Last night I was thrust into a conversation about conservatism with an absolute stranger on Twitter. Now, if you have twitter you know that you are not required to respond to anyone, at any time, at all. However, if you know me, you know that I don’t have the ability to stifle myself. As you can see from the screenshot below, it was going nowhere. The question which I answered was, “what is conservatism?” My response; equal opportunity for everyone under the law.

The conversation went nowhere as you can plainly see. This Rhodes Scholar took a page from the, “keep asking questions in an attempt to seem interesting” play which was perfectly illustrated by Steve Carell in, ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin.’ However, the question got me thinking; what is conservatism? Or more importantly, what do people incorrectly see as conservatism?

My party is in complete disarray and is essentially handing the Democrats the White House this year. There is time to turn that around, however that time is rapidly running out. The word, “conservative” is a punchline now. As comedian, author and generally whiney white guy, Michael Ian Black tweeted yesterday; “conservatism is built on protecting white people.” This interpretation initially made me chuckle until I thought to myself; ‘with the advent of DJT’s idiotic fear mongering and vitriol, who could blame him for thinking that?’

Marco Rubio has beautifully explained during a number of debates what conservatism is: limited government, the chances offered to citizens through free enterprise and a strong national defense. He is absolutely right, however, the problem is that is a dissection of political conservatism. If the GOP is to survive the current civil war in which we find ourselves, it needs to embrace the idea that there MUST be a clear distinction between political conservatism and cultural conservatism. It must also recognize that the majority of conservatives are being misrepresented by a pack of rabid nativists. My definition can be found in the screenshot. Cultural conservatism is simply this; the belief that each individual should be held accountable for his or her own actions and the course of his or her own lives and that the course of their lives should not in any way be determined by government, period.

Until the American people understand the difference and see the difference in their candidates we will have more and more Donald J. Trumps cropping up to seemingly clarify, to the horror of some and delight of others, what conservatism truly is.

And that is scary.