On Tuesday, Nov. 5, more than 77 million voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump and his promise to “Make American Great Again.” The election season was quite a show, with tens of thousands of people showing up for Trump rallies, most of which were extravaganzas of spectacle and comradery. At one of these shows, the July 13 Butler, Pennsylvania rally, Trump won a special place in the history books when, clipped on the ear by a sniper’s bullet, he rose to his feet, blood streaming down his face, raised his fist in the air, and called out, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Trump was aided in this months-long drama by a cast of prominent figures, stars like multi-billionaire Elon Musk, former Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and talk show and podcast hosts like Dan Bongino and Joe Rogan. These are the people who dominate the stage, meaning the headlines and the daily news. Supporting actors included television and print journalists, other influential podcasters, and online opinion columnists.

Behind the scenes were the millions of voters of all races and creeds who stepped into a polling booth and put Trump into office. Though considered “deplorables” and compared to garbage by some Democrats, they were the essential element in this changing of the guard.

Among this backstage crew were those who in their own quiet ways were already working to restore tradition, the family, and virtue to our battered culture.

Some of these restorationists are writers and bloggers with a low-key public presence. Recently, for example, I stumbled across the online site “Inspire Virtue: Living the Examined Life,” where for four years, wife and mother Anna K. Reynolds has posted book and media reviews as well as advice on family life. Reynolds is a graduate of Catholic higher education, but her choice of subjects and her helpful tips should appeal to all.

Similar in tone but with an emphasis on old, forgotten books is Marlene Peterson’s “Libraries of Hope,” a collection of resources “to help facilitate educating hearts.” Along with beautiful works of art from bygone days, many of which depict readers, children, and families, Peterson also offers “The Well-Educated Heart” program along with courses of study boosting the arts and literature.

Created by Carrie Gress and Noelle Mering, “Theology of Home” is yet another website promoting family life. Gress and Mering are Catholic, and the “Theology of Home” books they’ve written reflect that faith. If you pay a visit to their site, be sure to scout out “The Daily Collection,” where they repost various online articles of the day.

Husband-and-wife team Bethany and Ryan Bomberger have attracted a wider audience with Radiance Foundation. Through their podcasts, speaking engagements, and books—including some for children that celebrate traditional views of sex and gender—the Bombergers defend the traditional family and seek to teach young people that life has a purpose.

On her substack, my friend Annie Holmquist, former editor of Intellectual Takeout who is now engaged in several enterprises, addresses a wide variety of topics and concerns, most of which are more cultural than explicitly political. Here again, as in these other outlets, she encourages her readers to look outside today’s mainstream culture to the more wholesome sources of inspiration and wisdom from the past. 

Finally, many young families these days are participating in the restoration of our culture. They may be unaware of the crucial role they’re playing in this larger effort, but their commitment to marriage, the hands-on interest they take in their children’s schooling, and their practice of a religious faith have added ballast to our foundering ship of state.  

Over the years, I’ve met several hundred such families. I conducted seminars in the liberal arts to homeschoolers for nearly 20 years, taught in a private parochial school, interviewed dozens of families for magazine articles, and have in the last eight years met some of the mothers and fathers who are friends of my children. My grandchildren are all enrolled in some sort of educational co-op or religious school, and through them I have met parents and teachers devoted to solid academics and instruction in the virtues.

Here’s just one specific example of these hidden defenders of tradition. A married couple in their early 30s who live here in Front Royal, Virginia, parents now to five children, befriended me, and I join them for supper every couple of months. They homeschool their older two children—the younger three are pre-K—pray the rosary every evening, and have created a beautiful home. My evenings with them always leave me in a glowing mood, hopeful about the future of our country.

In the end, if the United States is to become great again, it must first become good again. This largely unsung backstage crew of bloggers and parents is joyfully laboring away to make that hope a reality.