One of the basic problems with modern “conservatism” is that it is so damned elitist. Where modern liberalism/leftism/socialism benefits from huge grassroots efforts, conservatives rely on the words and wisdom of a very few people that many conservatives take as the Gospel truth (yes, Hannity, I am talking about you).
Today, Michael Goldfarb over on the Weekly Standard Weblog posted some of the most blatant evidence yet of this conservative elitism. In his post, he talks about the creation of the Big Hollywood weblog by conservative “connector” Andrew Breitbart. The problem here is not that Breitbart is creating a conservative political website designed to rival liberal ones like the Huffington Post and Slate, but that Goldfarb fails to understand that there are many, many conservative political websites out there, including the Weekly Standard Weblog, already.
The problem with conservatives and the internet is not that there are not enough websites, but that too few conservatives are paying attention to them. In my opinion, more than any other segment of American society, conservatives consistently have the least idea what is going on in their own country on a day-to-day basis unless their information comes from a handful of conservative commentators mostly limited to talk-radio. Sure, many conservatives also make up one of the most consistently productive segments of American society, but seriously, how many of them can name a single conservative weblog or writer?
It is this problem that threatens to doom every conservative-leaning news site and weblog that exists. Conservatives have allowed themselves to be forced into a box where they get their information from a very few sources, which sources are sometimes wrong, causing them to react only when that reaction fits the scripted theme of those very few sources. Meanwhile, thousands of gatherers, writers, and commentators–myself included–languish in the dark corners of the information world because conservatives are too reliant on their few sources to seek out alternatives.
And–I hate to break it to you–in the mean time, the so-called conservative party has gone to hell and we have allowed the election of the single most socialist president and Congress, perhaps, in the history of the United States.
I wish Breitbart and Big Hollywood well because I want him and conservatism to succeed, but I can promise him, Goldfarb, and all the rest of the conservatives on the internet that they are doomed to failure until conservatives realize that there is more to their conservatism than evoking the memory of Reagan and calling their Congressman when Hannity or Limbaugh say to.
