Dear GOP: Culture Wars Are Won in the Culture, Not the Courts | Opinion

After years of employing constitutional hardball, conservatives are finally racking up long-sought wins in the Supreme Court. On issues ranging from affirmative action to abortion, the tenets of originalism are triumphing over precedents deemed by conservative Justices to contravene the U.S. Constitution.

But the most important discussion isn't the one about the Supreme Court, a topic already picked to death by D.C. journalists, Court-watching websites, and media talking heads. Instead, attention must be drawn to the fact that public opinion polls show that Americans' convictions about these topics have not changed. Many even question the validity of the Supreme Court because they disagree with recent rulings. What created this disjointed situation?

We find ourselves here for one reason: the "Culture War"—a kitschy term to describe the societal debate Americans have over most domestic non-tax or spending policy. This war cannot be won by lawyers, politicians, and judges. A point lost on many conservatives is that culture wars are actually won by influencing the culture and beliefs of Americans through mass media and education. While conservatives spent decades building an infrastructure to win these battles through American jurisprudence, they fell behind on the other opinion-influencing fronts. The failure to break into the wider cultural discussion hampered conservative principles and helped create today's mess. Regardless of the legal soundness of Supreme Court decisions on culture war issues, Americans remain steadfast in their opinions.

However, not all of this can be blamed by conservatives ignoring mass media and education. The biggest studios in the Hollywood ecosystem have an undeniable liberal bent, despite the occasional quality, political agenda-free movie. The K-12 and higher education systems are dominated by left-leaning individuals, and the fight to wrest them back to something more reflective of broader American society is seeing mixed results. Regardless of whether conservatives opted out of these fields or were shut out, a lack of engagement with mass media and education has left them in an unenviable position.

One can see the clearest example of this phenomenon in the debate around abortion. Americans' opinions on abortion have been remarkably consistent over the past 30 years, with most believing it should be legal in most or all cases, and a sizable, persistent minority wanting it to be illegal in most or all cases. The consistency suggests Americans are converting their own networks and children to their preferred side, with seemingly very little opinion-shifting on the topic in the long term. Conservatives have done little to break this topic out of a nauseating political back-and-forth, where both sides accuse the other of being evil and unfeeling ideologues, people who either hate babies or hate women. The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year seemed to do little to move opinions on this issue, except perhaps galvanizing proponents of legal abortion across the nation.

The balancing of religious rights and LGBTQ accommodations follows the same pattern. The legal arguments in favor of denying certain services—such as baking wedding cakes and building wedding-specific websites—rest largely in the First Amendment, specifically in the free exercise clause and in the right to free speech, and fall well within standard conservative legal interpretations. Many Americans, however, don't see it as a win for religious speech, but rather an idiosyncratic decision by a right-leaning Supreme Court to legalize discrimination against some groups but not others. Where are the cultural products, such as movies or shorts, showing a religious business owner can refuse to make a wedding website but still respect LGBTQ Americans pursuing their business for non-wedding related services?

Lastly, the American public seems much more in line with the recent Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision. Still, this issue is a deafening siren call for progressives who relate it to a new era of redlining in education. While we may doubt some on the Left would even listen, where is the content showing the pain of a hard-working, well-rounded, and active Asian-American student being denied in their application to Harvard or Princeton? Because the data presented in this case demonstrate that to have been a real experience for thousands of students.

To be clear, this is not a criticism of the Court's decisions. Instead, it is a rebuke to the conservative movement, which has failed to engage and move the culture. With that being said, many thought-provoking questions can come out of this discussion. Who do you expect to make convincing content? And why produce it if the only consumers would be people who already agree with conservative ideas?

Tough questions as these may be, they will only be answered when grassroots conservatives and traditionalist holdouts in Hollywood or the influencing world come together with conservative organizations for the express purpose of swaying the culture. Specifically, to influence it through modern, entertaining content (movies, short videos, novels, memes, news, etc.) and real-life examples that do not beat viewers over the head with political messaging or demonize the other side. The point must be to leave Americans of all stripes inspired by positive examples of conservative principles in action.

Zach Laba is the Deputy Director of Programs at FreedomWorks.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.