We see them everywhere: the red hats, the bumper stickers, the slogans about toughness and self‑reliance. They boast about the strength of their bootstraps, expanding their stories of resilience into mythological proportion. Trump supporters often act like their way of thinking is the default setting for America. In their view, the “average American” is a white conservative traditionalist, and the country should be shaped to fit that mold. But they are driven not out of some unbreakable duty to moral righteousness, but by an unspoken fragility. They need the nation to yield to their way of life, because the slightest discomfort sets them on edge like a grenade with the pin already pulled.  

And this is not just about them. It is a habit baked into the country. Everyone else is expected to bow to conservative comfort. We bend over backwards to keep them happy, whether it means saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays,” refusing even modest gun laws to protect their sense of freedom, or treating their cries of “fake news” like a serious debate instead of a tantrum. But the moment anyone asks conservatives to give even slightly, they lash out with raw, indignant fury. Ask them to use a pronoun that, in their own head, does not match the picture, or let them see two people holding hands they do not approve of, and suddenly their response is outrage.  

Why do they have such explosive anger over things so small? They are so sheltered from adversity that even the slightest irritation overwhelms them. They expect the world to contort around them, because for generations it has, whether in language, in law, or in media. Meanwhile, they have forced everyone else to absorb the strain just to keep them at ease. That show of moral righteousness is really fear in disguise, and what they are defending is the power to use others to ensure their privilege.  

That is the deeper story of America. Slavery was the ruling class’s attempt to ensure a life of luxury by exploiting others. Our form of capitalism, the version we have twisted it into, is the rich man’s way of protecting his power. And today’s conservative politics are another version of the same reflex: build the system so their way of life is the default, and everyone else has to yield.  

But America has always been bigger than one group’s way of life. It is a mix of different beliefs, different lives, and different voices. Thinking differently is not being broken or wrong; it is part of what makes this place work. To insist that one narrow vision defines the whole country is to equate fear with respect and silence with unity. America’s strength has never come from one voice alone, but from the clash and blend of many. Erasing that truth is not patriotism. It is fear masquerading as tradition. I refuse to be afraid.