At Long Last, The Right Has Joined The Culture War

By Ben Domenech and Emily Jashinsky

The left has understood the power of the culture war for half a century. But something happened leading into Tuesday: The right figured it out too.

We’re spiking the football because it’s long past time for the political establishment to pay attention. Culture is a kitchen table issue, just as much as health care bills and taxes, despite years of smug assurances otherwise from consultants and pundits. We were right and they were wrong. They are not good at this, and their incompetence is hurting the cause of conservatism and, more importantly, the country.

In the wake of Glenn Youngkin’s blue-state culture war upset, CNN panelists pondered their echo chamber. Sen. Joe Manchin tried to pump the brakes on President Joe Biden’s massive social spending plan. James Carville unloaded. Others doubled down on the false and toxic narrative that dissenters from the left’s cultural dogma are motivated by bigotry.

While radical illiberalism crept from academia to the so-called real world, the establishment assured us it was a non-issue. Republicans boasted of their brilliant strategy to moderate on social issues, a theory that earned them Twitter follows from Very Serious People and airtime on cable news.

It was all wrong. All of it. The culture war is not only a moral battleground for conservatives, it’s a politically advantageous one. It animates voters. People care, not because they’re racist or unsophisticated, but because an unhealthy culture affects their everyday lives just as immediately as a higher tax bill. It’s not a distraction from “the issues,” it underlies all of them.

full story at https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/05/at-long-last-the-right-has-joined-the-culture-war/