Nikki Haley to young conservatives: Stop trying to “own the libs.”

Keynoting a national conference of righty high-schoolers in DC Monday, the UN ambassador asked the kids to raise their hands if they’d ever “posted anything online to ‘own the libs.’ ” Most of her audience stuck up a hand, then started cheering.

Oops: That’s when she laid into them for being sore winners. “Step back and think about what you’re accomplishing when you do this — are you persuading anyone?”

“Real leadership,” she explained, “is about persuasion, it’s about movement, it’s bringing people around to your point of view. Not by shouting them down, but by showing them how it is in their best interest to see things the way you do.”

Excellent advice, Ambassador — for all the smug haters right and left now plaguing social media and increasingly polluting all discourse. Tearing each other apart on Twitter isn’t democracy, just self-serving snark and shouting.

That doesn’t mean you should hide your beliefs, but rather, to quote Haley’s parting shot, “Have the courage to stand up to the mob.”