I’ve written for years about the loss of institutions, and the related life in a post-truth world in which narrative not evidence is all that matters. Just visit any campus or speak to anyone subjected to cancel culture — the mob is not interested in evidence or debate, they are interested in power and bringing people to heel.
Many if not most conservative institutions have proven incapable of stopping the march through institutions. Something different is needed.
Mollie Hemingway made this point eloquently in her Bradley Prize acceptance speech on Sept. 13, What The Right Needs Now Is The Courage To Fight Even If It Costs Us:
The conservative movement in D.C. has too often been engaged in insincere opposition to progressivism’s march through America’s institutions, both public and private. It has seemed mostly interested in negotiating terms of surrender or managing defeat than preserving the republic. It has stood athwart history impotently suggesting that progressives slow down. Michael Malice has therefore derided conservatism as just “Progressivism with a speed limit.” Institutional conservatism and its alleged leaders have too frequently accepted the propaganda press’s treatment of conservatives as second-class citizens.For conservatism to mean anything now, it has to be about rejecting this rigged system. Don’t just say “stop.” Our duty is to not to say “stop” but then bend the knee in cowardice when the mob comes. That brings even more harm to our more vulnerable neighbors and does nothing to prevent the destruction of the country.It’s not comfortable for conservatives who value order and civility to even think or speak this way. But the fact is that many Americans are alienated from and no longer feel at home in their own country. The moral climate has been degraded as the left has taken over every single one of the powerful institutions in the country and is actively pushing people to lead a life of godlessness, barrenness, selfishness, gluttony, and addiction to outrage and dopamine.All of a sudden, the conservative project is not a conservative one, so much as a counter-revolutionary one.
But what to do? Do something. Do anything. Hemingway writes:
It’s not enough, though, that someone fights. The fight must be smart and tactical. While we are clearly entering an era where dissidents will be required, there’s no value in secular martyrdom or being just another victim of the regime. The fight must be supplemented by prudence and strategy. Be bold and defiant, but we must also know where to aim our fire.On the other hand, figuring out where to aim our fire is not that difficult right now. It brings to mind a quote from legendary Marine Chesty Puller: “They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can’t get away from us now!”It’s a target-rich environment. Now go out and pick one.
It’s a point I made in response to reader responses to my October 12, 2017, post Legal Insurrection is 9 years old, and filled with dread. Win small fights. Do something.
It’s really important that we all do something. What I do is Legal Insurrection, as well as giving whatever support I can to conservative and pro-Israel students on campus.You can’t change the political world alone. But you can help change a local school board, a local election, or something else that affects your life.It’s important work, whatever you do. So long as you do something.
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