The point is, in recent decades conservatives haven’t simply rolled over without a fight on major social issues so much as they’ve been steamrolled—by the courts, the media, academia, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. When almost every major institution of public life is controlled by the left, there’s only so much those on the right can do.

That frustration is part of what’s behind Carlson’s diatribe, except instead of lamenting the decline of traditional morality, he’s lamenting the decline of a political economy that promotes families and stable communities. If that’s new territory for a lot of conservatives, it shouldn’t be.

A conservatism so circumscribed it can only defend global capitalism and cheap consumer goods isn’t worth much in the end. As Carlson said, “A lot of Americans are drowning in stuff. And yet drug addiction and suicide are depopulating large parts of the country. Anyone who thinks the health of a nation can be summed up in GDP is an idiot.”