They're bad. Really, really bad.
The Zman is unimpressed by the
edgy edgertons of conservatism posturing as if the Left is, or ever
was, even remotely threatened by them:
So-called
Movement Conservatism is a zombie movement, shuffling along until someone has
the decency to put it out of its misery. That does not mean the army of people
who have made a living peddling it over the last few decades are going to
retire. They are looking for some way to weasel their way into the new thing.
They look over at the cool kids raising hell on-line, building their own thing
and the old guys of Conservative Inc are naturally jealous and want to be a
part of it.
This is not an easy task. Buckley Conservatism was revealed to be nothing more than the candy coating to the Progressive nut inside the prevailing orthodoxy, when they went all in on the NeverTrump nonsense. It’s not that the cool kids will not forgive them. It is that there is no point to it. These are yesterday men with nothing to offer. National Review is one of those abandoned houses in Detroit. It’s only purpose is as a reminder of past mistakes. Otherwise, it can be plowed under and not one will care.
The current relationship of this new thing on the Right to the old conservative movement is a lot like what David Horowitz described as the relationship between the New Left and the old reds from the previous generation. When the New Left got going in the 60’s and people noticed it, suddenly every old commie in the country was trying to get in on the act. They were rejected not because they were old, but because they had nothing to offer.
This is not an easy task. Buckley Conservatism was revealed to be nothing more than the candy coating to the Progressive nut inside the prevailing orthodoxy, when they went all in on the NeverTrump nonsense. It’s not that the cool kids will not forgive them. It is that there is no point to it. These are yesterday men with nothing to offer. National Review is one of those abandoned houses in Detroit. It’s only purpose is as a reminder of past mistakes. Otherwise, it can be plowed under and not one will care.
The current relationship of this new thing on the Right to the old conservative movement is a lot like what David Horowitz described as the relationship between the New Left and the old reds from the previous generation. When the New Left got going in the 60’s and people noticed it, suddenly every old commie in the country was trying to get in on the act. They were rejected not because they were old, but because they had nothing to offer.
The Movement Conservatives took over the Reagan Revolution and the Tea
Party because neither of those movements had a strong philosophical core, which
permitted the cucks and cons and neocons to run their usual scams. The reason
the Alt-Right will not be taken over by them is because our nationalism and
historical realism is utterly anathema to them; they would rather make common
cause with the Left with whom they share a common utopianism.
As always, it comes down to Plato against Aristotle. If you are willing to ignore the world and embrace the ideal in its stead, you will sooner or later side with Plato. If you are willing to accept the world unflinchingly, you will eventually come down on the side of Aristotle.
The Alt-Right is the only Aristotelian alternative at this point in time. All the other Rights, from neoconnery to constitutionalism and civic nationalism, are riddled with Platonic accommodations. All the other Rights require you to knowingly profess falsehoods.
As always, it comes down to Plato against Aristotle. If you are willing to ignore the world and embrace the ideal in its stead, you will sooner or later side with Plato. If you are willing to accept the world unflinchingly, you will eventually come down on the side of Aristotle.
The Alt-Right is the only Aristotelian alternative at this point in time. All the other Rights, from neoconnery to constitutionalism and civic nationalism, are riddled with Platonic accommodations. All the other Rights require you to knowingly profess falsehoods.
