A Conservative Vision for the 21st Century

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Flickr, Fabi Fliervoet

What do American conservatives, generally represented by the Republican Party, stand for in the 21st century? This is a crucial question. While it's easy to identify what they oppose, it is more challenging to define their core principles.

I am an unabashed social conservative and share the concerns about the decadence and degeneracy in our society. However, being a party of grievance has led to numerous electoral losses (2018, 2020, 2022, and runoffs in 2023). The only presidential race the GOP has won since 2004 was narrowly won due to low voter turnout for our opponent.

As the Bible says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." A movement known only for what it opposes will not win the hearts, minds, and votes of the people. The core difference between the American and French revolutions was that, as the line from John Adams in the musical "1776" goes, "The Americans knew who they wanted to be, the French just knew who they wanted to kill." I fear that the populist right knows who its enemies are and what institutions they want to destroy, but that's where their vision ends. What comes next?

I don't want to simply complain about my issues with the directionless nature of the modern conservative movement. I believe there are rich resources in the western conservative and biblical tradition that we can draw upon to offer a positive vision for the future to the American people. It starts with rediscovering and teaching to our youth the founding vision of this nation: a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" that was founded on the recognition of the inherent dignity of the individual, as created in the imago Dei. From this starting point, we can address many of the issues I mentioned earlier.

For instance, a child who is confused about their sex is struggling with self-image, not seeing the Image of God in their body. A young woman considering an abortion might not see the Image of God in her baby, or for that matter, her God-ordained and appointed value as the mother and steward of that young life.

Moving on from the basis of the imago Dei, how can we confront the issues facing our 21st-century modern digital age? For one, we now have a basis for addressing, in a legislative manner, the myriad of social issues plaguing us from a technological perspective. We don't have to become Luddites, but we can work to craft our technological advancements toward a truly human (as opposed to transhuman) future. An internet bill of rights to protect freedom of speech and expression on the internet, regulating the destructive pornographic industry that is such an affront to the imago Dei (particularly in regards to children), and limiting AI to merely human assistance roles would all be good things to start with in a conservative policy program.

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One of the issues that has most distressed me is the lack of ambition plaguing young people, particularly young men, on both the right and the left. Some American billionaires decide to spend some of their vast fortunes to relaunch the space race, and what are they met with? Mockery, disgust, annoyance, and ridicule. What? Really? Where is your sense of awe and adventure, young men? What propelled Lewis and Clark to push westward? Or Columbus to set sail? A sense of adventure, of wanting to understand the unknown. A conservative vision should offer and promulgate this facet of human nature.

Rather than just rail against recreational marijuana, video games, pornography, and the other things zapping the vitality out of American men, let's put before them an adventure and give them the freedom to make mistakes—and the ability to become heroes. What if instead of lambasting American billionaires about "wasting money in space," we, as conservatives, put forth policy initiatives to get more young people on the necessary educational track to be the employees and trailblazers these billionaires hire to shoot for the stars and expand the limits of American exceptionalism?

In closing, my real appeal to my conservative brothers and sisters in America is this: don't compromise your convictions about what you are against but think deeply about what you are for. What is a good life? What is American exceptionalism? If we can discover convincing and compelling answers to these questions, then I believe that the 21st century can be the best American century yet. Let's get it done.

Joey Carrion is a political science student at Andrews University, studying pre-law as well as psychology. He co-hosts the Gio and Joey podcast. @adventistcowboy