How the Liberal Minority Rules America

This principle helps to explain how America, with only 20 percent of voters describing themselves as liberal, lurches steadily toward a socialist state that the center-right majority does not want. This principle also helps to explain the success of cultural movements that are not supported by the mainstream, such as efforts to drive any mention of God from the public square or efforts to change the definition of marriage that has prevailed for millennia throughout Western civilization.

But self-described conservatives outnumber liberals two-to-one in America, and yet public policy somehow ratchets only to the left. Conservative victories are measured in terms of how much the growth of government power is slowed, never by how much liberty has advanced. Why doesn’t the “demanding minority” principle work for the right, especially considering our decided numerical advantage?

The answer is that conservatives are not demanding. For conservatives, it is ironic that the explanation of our political weakness is found to some extent in our personal maturity and strength of character. The live-and-let-live independence and the respect for the rights of others that permeate conservative political positions are also characteristics of emotionally mature adults. For the most part, conservatives are content to live our own lives and willing to let others do the same. That’s what grown-ups do. It is not in our nature to meddle.

Conservatives are not by nature political animals, but liberals seem to live and breathe for political power. There are no limits to their need to meddle. Every liberal itch must be scratched by a new law, every prejudice becomes a cause, every whim gives birth to a new right. And though they are vastly outnumbered, liberals have learned to use the mainstream’s maturity against us. Left-wing community organizers know that businesses and governments will make concessions to radical demands to avoid a scene and get back to business, and the left’s strategy has been to accumulate those concessions over time to increase their power over the rest of us.

There was no great public demand that the teachers’ unions be given their own federal department, but the unions demanded one and Jimmy Carter delivered. Demands for Obamacare came from the liberal minority, not the majority. Mainstream America wants secure borders, but our borders are open because open borders serve the electoral interests of the left-wing minority. In case after case, the agenda in American politics is set by the left, and conservatives defend against that agenda. And when we compromise, the compromise always moves the country to the left. The only question is how much.

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