By REMSO MARTINEZ | Fall 2021

Young conservatives in Wisconsin say the threat of being ostracized or losing their jobs over their political ideas is very real to them. In the soul-searching that followed the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 election, attention turned to young Republican voters in an effort to plot the direction of the party. When the Badger Institute recently went out to talk to those voters about the health of conservative ideas, we found that people were incredibly skeptical. Some refused to speak; others wanted anonymity. All were worried about being “canceled” by a culture intolerant of their beliefs. 

And why not when so many of the targets are successful and influential: Tucker Carlson, the conservative populist with a huge audience on Fox News; Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, whose fiscal conservatism is regularly twisted and pilloried; and J.K. Rowling, creator of the “Harry Potter” empire, for challenging the transgender rights movement. 

As of this writing, rapper Nicki Minaj, hardly a conservative gadfly, faces a full-on cancel siege for posting on Twitter skeptical — and questionable — opinions about COVID-19 vaccines.

Check out the full Fall 2021 edition of Diggings online today by clicking here.

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Free markets, limited government, and individual liberty- you know these principles, now hear the stories of the men and women who embody them and the policies that advance them. Listen as the team from Wisconsin’s Badger Institute come together to demystify, explore, and discover ways to make communities in our state freer and more prosperous, one episode at a time.