If you haven’t seen the main TAC page, you’ve missed my essay from the magazine about Kim Davis and the religious liberty battle. Here are the four main lessons I learned by talking to lawyers, strategists, and insiders fighting for religious liberty; this is what they would like their fellow religious conservatives to know:

1. Broadly speaking, the public does not support them.

2. Perception matters.

3. Religious-liberty activists have to pick their battles carefully.

4. The business community is key.

5. Time is not on their side.

Read the whole thing. I explain all these points in detail.

Since I filed this piece, I had some conversations in Washington with conservatives who follow this issue intimately. They strongly indicated to me that religious conservatives can expect nothing from Republicans in Congress. The Left has no reason to bargain now, and the Right has to satisfy the business community, as well as live in fear of being called bigots. Which they do, somehow. We have to keep fighting, but we have to be a lot smarter than we have been about the nature of the battle, and what victory would look like.

I’m not going to open comments on this thread because I want you to comment on the main one. Still, I wanted readers who only look at this blog to know this piece is out there.