A number of media outlets are gleefully running headlines about a “civil war” within the conservative movement in America. While the term “civil war” is a little overblown, it’s true that fissures and fractures are appearing on the right, with prominent conservative voices – many of whom were formerly allied – turning on and denouncing one another in bombastic terms.

We’ve heard attacks, counterattacks, accusations, and insults flung back and forth among many notable conservative figures, including Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Erika Kirk, Megyn Kelly, Mark Levin, Bari Weiss, Laura Loomer, Kevin Roberts, and Tim Pool. It’s not a pretty sight.

The fight played out in real-time at Turning Point USA’s recent annual youth conference, AmericaFest, where speakers used the same stage to take turns attacking one another. Shapiro called Carlson a “grifter” and termed his interview with the controversial Nick Fuentes “an act of moral imbecility.” Carlson, in turn, used some of his time on stage to make fun of Shapiro’s attempt to cancel people who disagree with him.

Fortune magazine commented, “The raw bitterness on the opening night of the four-day conference reflected deep divisions over the meaning of ‘America First’ and next steps for the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement defined more by the force of Trump’s personality than loyalty to a particular ideological project.”

The tensions boiling over on the right at the moment have a number of flashpoints: Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Israel’s war in Gaza, Nick Fuentes, white nationalism, Zionism, antisemitism, and now the capture of Venezuelan president Maduro. Looming over all of it is the question of the future of the movement when Trump’s time in office permanently expires.

It’s not my intention here to wade into the controversies currently roiling the right. Rather, I want to make a larger point about the nature of these controversies and what it means for conservatism in general, taking my cue from Vice President J.D. Vance.

In his speech at the Turning Point conference, Vance attempted to calm the storm a bit by urging conservatives not to succumb to the toxicity of infighting. “We have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” he said. “We have got to build. . .we build by adding, by growing, not by tearing down.”

Vance pinpointed something very important for the conservative movement at this juncture in its history. Skepticism, suspicion, and accusations only get you so far. While they do have their place – we certainly need to ask questions and be wary of what our adversaries might be up to – an attitude of accusation, ridicule, and deconstruction shouldn’t be the default mindset for conservatives. Cynicism must be balanced with – or rather, outweighed by – belief and hope.

To be conservative means to conserve something, as Matt Walsh pointed out in a recent discussion with Carlson. We must remind ourselves what it is we’re trying to conserve. We must return to fundamentals. Even more than that, true conservatism is about building something new based on the principles one has conserved, because those principles are true and valuable.

It seems that many on the right have lost sight of this simple truth. Some conservatives have become so obsessed with exposing lies that they’ve forgotten that that’s only half the battle. The other half is the delicate business of speaking the truth and articulating a positive vision. It’s not just about tearing down the twisted political, cultural, and spiritual vision of the left, or even of one’s misinformed fellow conservatives; it’s about crafting a vision  that renders raillery and mockery of the enemy unnecessary.

To be clear, I do understand the value of exposing false narratives, shedding light on corruption, and ousting betrayers. Those are necessary tasks. But perhaps we’ve become too comfortable with those tasks, which, because they involve tearing down, are easier and more exciting than the quiet, tedious business of building something up.

Many conservatives have become, understandably, so suspicious of our institutions – from the universities to the medical industry to Big Tech to the FBI – that they have come to trust nothing. But it’s hard to build when you’ve lost faith in the country and even in your fellow conservatives.

That critical attitude, if unchecked, becomes corrosive. That’s what we’re seeing within conservatism right now.

Conservative commentators have shifted from critiques of our failed institutions and our political enemies to criticism of those who should be their allies.  I fear that many conservatives are in the habit of ridiculing, denouncing, and exposing errors on the left while neglecting to construct a positive, counterbalanced vision. Now that some conservatives have turned on the Trumpian conservative coalition itself, it becomes clear that there may not be enough integrity on the right to withstand the sabotage.

Criticism and cynicism are addictive. And they get clicks. But they are not the real business of a conservative. Keep in mind that Critical Theory, which sought to sow doubt and suspicion about all our social institutions, traditions, and inherited customs, was a Marxist invention, imported into America by German intellectuals in the 1930s who were bent on destroying civilization. The critical spirit is not the conservative spirit.

The conservative spirit requires nuance and deeper thought, but is also much more ennobling and freeing. That spirit is one of patience, wisdom, charity, belief, and hope. It’s a spirit that believes that the West’s traditional principles and customs are conducive to human happiness, and that those principles should be defended and used to create a better world.

I echo what G.K. Chesterton himself said long ago with his usual pithy wisdom: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” The infighting in the conservative movement is precisely the opposite: a tunnel vision on the evil, the false, the ugly that has blinded us to the good, the true, and the beautiful.

This article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News.

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