Conservatism just makes sense. Marry someone of the opposite sex and then have children. Make sure those kids are educated and ready to take care of themselves as adults. Hold down a steady job and provide for your family. Elevate true meritocracy. Mind your own business, but be patriotic and community oriented. The Left destroys everything, however, and that’s why all of those things are under assault with a strategic effort to make everything about victims and oppressors.

There are real victims, of course. Some women are abused in their marriages. Some individuals experience racial discrimination. Some children are sexually exploited. Some unfortunate souls are paid less than their work is worth.

Obviously, some people are real oppressors.

Yet what leftists do is turn reality on its head while claiming that the people trying to conserve American culture are actually the ones destroying it. They insist that the immensely powerful people who control most of the nation’s institutions — government, academia, education, entertainment — are actually the victims.

This gaslighting is meant for one purpose: the accrual of more power.

A perusal of headlines just today makes this abundantly clear. Women’s History Month, “transgender” legislation, student loan forgiveness, the Ohio train derailment, and even the new “Peter Pan” movie all provide examples.

Joe Biden issued A Proclamation on Women’s History Month in which he promised to fight for the right of non-women to have abortions. Yeah, read that again. He will “defend reproductive freedom” (the Left’s euphemism for terminating the life of a child) for all Americans “regardless of their gender” or “gender identity.” Last year’s White House budget replaced the word “mothers” with “birthing people.”

Conservatives are thus faced with a choice: Ignore this utter nonsense or argue about it and be cast as the ones picking the fight and the ones who want to “deny” someone the “right” to be who they claim to be and do what they want to do.

Next, The Hill reports, “The gender pay gap has stayed largely unchanged for 20 years.” We and other conservatives have dutifully debunked that nonsense, but what do Democrats make sure women hear? Republicans don’t want you to be paid what you’re worth.

Speaking of women, a bizarre social contagion has overtaken the nation as groomers recruit more people, especially minors, into the ranks of the gender confused. Girls want to be boys and men want to be women at an alarming rate. States are beginning to pass legislation to stop the victimization and mutilation of children — something no one thought would ever be necessary just a few short years ago. Others are working to withhold state money to pay for such medical hack jobs.

How does the Leftmedia headline these stories? “New state bills restrict transgender health care — for adults,” says The Washington Post. “Mississippi governor signs bill banning transgender health care for minors,” NBC News misinforms us.

It’s not healthcare to run science experiments on people with mental health problems. It’s not “restricting” those practices to prohibit using taxpayer dollars for them. Yet the “real” victims here, by the media’s telling, are the poor people and children whom mean, stingy Republicans want to hurt.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday regarding Biden’s illegal and unconstitutional power grab of “forgiving” student loans. People freely choose to go to college and often they freely choose to pay for it with loans that everyone knows must be paid back.

Yet suddenly, leftists decided that it’s their “right” to take money from someone who did not agree to that loan to pay it back on behalf of the one who did. The “oppressors,” by their telling, are the ones who want to uphold millennia-old rules. “That is not right! That is not fair!” screamed Randi Weingarten.

If the Court overturns Biden’s rule, guess who the “bad guys” will be? Not the would-be thieves who want to steal your money to pay their loans, but the mean, stingy Republicans who opposed the theft and are now labeled thieves themselves. “Every single month,” said one activist, borrowers making payments on their loans will “be reminded that the right-wing infrastructure stole their money.” Whose money?

“The only thing blocking that plan,” Biden said, “is opponents of the plan suing us.” The tyrannical oppressor claims to be the victim.

Pete Buttigieg is utterly incompetent at his job, as the Ohio train derailment illustrated. The Leftmedia wasn’t all that interested in the derailment for weeks, eventually covering it only when it was no longer possible to avoid doing so. The story now, according to The Washington Post: “Republicans seize on train derailment to go after Buttigieg.”

Buttigieg is a special victim, you see, because he’s homosexual. That’s his only qualification for the job, and it’s the only thing that matters to the Left.

Disney has become shockingly wokified, choosing to indoctrinate kids with left-wing propaganda through entertainment, which we’ve covered ad nauseam. Just yesterday, though, the new trailer dropped for the live-action remake of “Peter Pan.” Er, excuse us, “Peter Pan & Wendy.” Besides the title change for diversity, the first thing you’ll notice is that Peter is of Indian descent. Tinkerbell is black. And the “lost boys” now include girls. Oddly enough, the only non-diverse group is Captain Hook’s band of old-white-guy pirates.

Does any of that actually matter? If the story is still good, not really. Except that the Left has made sure it matters by replacing good storytelling with sanctimonious lectures about “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Anyone who complains will swiftly be labeled a “racist” or “bigot.” Who’s the bad guy? Conservatives who want good stories.

In the 1989 classic “Batman,” the Joker kills Bruce Wayne’s parents, shoots Bruce, kidnaps his girlfriend, terrorizes Gotham City, and shoots down the Batwing. Then, as Batman approaches to take him out in the climactic fight, the Joker puts on a pair of spectacles and says, “You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, huh, would ya?”

Today’s leftist jokers are no less out of touch with reality, turning the whole concept of victims and oppressors on its head. Yet they’ve played their hand so powerfully that conservatives are the ones fighting the uphill battle and looking like the bad guys while doing it.