Western civilization, and the freedoms we enjoy, were, as such, not the product of luck, but rather, the result of preserving time-tested institutions.

If you’re having a hard time following this — or if it simply sounds like bullshit — then that speaks to a fundamental problem that that conservatives have in communicating their philosophy in a 21st century world where individual liberty trumps old fashioned values like virtue, community, tradition, etc.

Much of conservatism is based on the notion that society is fragile. And if we start tinkering with some fundamental pillars — redefining marriage, here, redefining gender, there — it could have dire, if long-term, unintended consequences.

Again, though, the cultural conservative has a real problem here. First, short-term problems always feel more real than long-term ones; the urgent almost always overcomes the important. Second, what if you simply don’t believe these rather esoteric long-term “doomsday” warnings will ever manifest?