By Stacey Sauter
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that someone identifies as a liberal? Mostly likely that they’re a Democrat. It seems confusing then, that Western civilization is built upon the concept of liberalism, a political and moral philosophy grounded in the consent of the governed. Yet do today’s “liberals” uphold those virtues of “liberalism?” Classic liberalism bestowed freedom on “we the people” by our founding fathers. Our U.S. Constitution blessed us all with personal liberty and individual rights, including the right to private property, political equality, and equality before the law. The very values that we “conservatives” are constantly fighting to “conserve” against progressive liberal doctrine.
We believe in the rights embedded in our Constitution. Such as the individual right to make personal choices and to act freely upon them so long as you’re not breaking the law or hurting anyone. We believe in free speech, the right to peacefully assemble, the right to practice any religion, and the right to privacy. And yes, we fight to “conserve” those values as should anyone who calls themselves an American.
I was inspired to write about this after listening to Robert Kaplan discuss his book Waste Land on C-SPAN’s Book Notes. Kaplan mentioned that one way Stalin succeeded in terrifying the masses was by purging society of people who deigned to have and share an opinion of their own. Simply stated, by speaking one’s mind – a core American principle. The irony is that earlier in the day while traveling in my car and listening to C-SPAN’s radio coverage of the DNC’s winter meeting, I got an earful of their rhetoric. This included hearing one speaker rant that Republicans are all about “fear, fraud, and fascism.”
Seriously? Scores of innocent Republicans, or conservatives, were purged from our virtual society – with real, life-altering impacts - by deigning to speak truth to power during the Biden administration’s censorious reign of terror. This censorship extended to our schools where parents rights and ability to speak up were routinely quashed. Where religious liberties were violated such as spying on Catholics accused of being potential domestic terrorists. Or where Jewish students had to hide in fear across college campuses because school administrators condoned violent Anti-Semitism. As conservatives we were outraged not that pro-Palestinian protesters marched or spoke out, but rather that anyone with a contrary opinion could be physically assaulted and denied a proper chance to be heard. How did that spawn from the consent of the governed? How are our personal liberties not at stake when we are told what we can’t say in work, school, or social settings? Or, even what we must say? I know I was chastised for using the wrong pronoun.
Voters saw in President Trump a man who was unmercifully persecuted and nearly assassinated, leaving fear that if it could happen to him it could happen to anyone. We saw millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on trying to pin fraudulent charges of Russian collusion on Trump. We became afraid of lawfare run amok. We saw an administration that put race above all else – where the very definition of fascism is dividing people by a racial hierarchy. So how dare the Democrats speak of “fear, fraud, and fascism” in trying to denigrate the Republican party!
Be proud of what we do to “conserve” our protection of liberalism and personal freedoms. And don’t be fooled by Democrats in sheep’s clothing. Many are wounded wolves looking for softer, gentler ways to regain power. They’re organizing right now in preparation for trying to recontrol Congress in 2026 and to win multiple municipal races this year. So I leave you with this. Fight. Fight. Fight. Conserve. Conserve. Conserve. Our personal liberties depend on it.
