Silent Conservatives SPEAK UP!

I know that there are lots of so-cons out there who keep to themselves. My parents are two of them. Last month, I went to visit them, and they spoke to me about how they're discouraged about the state of social mores in this country, and how they feel isolated.

I doubt my parents are as socially conservative as I am. But by Canadian standards, they're still fairly conservative. They can't understand how same-sex "marriage" came to be. They're disconcerted by "re-constituted" families (second families by divorce and re-marriage) are so common.

But they told me they keep to themselves. They don't speak their minds to their neighbours and relatives. For one thing, the subject doesn't often come up. They just assume everyone is socially liberal. And number two, they're afraid of alienating people.

It's precisely this fear of derision and scorn that has given social liberals victory in Canada. And it's time that closet so-cons do something about it. Because if they really care about the direction of this country, they will have to start breaking the isolation.

This does not mean shouting their opposition to same-sex marriage from the rooftops. But it can start by dropping hints about the state of affairs. By bringing up the subject. By writing letters to the editor. By posting on the internet. Small things.

Because right now, what social conservatism needs right now is a critical mass. I know that there are more so-cons than the media let on. The media is dominated by liberals who live in Toronto and they assume everyone thinks like them, and they don't go out of their way to portary people who disagree with them. What they think is important is what they assume people think is important. So they don't portray so-cons and so-con issues.

But if social change is ever to come in this country, silent conservatives must speak out. There shouldn't be a liberal in this country who does not know a so-con neighbour or relative. That should be the state of affairs. If this were the case, we could start changing people's minds. Until we start speaking up, the media will marginalize us, and in effect, we are marginalizing ourselves. It's almost like we're serving liberal interests by internaling liberal scorn and derision. We can't allow that to happen.