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The Left has been working ‘for years now’ to drive American men from working and raising families to ‘an enclave of idleness, pornography and video games’ with ‘alarming success,’ according to Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley. 

The Republican spoke Sunday night at the National Conservatism Conference in Orlando, Florida.According to his speech on the ‘future of the American man’ provided by his office, Hawley, 41, said liberals in government and the media characterize ‘traditional masculine virtues’ as ‘toxic.’  

‘While the Left may celebrate this decline of men, I for one cannot join them – no one should,’ he said.  ‘They want to define the traditional masculine virtues—things like courage, and independence, and assertiveness—as a danger to society.’

‘Can we be surprised that after years of being told they are the problem, that their manhood is the problem, [that] more and more men are withdrawing?’ 

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Hawley said these masculine qualities have been vilified, although they ‘have long been regarded as vital to self-government.’ Liberty, he said, ‘requires virtue. And in particular, it requires the manly virtues.’

‘We need men who will shoulder responsibility, men who will start and provide for families, men who will enter the covenant of marriage and then honor it,’ Hawley said.   

‘American men are working less, getting married in fewer numbers; they’re fathering fewer children. They are suffering more anxiety and depression. They are engaging in more substance abuse,’ he claimed.

‘Many men in this country are in crisis, and their ranks are swelling.’

Hawley said this campaign against masculinity, along with critical race theory, economic socialism and the push to do away with the concept of gender, is part of a larger effort to ‘deconstruct America.’  

The first-term senator has often been a polarizing figure.His fist pump toward protesters descending on the Capitol on January 6 drew strong consternation from many in his home state, including calls for his resignation. But he remains popular in conservative circles and is often seen as a potential future presidential contender.

Hawley said the backlash against masculinity can be seen in elementary schools, where rambunctious boys are ‘diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder and medicated into submission.’ 

He called on Conservatives in attendance to fight the ‘attack on men’ and champion ‘a revival of strong and healthy manhood in America’ that ‘make[s] republics possible.’

‘We need men to raise up sons and daughters after them, to pass on the great truths of our culture and history, to defend liberty, to share in the work of self-government,’ he said.

‘And it’s not too much to say that our ability to get that kind of men will determine the success of our long experiment in liberty.’

For decades, he said, government policy has worked against male-dominated industries such as manufacturing. 

The married father of three said today’s American men are more apt to be jobless, less likely to be married and less likely to have children. Conversely, he said, they’re more likely to suffer from depression and turn to substance abuse.

‘The question is, how are we going to raise up good men today?’ Hawley asked.’We can start by repudiating the lie that America is a systemically oppressive nation and that men are systemically responsible.’

Hawley said his message to men is simple. ‘You can be a tremendous force for good. Your nation needs you.The world needs you.’