Prydanian News Section

Johannes Jaanovits, a Member of Parliament for the conservative Union Party in the Commonwealth of Scalvia, penned an article where he lamented the state conservative politics. I was kind of shocked to see anyone from the Union Party being so doom and gloom, given their comfortable majority in the Scalvian Parliament.

I read it through, though, because the subject matter means a lot to me. I was shocked to see him mention the ÞLD* by name, as he pointed to it as one of the few conservative movements in the world that seems able to escape what he deems "the conservative death cycle." This is made up of, in his words, "fear of change, lack of answers, and hopelessness."

I have decided to write this response to Herra Jaanovits for two reasons. The first is, to touch on what I said earlier, talk about something that means a great deal to me. Conservative politics are, I believe, central to my nation's recovery and survival. I don't want to see them fail, here or elsewhere. If I can help prevent that, I would like to. The other reason is to examine why the ÞLD is able to succeed, and hopefully explore how those methods can be exported, so to avoid this so-called "conservative death cycle."

The Problem is a Failure to Understand Youth

Every element of the "conservative death cycle" Herra Jaanovits mentions all comes back to one key, inescapable problem, the inability of older conservative politicians to engage with the youth.
This was evident here in Prydania. The 2018 election, the first free national election in Prydania in thirty-three years, saw the Conservative-Agrarian Alliance drop what should have been a sure electoral victory to the Free Democrats. William Aubyn is a hero who deserves every ounce of praise he has coming five times over for his leadership during the Civil War, but his instincts for electoral politics were typical of conservative politicians the world over. He assumed that because he'd done great things- leading the FRE to victory during the Civil War- that the youth of the country would recognize this and support him. This did not happen. Magnus Brandt managed to wage a come from behind victory on the strength of a dynamic platform that promised new ideas and modernization, whereas Aubyn only promised a steady hand.

A steady hand does not inspire youth. It never has and never will.

In the end, Aubyn's Conservatives were subsumed by a party I helped found, Peace not Blood. And with it the NDL was born.

The inherent problem is that older conservatives assume that because they eventually came around, then surely the youth of today must. There is no willingness to engage with the youth, or appeal to them, because of course they'll come around.

Maybe they will. And by the time they do they're not young anymore, and a new generation of young left wing voters has replaced them, starting the cycle anew. As I said, a steady hand does not inspire the youth. So what does?

Finding Young Voices

I have heard of the ÞLD being called a special case, because of Prydania's recent history. The current generation of older teens and young adults in this country came of age in the midst of the Syndicalist Era, and we rejected it. The glorious progressive left wasn't a trendy cool thing to annoy our parents with- it was the authority that was hauling our parents and older siblings off to camps. It was the authority that chastised us for daring to dream of a better future, it was the authority that appropriated our family's livelihoods in the name of "the people," a term so vague it could be, and was, as selectively defined as Nielsen and his cronies liked.

In this environment, I have heard it been said, it makes sense that the mass movement of the youth would be conservative. Yet this is always stated with the addition that it cannot be replicated elsewhere. Prydania's unique recent history created a scenario that cannot be replicated in Predice, Scalvia, Andrenne, Sutherland, or anywhere else.

And I find that to be nonsense. The youth of this country supported the Liberal Free Democrats in 2018 because they were the party offering new ideas. If the youth of Prydania are naturally inclined to conservatism, it was still an inclination that we had to earn.

In Scalvia Herra Jaanovits' Union Party skews older and middle class. The youth, however, support the Farmer-Labour-Socialist party, a name that I admit makes my Kiojaleit born-and-raised head explode. This seems like one of the causes of Herra Jaanovits' dread. That sooner or later this left wing student movement will mature and push aside the Union Party.

If this is to happen, it's not the result of a death cycle, or if it is it's not inevitable. Too often we think of cycles as beyond us, that we are just floating down a pre-ordained stream, but that's not true. I think many older conservatives assume it is, and assume that stream must bend back towards them eventually. There is no stream though. No inevitable turn back to their old, outdated ways of thinking, and no invisible hand making the youth socialists inevitable. There are just choices.

If the FLSCCF is ascendant among Scalvian youth, it is only because the Union Party allows it to be. Rather than write off the passionate and young crowd as hopelessly spoiled or misguided, the conservative needs to convince them that they are a viable alternative. And you only convince the youth that you are viable by being dynamic.

This all ties into what I said earlier, about needing youth voices. To appeal to the youth you need to take risks and be experimental, and to do these things you need youth voices. It feeds back on itself.

I suspect that the Union Party in Scalvia has written off large segments of the youth vote. This is, fundamentally, a mistake. The Union Party has youth and student wings. There are people in the system who are poised to provide the Union Party with new ideas, and who know how to talk to their peers and classmates on university campuses.
It may take a while. Likely two election cycles at the very least, given the ground already conceded to the left in student spaces. I can say, with absolute certainty based on my own first hand experiences, however, that putting in the effort to reach out to students via students themselves will yield results. In turn this brings more young people into the party, which injects youthful dynamism into the party's makeup, which makes appealing to the youth easier.

Be Unapologetic

I've said a lot about being experimental, being dynamic. Herra Jaanovits said "[m]ainstream conservatives seek to preserve the past and mistake tradition for conservation. They fundamentally fail to understand that tradition requires renewal," and that is correct. What traditions and morals are conserved and renewed vary from culture to culture. I wouldn't expect every policy plank the ÞLD has adopted as a result of its younger life-force would work in Scalvia or be appealing to Scalvians. Rather than suggest specific party policies to the Union Party, I would offer two pieces of advice.
What about the traditions you seek to preserve are actually valued by the youth of Scalvia, and how can Scalvian conservatism adapt to fit that? Secondly, once you have you have your answers, unapologetically defend them.

I admit I don't watch much news on foreign politics, in part because I find it frustrating. In Andrenne, where my ancestors hailed from in the days before Osvald, I watch as conservatives are always backpeddling. In Predice I see a conservative coalition that tried to overplay its hand react with overhwelming moral cowardice.

This is how the left triumphs if left unchecked. They frame the debate as one of progress vs stagnation, and demand the conservatives account for being for stagnation. The conseravatives hem and haw, and blabber about how they're not. They conceed on policy positions the left has framed as being "backwards." Well the left here once called the right to disagree with the government at all "backwards," so such rhetoric has no affect on me.
And frankly maybe the Andrennian, Predician, and Scalvian conservatives need some of that Prydanski backbone.

Do not let the left frame the debate. Once they do, you are on the back foot. At best you can retreat slowly, at worst you scramble trying to seem "respectable" and the youth vote you need will see you as craven.

The youth are not a monolith. There are those in their number that believe in the sactity of life, of traditional family values, of the promise of the middle class, of the value of the free market. I know. I've met them. I am one.
But when you let the left frame the debate these people become unsure of their own beliefs. They see you get bullied away from them, and they lose respect for their own convictions and you.

If only one thing I say resonates, let it be this- never apologize. When the socialist tries to suggest you suffer some moral failing for being pro-life, you stand by your convictions. You remind them that no, it is not a moral failing to stand up for the rights of the most vulnerable amongst us. You empower yourself. And you empower the young people watching who share your convictions. In turn this drives more of them to the party, which makes the party more dynamic... and you know the rest.

Maybe the Civil War made Prydania unique in that it empowered the right to be more willing to stand up for itself in the wake of Syndicalist diaster, but all that proves is that we are an effective proof of concept. If it works here, it will work in Scalvia. In Andrenne. In Predice. Because we see the alternative in action. We see the conservative coalition in Predice scramble to play by the left's rules and they have been denied electoral success. We see the conservatives in Andrenne subject themselves to the rules of public debate set by the Social Democrats, and they wallow in irrelevancy.

So perhaps actually standing up for your values, and pushing back on those who try to frame the debate from the left, might work? It's worth a shot. You certainly can't do worse then you are right now.

Conclusions

I think the Union Party in Scalvia is a car heading towards a wall. Maybe they've seen the Andrennian conservatives and Predican conservatives crash into that wall. And the Union Party assumes they too will crash.

Well I'm here to them the wall is still some way's off. There's enough road between you and it to swerve out of the way. So stop assuming the car will crash, and give stearing a try for once.

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*ÞM- MP
*ÞLD- National Democratic League