Conservatives Must Abandon Value Neutrality

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One of the first political books I ever read, Statecraft as Soulcraft by George Will, contained what I now realize is the most important lesson that conservatives have failed to learn. While the left never shies away from asserting their view of morality—so much so that an entire phrase, virtue signaling, has been dedicated to their efforts—conservatives have done the opposite. As the title of Will’s book implies, the manner through which we mold the state necessarily affects the soul of the nation. Instead of asserting our own vision of the American moral order, however, we insist on trying to be “values neutral.”. The trouble with this is that there is no such thing as value neutrality, just as there has never lived an objective man—not even the idolized evening news reporters of the late twentieth century that we think of as “simply giving the facts.”

This realization first dawned on me when I heard a conservative commentator, defending Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, talk about how there needs to be no sexual instruction in elementary schools. I agree with his broader point—introducing children to mature subject matter robs them of their innocence and may reflect inappropriate behavior on the part of the instructor—but my deeper disagreement came to the forefront when the discussion shifted to books. Like him, I too am against young children being introduced to “families” with two moms or two dads, as it implies to the children that those arrangements are normal and natural. However, his point taken to its logical conclusion implies that, though not inappropriate for their age, a story depicting a heterosexual family contributes to those children’s understanding of sexual ethics. It’s the same reason why children need to grow up with both a mom and dad at home: they model what they see and hear.

I raise this example to highlight how there is no middle ground. Assuming the story the children read necessitates there being a family, it must feature either a same-sex couple or a heterosexual couple. Some subjective standard, but how many conservatives do we see meaningfully making this case—that we ought to be actively promoting the family in education to oppose the left’s promotion of deviancy? Not even Governor DeSantis and the Florida GOP, who have been lauded—rightly so—for their efforts in the culture war, have gone this far. In fact, much of the conservative defense of the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” was that it didn’t truly have the word “gay” in the bill, as if to say, “See, we’re not intolerant after all!” All this does, however, is play into the left’s paradigm.

This conflict is a game of tug-of-war. The left has no problem pulling hard, while the right, in their timidity, provides a gentle tug in response. The result is the left winning again and again, dragging the right through the mud pit and over to their side each time. Without realizing it, the right plays into the left’s paradigm. Every single time we play a new round of tug-of-war, we start further and further to the left.

Although this piece thus far has solely focused on the example of sexual education, it truly serves as an analog for the myriad of other social issues the right has failed on. When it came to religion in society, instead of affirmatively saying yes, religion is good and is requisite for a flourishing society and ought to be generally encouraged in the culture, the right shrugged its shoulders, mumbled something about liberty, and retreated into the churches. Meanwhile, the left ushered in the secular era without any real opposition. Now, almost all signs of religion have disappeared from public life (and private life for that matter).

We see this even with a more contemporary issue such as critical race theory. While President Trump started what could have been a great countervailing movement in his 1776 Commission, in contrast to the 1619 Project, arguments against the theory have devolved into platitudes like “let’s just teach history.” This is ridiculous. As British MP Kemi Badenoch explained, society (through the government) must choose what to include and leave out of history lessons. The question is not whether this will cause a certain historical view to be etched into the minds of future generations, but rather which view.

Unless we start actively promoting our values in opposition to the left’s, and unless we stop being so afraid to use the power of government to get our way like the left does to get theirs, we will continue to be dragged again, and again, and again into the mud pit. In this grand game of tug-of-war, it is time for conservatives to pull back.

The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.

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