplishments will soon be eradicated by the incoming wave of Democrats. Under Trump’s foreign policy, for example, we came agonizingly close to peace in the Middle East. Prior to COVID-19, the American economy was a barnstorming powerhouse. With Trump at the helm, the veil of objectivity has been irreversibly ripped from the grinning faces of the legacy media. With Biden ushering in hoards of Obama officials, each scrambling for roles in his administration, how long will such unprecedented changes last?
It is natural that — out of understandable frustration — conservatives will be looking for an explanation as to why Trump is not beginning his second term. Some will blame the legacy media. Some will blame election fraud. Some will blame the Democrats. Some will blame the American electorate. To some degree, each of these are valid. Some, of course, will blame Trump. Again, to some degree, such criticism is valid.
Regardless of why Trump lost, rather than spending four years complaining, conservatives must focus on the bigger picture.
To quote Hank Williams Jr., “America can survive, America is going to survive.” In this case, these are wise words. After all, America has faced far greater challenges before.
With that in mind, despite the worries of what may come, I remain hopeful, determined, and grounded in our mission.
I remain hopeful because I know that the fundamental foundation of the United States of America cannot be broken or erased. The incomparable words of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are a recognition of a reality which cannot be changed by a gaggle of whining progressives: a reality given to us by God, not government,
I remain determined because I know that these fundamental principles are objectively superior ideals, promoting a form of freedom unimaginable across all of human history and — in its purest and true form — blind to irrelevant and shallow characteristics like race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Finally, I remain grounded because I know that such principles — while given to us by God — are far from guaranteed in our flawed human environment. They are principles which must be protected, vocally defended on a daily basis in the arena of ideas. There are those who seek to replace the ideology which provided the foundation for the greatest civilization in the history of humanity in favor of an implausible utopia which will result in nothing other than misery. For that reason alone, it is imperative that we use our voices to speak the truth in defense of American principles, which are now entirely conservative principles.
America will survive, but only if we work to protect it. Today, we can mourn our loss. Tomorrow, the work begins.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.