What to Expect in 2014
January 2, 2014 by Ben Shapiro
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2013 marked a turning point. From Chick-fil-A to Duck Dynasty, conservative religious Americans found their footing: Whether you are for or against same-sex marriage, it is plainly un-American to override someones religious beliefs in the name of your politics. Conservative Americans seemed to realize, for the first time in a long time, that the battle over same-sex marriage came wrapped in a larger battle over religious freedom. And they fought back, and won.
Meanwhile, conservatives began to fight back against the lefts uncorroborated assertion of right-wing racism. While MSNBC focused laser-like on one Confederate flag at an anti-Obamacare rally, those same MSNBC hosts laughed at Mitt Romneys adopted black grandchild (Melissa Harris-Perry), suggested that someone ought to p*** and s*** in Sarah Palins mouth (Martin Bashir), used anti-gay slurs (Alec Baldwin), shook down businesses over race (Al Sharpton) and labeled words like black hole and Chicago racist (Chris Matthews). Race, the right realized, was an obsession only for the left.
And in the aftermath of the lefts successful 2012 war on women meme, the right began to fight back, too. Beginning with the lefts attempted deification of amoral Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who filibustered for 11 hours on behalf of the murder of 21-week-old fetuses, the right refused to be cowed. Abortion is a real moral issue with real lives at stake, and no amount of leftist badgering could back conservative Americans off their attempts to protect the unborn.
The cultural battles gradually made their way into the political arena, too. Freed from the burden of the beige and blundering Romney campaign, conservatives stood up against the growth of government on moral, not merely practical, grounds. Obamas signature program began to collapse the moment Americans awakened to the deep immorality of government-controlled medical care. Sen. Ted Cruzs government shutdown strategy, right or wrong, highlighted conservative opposition to the state as cradle-to-grave caretaker. American distrust of government, for the right reasons, soared.
This does not mean the battles are over for conservatives. Theyre just beginning. The media have already geared up toward nominating Hillary Clinton in 2016 (The New York Times whitewash of Benghazi this week was only the beginning). The DC-run Republican Party has a disheartening way of crippling its own conservative base in order to cut deals. But 2013 could go down as the year that conservatives moved beyond standing athwart history shouting stop, and began shoving in the opposite direction, which could make 2014 historic.
What to Expect in 2014 | FrontPage Magazine