For years, “open source” has been treated like a purely technical term, but it’s always been about values: freedom to inspect, freedom to modify, freedom to build without asking anyone’s permission.
Somewhere along the way, that spirit got hijacked. Licenses started sneaking in ideological clauses. Projects began policing speech instead of code quality. Gatekeepers tried to decide who was “allowed” to contribute based on politics, not merit.
It’s time to reset.
From a conservative perspective, the future of open source should be built on:
Freedom over control – No political test to use, fork, or contribute. If the code is legal, it stays free.
Merit over identity – You’re judged by what you build, not by who you are or what you believe.
Responsibility over chaos – Strong maintainers, clear governance, predictable rules, and respect for property and attribution.
Resilience over capture – Decentralized hosting, forks ready, and communities that cannot be bullied or bought into silence.
The goal isn’t to make “right‑wing open source.” The goal is to restore open source to what it was supposed to be: a neutral, apolitical commons where anyone can build, where excellence matters, and where freedom isn’t conditional on whether your views please a committee.
If we get this right, we won’t just be writing code. We’ll be rebuilding an ecosystem where people can actually trust the tools they use—and where no one has the power to shut you out because you think differently.
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