Saturday, February 8, 2020

A Critique of the American Right Strategy (or Lack Thereof) Part 3

Parts 1 is here and part 2 is here


So I've finally got around to finishing this post which started several months ago and grew to such lengths as I began exploring this idea that I decided to break it into 3 separate walls of text and still feel that there's much I didn't cover properly. And after much editing and re-editing, I still don't think the writing flows smoothly enough and is still missing points I should have made. But as they say- either get down to business or get off the pot so finally I got down to business.

Simply put, the right needs to reach out to and if not attract and convert more moderate middle Americans then to at least have them more sympathetic to the philosophy and goals of the right. For the most part, this means soft-peddling the previously mentioned segments of the right I critiqued rather than completely reading them out of the movement except of course, in extreme cases. Besides the obvious cranks and weirdos, there should be no place for the alt-leftists of national socialism and those who advocate for unprovoked violence against non-whites and starting race wars. The other rightists might still have contributions to make outside of their pet ideas or peeves even if I disagree with some of their positions. The right needs all the allies they can get.  As one last criticism of the alt and dissident right, by reading out the entirety of the conservative movement, are they not as guilty as when they criticize the Buckley conservatives for reading out the John Birchers and neo-confederates? Although Buckley and his NRO followers in the end failed as their critics charge and have in fact shifted into neo-liberalism, imperialism and social and political positions taken by 1950's and 60's Democrat liberals, these people, mostly professional pundits, are in fact, a minority of those who identify as mainstream conservatives. And again I ask the dissident and alt-right (if any still exist unironically) where are your achievements and successes? Did the Z man or Vox Day manage to eject the men in sundresses from out of the women's restroom yet? Still waiting, guys.

Proposed solution:
As conservatism is more familiar to Joe and Jane Normie and if reformed as the groypers attempted, can be valuable as a bridge between the more nationalist dissident right and middle America. That the mainstream rank-and-file conservative might still hold to a civic national/propositional nation of immigrants position, support of President Trump's make America great again more nationalistic position and support for the border wall show an openness to reconsider civic nationalism. They might therefore be more amenable to reason and this line should be pursued which will lead to a realization that its underlying "blank slate" model of humanity is likewise false. It should be stressed that noticing differences between peoples and cultures is not racism or does not necessarily mean one is better or superior to the other but simply acknowledging reality with no hate involved. So rather than recriminations of "boomercons" and further alienating conservatives who might otherwise move more towards nationalism, the dissident right should forego puerile name calling and vapid provincialism and consider forming alliances with them. Nor would it hurt if the conservatives were allowed to retain their own banner rather than forcing them to drop it in favor of identifying only as dissident right or alt-right (of the non-Spencerian flavors). The tact of "you're with us only under our banner (we're number one, huzzah!) and in complete lockstep with us or you are against us" serves only the left's so far successful drive to destroy the disarrayed and atomized right in detail.

Finally, the religion thing must be considered. Although it would set the teeth of right-leaning atheists on edge, there cannot be a strong concept of morality without it. Man will only obey the morality revealed by a power higher than himself as an absolute and eternal truth. This morality adhered to by the people en masse is necessary to the function of a high trust culture under a constitutional republic and a common religion is part of what holds a culture and community together. A strong commonly held moral order along with civic engagement by the average citizen is what keeps government honest by holding the bad guys accountable when found. So let the atheists get over their daddy issues and at least accept and support cultural Christianity even if they do not wish to participate in a religion.

I don't expect these ideas to gain any traction among libertarians, their apostates and heretics in the dissident right and alt-right because of their individualism preferences so a centralized ideology or philosophy around which all can coalesce simply isn't in their natures. Nor the mainstream conservatives who likewise share this individualist bent but are still waiting for permission to reject the failures of civic nationalism and the blank slate theory without fear of being called racist. All in all, the American right has accepted too many of the left's moral premises with elements of the far right viewing themselves as a passive-aggressive antithesis in material dialectics waiting in Galt's Abbey for the crash and the as yet unknowable new synthesis to spontaneously emerge. However, in the meantime, we'll continue to fight more among ourselves rather than the left because, hey, we're the American right. It's what we do.


Donald Cavaioli

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