We care about principles, not about a tribe

Hello!

My name is Luis Parrales, and I recently joined The Dispatch as an assistant editor. The past few weeks have been fast-paced and fun, and I’m thrilled for what’s yet to come. For now, though, I want to tell you why I joined The Dispatch.

I started paying attention to politics in high school. During Obama’s second term, I was becoming more conservative as the majority of my classmates were becoming more progressive. Yet by the time I became an undergrad at a liberal arts college in Virginia, I didn’t gravitate toward the typical conservative organizations or campaigns.

Sure, part of the reason was that some of my peers on campus weren’t exactly friendly toward conservative ideas, but that wasn’t the main issue. What kept me on the sidelines was that the early Trump era was a time of reflexive jabs and knee-jerk animosity. As a conservative, I was especially averse to how many on the right abandoned what once seemed like deeply held opinions—not because of new circumstances (totally fine!) but because of convenience and a vicious desire to “win” (totally not fine!). That was bad for conservatism, and bad for the nation.