The outcome of the 2020 election is still up in the air, but whether we’re enduring President Biden (and then—Heaven help us—President Harris) in a couple of months or still partying under President Trump‘s second term, it’s important for conservatives and traditionalists to consider what comes next.  Another four years of Trump would be an extension of our current reprieve from progressives dominating the executive, but there’s no guarantees that a Republican will hold the White House after 2024.

As such, we need to begin planning and preparing for the worst immediately.  Indeed, many Americans have already done so, and I’ve spoken with many conservatives who believe the worst is yet to come.

Aside from stockpiling and gardening—and generally moving towards greater degrees of self-sufficiency—one important aspect to consider is community building.  By that I do not mean the kind of Leftist, Obama Era pabulum in which we’re all “community organizers” mobilizing nihilistic welfare queens into a low-information progressive voting bloc.  Rather, I mean genuine community building—the formation of those multitudinous, invisible bonds that bind a people together.

Doing so may very well be the most important step Christians, conservatives, and traditionalists can take to survive for the long-term.

True community is one of the many casualties of modernity and materialism.  In a system of unquestioning capitalist orthodoxy, everything is commodified, and anything that cannot be is worthless.  I’m no bomb-throwing socialist—God forbid!—but as much as I love making a buck, there’s more to life than selling your skills to the highest bidder.

Others far more eloquent than I have written on the topic.  photog recently post that “Camaraderie is Key” on his blog.  The Z Man has been banging this gong for awhile now, noting that the local hardware store—not Amazon—is going to sponsor your town’s Little League team.  Sure, we can get our Chinese hammers for 20% cheaper, but at the cost of destroying an economic pillar of the community—one of several that underwrites those invisible connections, those connecting threads of community.

Visiting the local men’s Bible study this past Monday really opened my eyes to how awake traditional Americans are becoming.  It’s very easy for red-pilled conservatives to feel alone, as the wider world totally rejects our worldview.  Sure, we have Internet friends and allies to whom we can relate, but it’s not the same as real, face-to-face, human connections.  Knowing that someone in your neighborhood or at your job supports you and is like-minded is like reaching a cool oasis in the midst of the desert.

I’ve long been suspicious of Rod Dreher’s “Benedict Option,” the idea that Christians need to cloister together, admit defeat in the culture wars, and hang on in their own communities for as long as it takes to survive our current insanity.  To me, it sounds too much like surrender, though the Left clearly dominates the culture.  That said, there was a spark in 2015-2016 with the rise of The Donald that suggested the culture was shifting our way.  I also think Dreher underestimates—as I have, too—the size of the famous “Silent Majority.”  It may be shrinking, but it’s substantial.

That said, I think Dreher is correct that Christians need to build our own tight-knit communities, and that we need to work together more than ever before to resist the wickedness and depravity of the modern Left—and of modernity more generally.  That doesn’t begin with electoral victories at the national level or sweeping national reforms; it starts in our homes and extends to our neighborhoods and towns.

It’s hard work—especially my socially awkward, anxiety-riddled generation—but it’s necessary work.  It may be the only thing—along with standing on God’s promises—that can save our republic.