As beleaguered traditionalists in a losing cultural battle, we often overlook the extent to which progressives win, not through actual persuasion, but rather by projecting an aura of inevitability with respect to their desired outcomes. Many Americans are persuaded to reconcile themselves to progressive views, not because they really believe in a “right to marry” (for example), but more because it just seems to them that resistance is futile. Ironically, we ourselves often help to feed that narrative with our dour assessments of the inevitability of cultural decline.

Consider, for example, the way that the legislative battle over marriage has developed. Traditional marriage has won many legislative victories over the last decade in the United States, and even its losses have been close and hard-fought. But whenever marriage wins at the ballot box, the left immediately begins speculating: shall we try again in the next election cycle, or the one after that? If marriage loses (even narrowly!), it’s over and they have won.

Imagine setting up a sports championship with those sorts of rules. “If the Cleveland Cavaliers win, we’ll schedule another game. We’ll just keep doing that until the Golden State Warriors win one, and then we’ll crown them the victors and go home.” LeBron James is an amazing athlete, but even he wouldn’t stand a chance against those sorts of odds. Even this, however, is a too-generous assessment of how the legal struggle has proceeded. Sometimes, as in the case of California’s Proposition 8, a major legislative victory is nullified not by a series of rematches, but simply by our political elite’s refusal to acknowledge it. The left has done terrible damage to the democratic legitimacy of our Republic through their fight for “marriage equality.”

Obviously, in the game of Democracy, we can’t expect progressives to play fair. Most frustrating of all, however, may be our own side’s willingness to accept that this is how things are and must be. Grimly reconciling ourselves to cultural decrepitude, we make our worst projections into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Read the article “ANALYSIS: Same Sex Marriage is Not Inevitable — Unless We Pretend It Is” on crisismagazine.com.