The presidency of Joseph R. Biden Jr., a thoroughly mediocre and gaffe-prone career politician in the throes of debilitating senescence, has commenced. It has done so with disingenuous paeans to unity, thinly veiled swipes at his “deplorable” political foes and an immediate executive action-driven assault on his predecessor’s legacy — from the environment to immigration to religious liberty — that is simply breathtaking in its scope. Worse, the Biden-Harris regime has taken power as America’s myriad corporate bastions, led by Big Tech, dutifully promise to punish dissenters to the regime’s enforced monolithic orthodoxy.
For conservatives, it could get ugly out there as we spend our near-term future in political exile. And this is before even considering the possibility that the U.S. Senate, now under de facto Democratic leadership, may well ditch the legislative filibuster, opening up a Pandora’s box of power-grab possibilities that could irrevocably transform the republic — chiefly, “packing” the Supreme Court and lower courts, and statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
At first blush, it is difficult to sugarcoat such a would-be dystopia. There is, it seems, no limit to what a Democratic controlled House-Senate-White House trifecta might be able to accomplish. But the reality, once we step back and soberly assess our predicament, is more nuanced; there is a path forward for a conservative revival by the time of either the 2022 midterm elections or the 2024 presidential election.
In terms of the federal government, conservatives still nominally control the Supreme Court and, post-Trump, the majority of the crucial circuit courts of appeals. Democrats may try to “pack” these courts if they nuke the filibuster, but unless and until they do so, the judiciary — however unreliable Republican-nominated judges often are — will still often redound to conservatives’ interests and forestall much of the Biden administration’s worst impulses. It is thus incumbent upon well-positioned bastions of conservative legal clout, centered around Texas’s Office of the Solicitor General, to aggressively litigate and seek recourse in the courts.
In terms of state governments, Republicans still retain a majority (30) of unified state legislatures. Indeed, nearly half of all states (23) have both a Republican governor and a unified Republican state legislature. These red states can and ought to serve as hubs for conservatives’ own quasi-“resistance” over the next four years. While the supremacy clause of Article 6 of the Constitution clearly precludes states from directly contravening the federal government’s lawful actions, there are endless possibilities for constitutional pushback — “correspondence” and “plans of resistance,” James Madison called it in The Federalist No. 46 — against federal overreach. It is easy to envision such showdowns if, for example, the Biden administration tries to jam the Marxist, gobbledygook of “critical race theory” educational pedagogy down the throat of every protesting state.
Next, conservatives must do the hard work of actually building up the digital and corporate infrastructure to push back in earnest against Big Tech, “woke” capital and the broader “cancel culture” threat to the American way of life. The recent collusive efforts by Amazon, Apple and Google to systematically black out Parler, the pro-free speech Twitter alternative, reveal the short-sightedness of those liberals and libertarians who, for years, merely told conservatives concerned about online censorship to “build your own Google.” But while we must use any remaining levers of state power to rein in unaccountable Silicon Valley oligarchs, conservative programmers and coders ought to begin laying the foundation for an entirely new, rivalrous digital domain — a rival internet dedicated to viewpoint nondiscrimination, soup to nuts. Similarly, conservative financiers and entrepreneurs must begin the long, slow process of funding and building out rival institutions affecting every area of life — banks, medical practices, universities and so forth. It is profoundly sad that we have gotten to this point, but there is no virtue in failing to confront reality.
Finally, exiled conservatives must continue to build a constructive, substantive conservative agenda that is politically appealing and can actually win at the ballot box. We know the path forward: an unabashed defense of traditional American bourgeois values; opposition to the excesses of neo-Marxist “woke”-ism; a political economics that is unafraid to use government to channel productive market activity and support those in true need; unapologetic moral prioritization of the rule of law; temperance in foreign policy; and sobriety about the limits of immigration assimilation. That is a winning political platform.
There is plenty to lament right now. But conservatives’ time and energy would be better spent thinking ahead and plotting a future — one that, in all likelihood, can still be salvaged.
To find out more about Josh Hammer and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Joe Biden actually really thinks he won the election, when under the current political climate of electoral corruption, they could have run a baboon and still won. There is no great love or even admiration for this man except within the class of political criminal intent, who admire his ability to get rich off THE PEOPLE and grab power that was unearned. He is another socialist useful idiot who when he no longer is useful to THE PARTY, will be disposed of quicker than a national guardsman, after a contested inauguration. He really should read his teleprompters BEFORE he makes a fool of himself, because most of what he mouths, he either does not understand the meaning of, or does not understand the consequences and damage to the country that will follow. He is about to surpass Nancy Pelosi as the political curse that keeps on taking unearned power from THE PEOPLE, thus becoming the gift that keeps on giving it back to Republicans, a place where THE PEOPLE are quickly beginning to realize is a much safer place to reside.
AND in what way, are we supposed to THINK WE have even a snowball’s chance in hell, of winning any election, in 2022, let alone 2024, SINCE THE ENTIRE MEDIA and legal system, fully condoned and covered, for the RAMPANT election fraud, the dems did…
We are supposed to have faith in the courts? We are supposed to have faith in the Republicans In Name Only? We are supposed to have faith, with all of the voter fraud / Democrat voter fraud? I have no faith in the above mentioned!
Exactamundo. HOW the hell, are we supposed to ‘Still have faith in so-called consevatives’ on the scotus, WHEN ALL THREE of those so-called conservatives, TRUMP FOUGHT tooth and nail for, to get put on the court, STABBED HIM and we the people, in the back….
The same goes DOUBLY for all those so-called, republicans, WE ALL fought long and hard for, to try and keep a majority in the senate….
We put our faith in GOD Almighty ONLY. Don’t worry, HE will be returning soon.
Without courage and trustworthiness there is no Conservative Path Forward. This party has proven themselves to be cowards and betrayers and therefore before we ‘move forward’ this party must pay for it’s crimes against we the people and our president.
If the Republican Establishment think we don’t know that they worked with the Dems to take down Trump and in doing so betrayed us they are very much out of touch.
Listen to any talk radio broadcast and read any political forum and the disgust conservatives have for the GOP is very much palpable. There will have to be a price to pay before their base returns in any significant numbers to put them back in power.
Only a fool would go into battle with traitors and cowards who would shoot them in the back the first chance they got.
So true. IF these cowardly traitors, think ANY OF US are foolish enough, to ever vote for a single one of them again, I HOPE TO HELL they are sorely mistaken.
I encourage all conservatives to pull their children out of public education and homeschool, if their families can make it work. There is no other way to protect our children from the errors of the current educational paradigm. My second choice would be private, Christian schools, but so many of these institutions have already caved to much of the progressive left and, if the Biden administration has it’s way, religious schools will soon be forced to include even the most wacky new elements of progressivism like the “1619 Project” (the proud “America $ucks “curriculum), “gender identity” (wacky made-up pronouns), “gender equality” (i.e., let biological boys into girls locker rooms, restrooms, and sports), and their favorite….white guilt; you know, because all those white kids and their families are responsible for slavery in the 1600’s – 1800’s. Eyeroll.
Don’t be surprised, if they ALSO FORCE all of that nonsense, on ALL THOSE doing home schooling..