Why do right-wingers bother?

[Redalgo]

I reckon all participants in the political process have something valuable to bring to the table. It is quite easy for me to overlook past and present political successes though. As a perfectionist, future-oriented, big-picture kind of guy there can never be satisfaction with the status quo. There is always somebody or something standing in the way of society's ascent to ever greater heights in years to come. I imagine for folks further off on the right, the perception is more typically one of tried-and-true principles, ideas, and values being under steady, relentless assault, or more mildly as a view that we should not rush too hastily into experimenting with new ways of doing things.

Also, since adherents to social liberalism intend to stop well short of what I want the States to be like on several fronts, I am usually tempted to consider Republican and Democratic achievements alike to be further "evidence" of the left's continued subordination in American politics. Feeling marginalized and a bit alienated, perhaps I have become inclined as a matter of habit to expect and dwell upon defeats instead of finding joy in small victories. Rather than be enthusiastic about the things I have in common with most Democrats, I much more often tend to feel demoralized and somewhat detached from governing institutions on account of lacking satisfactory representation.

Overall however, I think the left "wins" in the long term but has been doing poorly since the 1980s.

Edit: But then again it goes to show the before-mentioned bias I have, for so much has happened!

[Tetro Kornbluth]

You people do understand the importance of discourse, right?

[Psychic Octopus]

It's pretty important to remember than Mint isn't your average conservative and views things like free trade, globalization and neo-liberal reforms as negative

That's not exactly a minority view among self-IDing conservatives. The open borders, cosmopolitan mentality of the WSJ/Economist crowd seems pretty self evidently hostile to traditionalism and nationalism anyway.

I'd reckon to say that most conservatives would actively oppose free trade and demand a change if they actually decided to research issues every once and a while, what with the "Buy American" and xenophobia that runs rampant in the GOP. Or maybe they do, but have different priorities, such as the Kenyan usurper sitting in the Oval Office.

The battle against neoliberalism was lost a long time ago, though.