From time to time, I’ll read essays that argue, essentially, that the Right is terrible at creating culture.  If anything, we simply mimic what the mainstream culture is doing, but like most copies, our versions are poorly-executed and lame.  The prime example of this phenomenon is contemporary Christian worship music, which takes the aesthetics of the blandest power pop and changes “baby” to “Jesus,” all set against a synth-string pad and a bunch of sus2 chords.

The thesis is correct—to a point.  We are pretty bad on the Right at supporting good cultural output.  I think there are a few reasons for this failure to support our own creators:

• We view all secular institutions with skepticism (as we probably should), so we dismiss high culture and academic output as inherently tainted (as we probably shouldn’t)
• We are excessively focused on dollars-and-cents practicality and, therefore, fail to see the benefits of the arts, which are often not realized in ROI (thus, megachurches that look like Dollar Generals instead of real churches)
• We are too focused on the political and the minutiae of policy (“what should the marginal tax rate be for people earning $200,000 a year?”) instead of focusing on broader cultural movements
• We like everything dosed out in digestible soundbites and spicy memes, not long-form works that require time, patience, and attention

There are likely more, and I think some of the above are more relevant than others.  For example, the fourth point paints with too broad a brush, perhaps.

But these points are generalizations, and we can derive a good bit of Truth from generalized observations, even if “Not All Conservatives Are Like That.”

The ultimate problem is that we’re not looking in the right places for culture that is pure, good, beautiful, virtuous, and true.  That kind of cultural output is not getting the attention it deserves, even though it is creating work that is timeless.

There are artists, writers, poets, painters, etc., creating work that is great.  There are creators on the Right who are not staging WWE-style funerals or hawking Kid Rock as the alternative to the Left.

The Problem of Politicization

Even talking about “Right-wing culture” or “culture on the Right” is part of the problem.  There is plenty of cultural output that is explicitly Right-wing, but because it’s political in nature, it is propaganda—and not subtle propaganda.  Propaganda is fine and can rally the troops, but it’s preaching to the converted.  If you’re not the target audience for it, it’s going to be cringe.

Take, for instance, TPUSA’s big halftime show, the alternative to the atrocious Bad Bunny halftime show (which only accomplished making everyone angry at Puerto Ricans).  It was certainly better in terms of content than what the world offered up with Bad Bunny.  But it was it’s own cringe-inducing garbage.  I admire Kid Rock for selling concert tickets for $20 a pop, but do we really want our whole aesthetic to be the glorification of trailer park white trash?  Is that really our answer to the invasion of dusky hordes into our nation?  “We don’t need your trash, we have our own!”  True, but not exactly inspiring.

Here’s what TPUSA should do next year:  identify a large contingent of conservative musicians from all over the country and bring them together to play John Philip Sousa’s most popular concert marches.  That accomplishes several things:

• It celebrates the most quintessentially American music ever written
• It pays avowed conservatives for their time and talent, demonstrating that we value quality musicianship
• It creates an unapologetically wholesome, pro-American, family-friendly event

Will it get mocked?  Sure.  Is it a bit tame?  Absolutely.  But that’s the point.  The messaging is clear:  “you can watch some guy who hates America grind up on a gay dude and a hoochie mama, or you can listen to great musicians play great American music.”

Maybe go a step further:  commission a talented conservative composer (not me) to compose an inspiring piece that captures the optimism and the spirit of America.

We live in an age where, increasingly, being “conservative” just means “not hating America.”  There’s obviously more to it than that, but this kind of halftime show would truly be unifying.

Identifying and Supporting Talent

Conservatives have the habit of pouring their dollars into existing talents on the Right, and those talents primarily are talking heads.  The late Z Man once noted on one of his podcasts that people wouldn’t balk about sending Ben Shapiro twenty bucks a month, but would get tight-fisted about sending Z Man—a growing but relatively small creator at the time of his passing—five bucks a month.  It’s a real frustration for anyone trying to grow a following and—God Forbid—earn an independent living from his writing, especially when the people who read your work send money to Ben Shapiro (who, let’s face it, is loyal to Israel, not the United States) instead of you!

To be clear, while I have experienced this frustration before, this piece is not a heavy-handed attempt to get subscribers or to sell my music.  I do enough of that already.  But there are really great people out there making genuinely Beautiful and True work that are toiling in obscurity.

One prime example—which I’ve written about before—is Dragon Common Room, the collective of poets, writers, and artists who have published a number of excellent works, including (the following are mostly Amazon Affiliate links; I receive a portion of any purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you) Aurora Bearialis, Centrism Games (read my review of it here), and Draco Alchemicus (Act I and Act II).  That’s a children’s epic, a satirical narrative poem, and a graphic novel—and they’re all good (Draco Alchemicus: Act II has been in the works for years).  The group actively hones their skills as poets and writers through sharing work and workshopping it together.  They’ve crafted amazing work over the years, with the incomparable Rachel Fulton Brown of Chicago University leading this merry band of writers.

Writer Hans G. Schantz also cultivates talented fiction and non-fiction writers through his Based Book Sale (which yours portly has participated in a number of times, with another sale coming up this week).  His works (I’ve gotsta get his book on electromagnetism soon) are also top-notch, but he works hard to promote and support other writers.

There are countless other examples.  Substack seems to be the brimming with conservative creators who are not falling into the trashy grifter mold.  They offer up takes that are bold and inspiring.  Their writing is interesting and compelling.

Support People Who Love You

Here’s my final thought:  support the people who love you, who love our country, who stay up late pursuing their craft.  Maybe that’s buying a book or attending a concert.  Maybe it’s commissioning a work of art.  Maybe it’s just listening to their YouTube livestream with four viewers.  That little bit of support—whether it’s financial or moral—means so much to small creators.  They will value your support far more than Hollywood—which, again, hates you—will when you spend fifty bucks at the movies to see garbage.  Spend that fifty bucks where it will have impact on people who don’t despise everything about you.

And get creating yourself!  Try your hand at writing that novel or painting that portrait.  Whatever it is, make something!  I believe that God Gave us a tiny sliver of His Creative Power so that we can glorify Him through the art.  We do a disserve to ourselves as humans and to God as our Creator when we downplay the importance of the arts.

Have you created something cool?  Have a book or short story or painting or music or whatever you’d like to share?  Leave a comment and/or a link in the comments (or contact me here, or DM me if you’re reading this on Substack) and let me know!  I’ll link your stuff in a future post.

Normally I’d add a shameless plug for my stuff, but I want to focus on other creators.  There are people making incredible stuff.  Your purchase or message or “like” might be the encouragement they need to keep creating.

God Bless!

—TPP