The Conservative Dilemma: Protect the Kids or Protect Our Freedom?

Let’s just say something out loud that every parent in America already knows deep in their gut:

Raising a child today is nothing like it was for anyone over 45.
It’s not even close. It’s not in the same universe.

We used to worry about our kids riding their bikes too far from home.
Now parents are staring down decisions that literally didn’t exist ten years ago — questions that no sane society ever thought mothers and fathers would be forced to answer.

Questions like:

· Is my child being groomed online right now?

· Is the school secretly talking to my 13-year-old about gender without telling me?

· Is TikTok rewiring my child’s brain?

· Is my daughter safe on Instagram? Or is she one message away from a predator?

· Is my son being radicalized by strangers on Discord?

No one in 1985 had to think about any of this.
No one in 1995 did either.

But parents today?
They’re navigating a battlefield that didn’t exist, with weapons they’ve never seen, and casualties they never imagined.

So now we face something else -- something new, something uncomfortable:

Should the government BAN social media for kids under 15?

Because that’s exactly what Denmark just did.
Australia went even further — they banned it under 16.

And here’s the hard part, the part no one wants to talk about:

As conservatives… we suddenly find ourselves on BOTH sides of this issue.

On the one hand, we want to protect children.
That’s instinctive. It’s Biblical.
It’s the most ancient duty of civilization.

We’ve seen the numbers.
We’ve seen the suicides, the depression, the body dysmorphia, the self-harm, the abuse, and the grooming.
No one can honestly pretend social media hasn’t become a psychological war zone for minors.

So you hear “ban it under 15,” and a part of you says:

Finally. Someone is protecting kids.

But then there’s the other part of you — the conservative part that knows something deeper, something more dangerous:

To enforce that ban, governments will need age verification.
And age verification means surveillance.
It means digital IDs.
It means facial recognition for every child — and every parent.
It means the infrastructure of control — permanent, powerful, and impossible to dismantle.

And you think:

Wait a minute. Once the government controls who can log on… they can decide who can’t.
If they can block a 14-year-old today, they can block a dissident adult tomorrow.

So there it is — the conservative dilemma, laid bare:

How do you protect your child from Big Tech… without giving Big Government the power to control your digital life?

This isn’t theoretical.
It’s not academic.
This is real.
This is now.

And parents — real parents — are at the center of it, making decisions every single day that no previous generation ever faced:

· Do I give my child a phone?

· Do I monitor their messages?

· Do I ban social media myself?

· Do I trust my kid to be online alone in a world of predators?

· Do I rely on the government to protect them? Or do I fear what the government will become once it has that power?

These are not choices you can ignore.
Not when your child’s safety — their mind, their innocence, their future — is on the line.

And so I want to ask you — not the experts, not Silicon Valley, not the bureaucrats:

YOU— the parent, the grandparent, the American who actually loves a child —
what do you think?

These are not easy questions.
And they shouldn’t be.

But it’s one we can’t run from anymore.

THE REAL ANSWER:

BE A PARENT — OR THE GOVERNMENT WILL DO IT FOR YOU

Here’s the uncomfortable truth nobody in Washington, Silicon Valley, or even many churches wants to say out loud:

We wouldn’t even be having this conversation if parents were still acting like parents.

If mothers and fathers were:

• setting boundaries

• monitoring devices

• saying “no” without apologizing

• keeping kids off social media until they’re mature

• checking messages

• checking apps

• checking friends

• and being involved

Then Denmark wouldn’t be banning social media.
Australia wouldn’t be banning it.
Congress wouldn’t be talking about it.
State legislatures wouldn’t be drafting bills.
And bureaucrats wouldn’t be sharpening their pencils to create new surveillance systems.

Because the truth is this:

Nature hates a vacuum — and so does government.
Wherever parents stop parenting, the state steps in and fills the void.

And once the government takes over parental responsibility, they never give it back.

Remember, paid subscribers to Patriot Majority Report unlock access to every category of our work: Front Lines. Culture. Screened. Prophecy & AI. The Ledger. Films. and more. So, check back weekly for updates.

Martin Mawyer is the President of Christian Action Network, host of the “Shout Out Patriots” podcast, and author of When Evil Stops Hiding. Subscribe for more action alerts, cultural commentary, and real-world campaigns defending faith, family, and freedom.