I follow an account on X called “SadSECFans.” The posts consist of photos of Southeastern Conference football fans who appear on camera during games as they are sad that their team is losing. The account used to use this slogan with its photos: “Sad fans are sad.”

We can apply that slogan with a little tweak after this election. Sad libs are sad, and many of them are expressing it on social media. I saw one particular post that irked me over the weekend.

A friend of mine who is a musical hero of mine (even though I don’t care for his politics) made a long Facebook post that began with, “Dear creative friends, I hear you and we all feel the disillusionment. You already know what I'm about to say, but this is where we songwriters, authors, visual artists, film-makers, [sic] poets, Moms & Dads, everyone ‘steps up.’"

My friend is a Christian, and it shows up in his songwriting. He took a spiritual turn in his post, declaring, “Darkness? In the long run? It ain't gotta [sic] a chance.” He even quoted the Apostle Paul, writing, “Let's talk ourselves thru this ‘light & momentary affliction.’"

Never mind that Paul also wrote that earthly governments “have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1), but I digress.

The main point that I want to make here is that my friend made a massive assumption that far too many people make: that all creative people are on the left. I guess we have the left-wing infiltration of Hollywood to blame for this assumption.

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It’s tough to find any rock-solid evidence for a correlation between creativity and more liberal attitudes mainly because creativity is such a subjective quality. When I researched for this column, most of the search results I came across were from places like Reddit and Quora, where users tended to argue that, of course, creatives were progressive.

But, as a friend of mine who used to work in the entertainment industry said, “This has always made me angry. Liberals don’t have a monopoly on creativity.”

I stumbled on a Psychology Today opinion piece that came out the day of Barack Obama’s election that cited a single study that concludes that conservatives are less creative than liberals. According to this study, “those endorsing more conservative positions had fewer creative accomplishments, and produced photo essays and drawings that were judged as less creative.” But “less creative” meant that conservatives created artwork that was more realistic and less avant-garde — again, a subjective measurement.

For what it’s worth, the author of the article was giddy at the idea that Obama’s election would usher in some golden age of creativity. No joke.

“I'd like to focus on a potentially overlooked outcome of this historical moment: America will become more creative,” wrote Scott Barry Kaufman. “This is because Obama represents many of the core liberal values that promote creativity and innovation.”

When you’ve finished retching, let’s keep going.

We know that the entertainment industry has its share of conservatives. Many of them aren’t outspoken, but they’re also not blindly parroting the left’s talking points. Consider actor-director Nick Searcy, who is a loud and proud conservative who still gets parts in Hollywood. I also think of artist Steve Penley, who has made a living with his striking paintings and who is conservative.

Here's my two cents: I think that most conservatives are less likely to pursue careers in creative fields because they would rather opt for jobs that provide for their families. I also think that conservatives are more likely to create art that reflects their lives rather than try to be transgressive with their creations.

My creative pursuits come to mind. I love making music for fun but also leading worship at church. I’m writing two novels and have a wonderfully supportive publisher for them, but I also don’t have designs on quitting my job because I wrote an acclaimed bestseller.

I wish we could do away with the assumption that creatives are liberal by default. It dishonors conservatives who create for a living or for fun — not that the left has ever cared about that.

So, my fellow conservatives, create art. Create it freely, create it proudly, and create it not caring what anyone will think. Let's take back the expectations of creatives.