Conservatives and Republicans are not automatically the same
We should not abandon conservative principles because the Republican Party failed to stand up for those principles.
The Environmental Protection Agency was established in 1970 by Republican President Richard Nixon, who also imposed wage and price controls on the entire nation via executive order in 1971. George H.W. Bush agreed with Democrats to raise taxes in 1990. George W. Bush signed a brand new federal entitlement program into law on December 8, 2003 and expanded the federal government’s role in local schools with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. Here in Bloomington, Indiana, it was a Republican city council member that introduced legislation to protect “gender identity” in 2006.
So what have conservatives concerned? Has conservatism as an ideology failed? The problem with that question is that it is the wrong question. The question is not what conservatives have conserved, but what Republicans have conserved. At times, Republicans have not only failed to conserve, but they have actively expanded government and given the Democrats what they wanted.
For those who reject “conservatism” because Republicans were “losers” before 2015, I have some questions. What exactly do you stand for? Do you support higher taxes? More spending? More government regulations? Trans rights? Same sex marriage? Coddling criminals? A weak national defense? A powerful federal government that takes the authority of the states? If you are against those things, then you are a conservative.
The rejection of “conservatism” by the “new right” is not as much an overt rejection of conservative principles (although that is happening to some extent) but a belief that “conservatives” (meaning Republicans) were not sufficiently combative before 2015. What it means to “fight” is up for debate, but the failure to fight for conservative principles does not discredit the principles themselves. It discredits those who failed to fight - either to oppose bad policy or to implement good policy. We need to be clear about that.