{"id":1905849,"date":"2023-03-28T07:27:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T11:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abandoning-social-conservatism-for-horny-bro-voters-is-a-self-defeating-strategy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-28T07:29:58","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T11:29:58","slug":"abandoning-social-conservatism-for-horny-bro-voters-is-a-self-defeating-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abandoning-social-conservatism-for-horny-bro-voters-is-a-self-defeating-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandoning Social Conservatism For \u2018Horny Bro\u2019 Voters Is A Self-Defeating Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fabandoning-social-conservatism-for-horny-bro-voters-is-a-self-defeating-strategy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1905849&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The cultural roots that nourish American conservatism are withering. A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/americans-pull-back-from-values-that-once-defined-u-s-wsj-norc-poll-finds-df8534cd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">poll<\/a> from The Wall Street Journal shows steep declines in the number of Americans who highly value patriotism, religion, having children, and hard work. This poll tracks with what is evident to any cultural observer, and conservatives need to adapt to the challenges this poses.<\/p>\n<p>But some proposed changes to conservatism would be self-defeating. For instance, the creation of a sort of horny-bro conservatism would be a disaster for conservatism. This latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/03\/14\/opinion\/barstool-social-conservatives-abortion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">addition<\/a> to right-wing taxonomy comes courtesy of Jane Coaston of The New York Times, who argues, \u201cSome conservatives seem to have decided that winning over a new constituency \u2014 one that hates rules and ordinances and loves hot people and cool ideas and sex, sex and ideally more sex \u2014 is worth changing what it means to be a conservative in the first place.\u201d This is politics for the anti-woke \u201chorny bro\u201d who is not a social conservative but who really hates the hectoring and moralizing of the woke left.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-697522711\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f7f0072b32c5d7b6de734fc60ac6fe29 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f7f0072b32c5d7b6de734fc60ac6fe29\"><\/div>\n<p>This is not a new observation. Coaston draws on Matthew Walther\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/theweek.com\/articles\/964006\/rise-barstool-conservatives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Barstool conservatives<\/a>,\u201d and those of a certain age may remember \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/South-Park-Conservatives-Against-Liberal\/dp\/0895260190\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">South Park conservatives<\/a>.\u201d The questions have always been how many of them there are, how much they can help the conservative movement electorally \u2014 and at what cost? Coaston, as a non-conservative observer, thinks this faction could help the right win, but that in the long run, its ethos is incompatible with conservatism, which views the casual disavowal of all moral norms regarding sex as civilizational poison.<\/p>\n<p>It is not that social conservatism is utopian regarding sex; we know that the Christian ideal of sexual purity is rarely realized. But it is one thing to push the boundaries, or sometimes stray outside of them, and quite another to insist on their abolition as a matter of principle. A culture can endure a great deal of the former, but not the latter, for it is the negation of civilization, which is based on (and continues through) the stable union of the two halves of the human race.<\/p>\n<p>This is why making the horny-bro ethos central to conservatism will destroy the latter. As Coaston sees it, \u201cA hornier conservative movement might be more electorally successful, but it will run headfirst into a wall of longstanding conservative policy commitments \u2014 to end abortion, eliminate pornography and reinforce the \u2018nuclear family.\u2019 Goals that are, at the very least, not very horny.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>But this is also where her analysis goes wrong, and where conservatives have hope. What she does not seem to see is that the horny-bro lifestyle is a failure on its own terms. Put bluntly, perpetual horniness is the state of those who aren\u2019t getting any.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e3e10cf0cbac16bbdf6230945af89e2b fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-e3e10cf0cbac16bbdf6230945af89e2b\"><\/div>\n<p>The promises of the horny-bro life are plausible only for men who are able to attract a steady supply of women (and supply is the right word here, as the point is sexual service, not relationship). But relatively few men have the status or charisma to secure a new sexual partner whenever they want. No wonder so many end up splitting the difference between commitment and playing the field, meandering through a string of hook-ups and short-to-medium-term relationships. But for most men, this pattern of intermittent sexual conquests results in extended sexual droughts that are likely to lengthen with age. The sexual marketplace is ruthless, and a lot of men are left in want of a partner.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, horny bros fill the gaps between sexual partners with the endless supply of internet porn. But they still crave emotional connections, and so living the horny-bro life often means <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/16\/magazine\/e-pimps-onlyfans.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pretending<\/a> to believe personal messages from a guy in Manilla who is pretending to be an Eastern European model who pretends to care about fans and fakes orgasms in front of a webcam. That\u2019s a lot of pretense covering the reality that when you strip away the glamour of those selling it, the horny-bro life leaves a lot of men lonely and sexually frustrated.<\/p>\n<p>The conservative solution to this problem is marriage. The most reliable way for a man to have both companionship and regular sex is to be in a long-term relationship, which marriage formalizes and secures. A social norm of lifelong monogamous marriage functions as a form of sexual distributism, ensuring a widespread and stable distribution of sexual partners.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, marriage is much more than just a means to provide men with sex, but it is nonetheless worth noting that it is generally better at that task than the Playboy\/Barstool ethos that \u201cloves \u2026 sex, sex and ideally more sex.\u201d It takes a lot of hook-ups for an unattached horny bro to have as much sex as the average married man of the same age. Furthermore, the horny-bro attitude and lifestyle make men less fit to be good husbands and less able to attract women who will be good wives. Relational habits don\u2019t automatically change with the decision that it is time to think about settling down.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-790cf40281ae2cb297dc757593238229 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-790cf40281ae2cb297dc757593238229\"><\/div>\n<p>We should not be surprised that a selfish focus on pleasure tends to be self-defeating. In contrast to the horny-bro life of self-indulgence, marriage demands we give of ourselves \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepublicdiscourse.com\/2018\/03\/20926\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">binding ourselves with oaths regardless<\/a> of what the future brings. Yet this self-giving is more likely to lead to genuine flourishing because we are relational beings; we do not really thrive without love.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, marriage is both the basis for civilization and the fulfillment of many of our deepest needs and desires. As the union of the two halves of the human race, it is both foundational to human civilization and also the source of much of what is highest and best in this life; marriage is able to both give joy and sanctify sorrows.<\/p>\n<p>This is why conservatism cannot abandon its commitment to marriage without betraying itself. But ours is not a dour, killjoy message, but one of joy, for it directs us away from self-defeating libertine selfishness and toward genuine flourishing.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-929519034d72c7408d020f67c4b6fd1f fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-929519034d72c7408d020f67c4b6fd1f\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Nathanael Blake is a senior contributor to The Federalist and a postdoctoral fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/barstool-conservatives\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Barstool Conservatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/children\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">children<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/civilization\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">civilization<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/conservatives\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">conservatives<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/dating\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">dating<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/husbands\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">husbands<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/marriage\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">marriage<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/men\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">men<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/new-york-times\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">New York Times<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/porn\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">porn<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/pornography\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">pornography<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/republicans\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Republicans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/sex\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">sex<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/sexual-purity\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">sexual purity<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/wives\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">wives<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cultural roots that nourish American conservatism are withering. A new poll from The Wall Street Journal shows steep declines in the number of Americans who highly value patriotism, religion, having children, and hard work. This poll tracks with what is evident to any cultural observer, and conservatives need to adapt to the challenges this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":538,"featured_media":1905850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[22915,5685,11956,21130,19745,5127,4158,4223],"class_list":["post-1905849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-horny","tag-abandoning","tag-bro","tag-conservatism","tag-self-defeating","tag-social","tag-strategy","tag-voters"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1905849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1905849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1905850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1905849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1905849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1905849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}