The Nursemaids of National Conservatism

When I walked into the fourth National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., this week, I noticed how many men there were. Most were young, white, and clean-scrubbed, and they greeted each other with a deep seriousness. There were a few women, tabling for various causes; others dotted the audience during the opening plenary. I don’t mean to dismiss them. They, like the men, are true believers, partners in this work of cultural transformation and political conquest. But the gender ratio is difficult to ignore. So is an explicit obsession with white Christian fertility, which consumes the speakers and animates the crowd perhaps more than any other subject.