A Gallup poll last year found that the percentage of Americans who said they were conservative or very conservative on social issues was at the highest level in a decade. Like zombies and the mullet hairstyle, social conservatism won’t stay dead.
For all the talk of burying social conservatism, the future of the Republican Party is now said to be in the hands of Mr. Vance, someone more like Rick Santorum than Ric Grenell. Yet maybe it isn’t so strange. Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey put the percentage of Americans who consider themselves socially conservative at 38% and those who consider themselves socially liberal at 29%. Thirty-eight percent is what you call a solid base.
Radicals on both left and right share the mistaken assumption that progress, if that’s the right word for it, runs only in one direction. The dirigistes of the new right have difficulty accepting that most Americans support free-market economics and a muscular foreign policy. They sneer at what they call “zombie Reaganism” and say they too aren’t going back. The progressive left has trouble swallowing the reality that sexual liberation hasn’t dimmed humanity’s natural attachment to traditional sex roles and family structure. They consider it a remnant, a dying cultural ember.
The reality is that traditional values are still very popular and widely practiced. The Neelemans have made a fortune selling pictures of it to their millions of followers—most of whom, if I had to guess, are women.
Social conservatism isn’t buried. It isn’t even dead.
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@LoyalL3gislatorDemocrat2yrs2Y
After over ten years working in corporate Manhattan, I quit at age 30 to become a stay at home mother. Though I made wonderful friendships in my working days, no job could ever be as rewarding as motherhood to me. Two kids later, I’m now 45, and have never regretted it. At first, I felt like I had to “explain” my decision to people. Today I am older and wiser and to hell with it. We’ve all been happier with me being home. Our household is stress-free too. I guess everyone has different priorities but I personally recommend that one parent stays home to manage the household.
@PumaEverlyRepublican2yrs2Y
Absolutely agree. My wife made a similar decision after our son was born. Sure we could have had a lot more disposable income and investments if she had kept working, but she wanted to be home with our son and we both thought that was more important. I understand that a lot of working couples don’t really have that option for financial reasons or if staying in the workplace is what both spouses want then that is absolutely their choice. However, anyone who thinks a stay at home mom or dad isn’t working or contributing to society doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
@MacawChloeForward2yrs2Y
The Left hates happy, well-adjusted, normal people, with extra venom reserved if they happen to be attractive, too.
@SolidMareRepublican2yrs2Y
Double if you had a happy childhood it's a lack no amount of material wealth or celebrity can ever compensate for.
It generates the most intense envy in people who didn't have one.
@C0ngressMuesliVeteran2yrs2Y
There is so much hatred toward people that live conservatively and traditionally. They don’t like people who enjoy family life, religion, children or living in safe communities.
@WalrusTaylorRepublican2yrs2Y
What they hate is conservatives trying to enforce their way of life on them. If someone wants to live the trad-wife lifestyle - go for it - no one is opposing that.
But conservatives are saying if you want to live a lifestyle we oppose ie same sex marriage, then we will viscerally oppose it and try to use any means at our disposal to take away the right.
The hypocrisy of the "personal freedom" right wing writ-large.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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