It is unfair to accuse social conservatives of waging a culture war.

[Cashew]

-Not to nominate a criminal
-Not to insult millions of Americans
-Not to nominate someone with baggage and a high unfavorability rating
-Not to pick a nominee who will suppress the Progressive wing of the party

That is just a few of them.

Basically this and some other things mentioned in this thread. I'd also add that their obsession with social issues is really hurting them in the rural and suburban areas. While I don't think they will move to the right when it comes to social issues, they would do best if they focused on economic issues.

What obsession? I'm sorry but just because Trump won doesn't mean reality gets rewritten. In all these major social issues from trans-bathrooms, gays being denied services, etc... have all been made issues by cons not libs

I am not going to make any generalizations, but the textbook defenition of your average conservative is to preserve the status quo, while the average liberal wants to change it.

Therefore I conclude that despite noble intentions, liberals are in fact the real agressors when it comes to waging a culture war.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Where is the "both" option?

[The Mikado]

As far as the bathroom issue goes, the GOP is unequivocally stirring the pot as going into the bathroom of your choice has been the status quo around the country for years. The bathroom laws are the things trying to change the way things currently are, not the people resisting those laws.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

As far as the bathroom issue goes, the GOP is unequivocally stirring the pot as going into the bathroom of your choice has been the status quo around the country for years. The bathroom laws are the things trying to change the way things currently are, not the people resisting those laws.

Then, you have to admit that, on the religious liberty issue, it is the liberals forcing the issue.  Even a "live and let live" attitude would allow a Christian baker to not bake a cake for a gay wedding.

[Sumner 1868]

Social conservatives literally coined the term "culture war" so that pretty much answers it. Besides, whereas arguing that they were reacting to social liberal excess might have been a credible position in the early 1970s, it can't be taken seriously in the era of Infowars.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Both sides fight over cultural matters, and so are culture warriors in some sense. However liberals tend to view culture as more pliant, so they have less compunction about advocating wholesale changes to culture.

[angus]

Neither.  It's a made-up thing.  The phrase "culture war" would not be around if it were not for the press (and Otto von Bismarck).   It certainly wouldn't have been propagated here, or, I suspect, even recognized as such, if it weren't for the press.

Ah, well.  You gotta sell ad space, and for that you need sensational topics.  Whether they're real is of no importance.  It's capitalism run amok, I suppose.

[progressive85]

I'm sure over the course of hundreds of years there have been always culture wars of some kind.  Think about the religious wars of the 1500s-1800s and all of that bloodshed.  Culture wars seem to be connected to dramatic changes in sex and religion.

[RaphaelDLG]

You're right that liberals frequently try to press for change on cultural issues, but the "culture wars" as we know them have been cynically stoked by people like Karl Rove, Ronald Reagan, Lee Atwater, Richard Nixon, etc to make folks turnout for politicians that have otherwise odious, unpalatable right-wing laissez-faire economic ideologies.

For instance, it's arguable that Bush would have lost in 2004 had gay marriage bans not been pushed hard as a wedge to get blue collar union folks over to the Republican side (obviously, times have changed, and that particular culture war fight is over).  And that type of situation plays out all the time.