But, secondly, the progressive idea that the only alternative to passing bills is “preaching” is wrong. The critics are right that reformocons don’t believe that policy alone will fix things. That’s because reformocons live in the real world, not the world of Vulgar Marxism.

It shouldn’t have to be stated, but here we go: cultural movements exist.

History is full of examples of society being changed not by passing bills, but by cultural movements and shifts in outlook. And in many cases, the passings of bills by legislatures were a consequence, not a result, of cultural change.

The paradox is that so many of these recent cultural movements have benefited the left. The same-sex marriage movement is a paradigmatic example of how it was a change in culture that wrought major policy and lifestyle changes. But there’s also temperance; the societal turn against smoking (and towards pot); the rise of eugenics (a progressive victory) and its fall (a conservative victory); the rise of racism and its decline; and, of course, the Sexual Revolution itself.