The Right had one focus in 2016— winning. Naturally, it was expected that with the White House and Congress back in Republican hands, a time of success would follow.
As we’ve seen over the past eighteen months, being the party in power does not automatically guarantee a favorable outcome. Quite often, stump speeches fail to translate into action once a candidate is in office. Peer pressure and reality can combine to dissuade politicians from pursuing such lofty goals. Sometimes the purpose of campaign promises is only to propel a politician to victory in the first place. This is a frustrating truth about the political system.
With midterms right around the corner, we’re following the same game plan, albeit on a much smaller scale. The goal is winning. While this is a fine objective, it certainly isn’t everything.
On Monday evening, President Trump is scheduled to announce his Supreme Court nominee. The anticipation of placing a second right-leaning justice on the high court has confirmed in many people’s minds that voting for Trump on Election Day, despite their misgivings, was the correct decision. While I went with a third party on Nov. 8, 2016, I can appreciate and understand that position. Among other things, placing another Republican-appointed justice brings with it the hope that the matter of abortion will be considered once more. Though, it’s still too soon to tell if that will occur. Even pro-life justices may consider Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey “settled law” and keep their distance.
But circling around to the issue yet again is both judicially appropriate — considering the Roe decision lacked a real constitutional foundation — and morally correct. Not all enthusiastic Trump supporters feel this way, however.
Fox News personality Tomi Lahren’s statements over the weekend, in which she encouraged conservatives to steer clear of re-evaluating Roe v. Wade, are disappointing, though not unexpected. Along with the obvious reasons to be concerned over her spineless position on abortion, there’s also her disturbing obsession with winning at any cost.
According to Ms. Lahren, conservatives should be focused on victory alone. The “social issue” of abortion could drag us down:
This president is winning for the American people on the economy, foreign policy, and tax reform. These are areas that benefit ALL Americans, regardless of religion or social beliefs.
If we continue to focus on those things — and immigration — we’ll sail into 2020 with all three government branches in our control. That’s how we get things done for the American people. That’s how we win.
Do we really want to fight for this, alienate Democrats, moderates, and libertarians, all to lose in the end anyway? That’s a risk I don’t think is worth taking.
It is a peculiar thing to be so concerned with alienating the opposition, something the president and congressional Republicans will continue to do, that you deem the barbarism of abortion as unworthy of public discussion. Conservatives have long upheld the sanctity of life as a foundation of their ideology. To cave on the issue in general, but especially at a time when life-affirming progress can and should be made on such a massive scale, clearly shows that addiction to winning deludes any semblance of rational thought.
A blank slate approach that deems coming in first as paramount, and allows for any strategy in the middle, is the antithesis of conservatism. It is the opposite of an ideology with a concrete set of structures and principles. And unfortunately, this opinion seems to be catching on.
When we seek to compromise instead of standing firm, especially on the precious issue of life, we irreparably harm the future of the conservative movement. This damage is of a much deeper and permanent nature than any election defeat. Leftists and the majority of libertarians believe there is no higher good than personal choice. This is why they gladly campaign for “abortion rights.” On the other hand, conservatives see the need for constraints on personal appetites when they infringe on another person’s freedoms or inflict actual harm. This is one aspect that fuels our collective opposition to abortion.
If conservatives follow Lahren’s poor advice, we’ll only achieve Pyrrhic victories. These may feel substantial in the moment, but in the long run, we’ll look back and see how much we’ve truly been defeated.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a senior contributor at RedState.com.
