As I’ve written about before, Republicans have taken the best, most easily sold product in history, conservatism, and proven that the worst marketing department in the world is more powerful than the best product.

Take gay, women’s, transgender, minority, etc. rights.

The conservative stance on all of the above is pretty easily articulated. Conservatives don’t believe anyone has or deserves special rights.

We believe, as the Declaration of Independence so eloquently states, that everyone was created by God, and we all have equal rights to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

A few key parts there. Number one, equal rights to pursue. Everyone should be able to proceed, unencumbered, so long as they don’t violate the rights of another, toward whatever fulfills their freedom and gives them happiness.

Conservatives don’t want to stand in the way of anyone’s pursuit of happiness. But conservatives also don’t single anyone out. We don’t talk about one group or another, and certainly not in the context of one group’s rights over another. We assume when we’re talking about rights, they apply to everyone.

There doesn’t need to be special rights for minorities, women, or homosexuals. They should simply get the same rights as everyone else.

As such, there doesn’t need to be special parades, no special movements, nor special laws. All rules and laws should apply to everyone, equally.

Therefore, conservatives are characteristically silent on the subject. They’re certainly not in everyone’s face about it.

Conversely, liberals are constantly holding special events and getting in everyone’s face about one group’s rights or the others. Conservatives view this very activity, which is supposed to be inclusive, as divisive.

We’re no longer talking about people. Now we’re talking about certain people versus other people. Whether it’s intended or implied, that approach naturally leads to people thinking the message is one group is more important than another.

Because liberals are so overt about their pursuit of rights for whatever group du jour, they mistakenly believe that because conservatives aren’t there to join that fight, that they must oppose that group.

In fact, conservatives just don’t think that group is any more or less special than any other. Conservatives also believe that it’s oversimplification to break people out in groups like homosexuals, transgenders, blacks, jews, women, or any other distinction. Because within those distinctions lie thousands of other distinctions.

You could take any group you want, teachers, union workers, asians, and find just as many divisions as unifying characteristics.

That’s because there are just as many blacks who are assholes as there are whites who are assholes. There are just as many women who are racist as men. There are just as many jews who aren’t comfortable around gays as there are christians.

Dividing by groups is an oversimplification, and conservatives view it as wrong.

But they’ll never protest or even speak up about it. They’ll certainly never take time to explain it. That’s just not how conservatives are wired.

And that’s while they’ll remain mischaracterized and misunderstood, with the weakest marketing department in the history of the world.

Let the battles, fueled by lack of understanding, rage on…