Following the 2016 election, the Left launched their resistance movement with baseless Russian conspiracies, massive marches, “Orange Man Bad,” and whatever the media decided to run with that day.
Now, it’s the conservatives’ turn to launch our own resistance movement. However, our movement can’t be driven by hashtags like #NotMyPresident, genitalia hats, or riots.
For too long, conservatives have surrendered the culture war to the Left, but it’s time to reenter the battle with full force. We will pray for the success of the Biden administration, but will also hold it accountable. We will fight back against indoctrination in our schools, we will push back against Big Tech’s monopoly over public discourse, we will grow the pro-life movement, and we will elevate those with a backbone, principles, and the will to advocate for conservatism. And you know what? Conservatives should and will enjoy resisting by these methods every step of the way. We will not be a movement of misery, but a movement of determination and positivity.
The best part about this new agenda is that we have the tools to accomplish it.
We hold a 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court, and while the Senate is split, we grew our numbers in the House, and even expanded our control to the majority of state legislature chambers. We also have a rapidly growing conservative media industry.
Conservatives were too comfortable during the Trump administration. While we were confident because of our control of the White House, we didn’t pay close enough attention to Big Tech, the entertainment industry, cable news, and most importantly, K-12 and higher education.
In the coming years, we in conservative politics need to spend our days putting the Biden administration under a magnifying glass and calling out every hypocrisy. We will not let the Biden administration get away with making the same bad deals, supporting regimes that call for our destruction, engaging in endless identity politics to divide us, or undermining the American dream.
Those who do not work in conservative politics, but are conservative, need to engage in the culture war. The first task is to give a voice to the so-called “silent majority.” We cannot allow ourselves to be silenced by our peers, colleagues, or neighbors because of our beliefs. We must halt the denormalization and vilification of conservatism. If we do not accomplish this, all other battles in the culture war will be next to impossible to win.
In recent years, the conservative movement has become the movement of America. Many on the Left have abandoned the principles of our Constitutional founding and are attempting to shift the American narrative. Through the 1619 Project, which is now integrated into thousands of our schools, the Left has exposed the future they want — a future we cannot let them have. Their ultimate goal is to tear down and reconstruct America, rather than acknowledge our faults and fix them while still living up to our foundational principles.
Their foolish decision to rewrite American history and to shame Americans for exhibiting their patriotism has brought new people to our side, and will continue to help us if we constantly shine a light on the Left’s radical path. The demographic breakdown of the 2020 Election shows that the party is expanding in key categories, with Trump winning the most non-white voters as a Republican in 60 years.
With a 4% gain, winning 32% of Hispanic voters, and a 5% gain with 18% of black male voters, and a doubling in black female voters to 8% —according to exit polls — it seems that a seismic shift is underway. The Republican Party, under Donald Trump, has been widely embraced by the working class — those “forgotten Americans” who still believe the American Dream exists.
The Republican Party must embrace this new reality and do everything we can to foster and expand our changing voter base. This means not returning to the old, stale ways of corporatism and elitism. The new party must make the culture war a fundamental focal point with pro-American values setting the stage. This will require younger figures who not only believe the conservative message, but are adept at bringing new people in through more relatable and modern methods.
As 2021 continues, we will hear from the center-right that a return to the complacent attitudes of the past is the way forward. They are wrong. Such arguments amount to nothing more than spinelessness and an illusion of politics returning to the boring sideshow that most Americans couldn’t care less about. This is not the way of the future. We, the younger generation of Americans, have had politics thrown into our faces at every step of early adulthood. And the generation after us will be exposed much earlier.
I am not calling for us to take the mantle of inflammatory or violent rhetoric that demonizes those who disagree with us. I am calling on the conservative movement to have decency while also holding fast to our values, and to be unapologetically proud of them.
We must be a movement with a backbone, a movement of patriots who won’t back down, a movement of strong conservatives ready to be ambassadors who win over others to our side.
Most of all, we must be a movement of resistance that goes on the offensive (peacefully) for the next four years, and has fun doing so.
Kassy Dillon is a political commentator, host of The Kassy Dillon Show, founder and president of Lone Conservative, and a graduate student at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.