Port: Conservatism can’t just be about making liberals angry

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MINOT, N.D. — “Piss off a liberal,” the bumper sticker on the pickup in front of me read, “buy a gun.”

I spotted this crude bon mot after dropping my kids off at school this week. I was stuck in a traffic jam — or, at least, what counts for a traffic jam in Minot — with not a lot else to do but ruminate.

It occurred to me that this bumper sticker may encapsulate, succinctly, what conservatism in the era of Donald Trump has become.

An ideology that is fundamentally reactionary. One that is defined by its liberal opposition.

I’m in favor of people buying guys if they want a gun, or need a gun. Keeping and bearing arms is a civil right. But why would you exercise that right just to make someone else angry?

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