Kevin DeAnna

March 13, 2009

Charles Murray gave a well received address at AEI Wednesday night which is generating a fair amount of buzz on conservative blogs.  Essentially, he warns of the collapse of the European economic model (which President Obama is trying to impose on us) but optimistically hopes that new scientific discoveries will break the stale public policy climate and give a new impetus to conservative principles such as the importance of traditional families, the abolition of racial preferences, and the creation of an elite that at least pretends to care about the society it is a part of.  One of the characteristics of the amorphous “Alternative Right” that some on Takimag speak of is a transcendence of the reactionary impulse and a synthesis of scientific progress with a proper respect for tradition, identity, and a natural hierarchy.  That’s part of what it means to be “right wing,” as opposed to conservative.  As our elite is fundamentally sociopathic, I can’t imagine what’s worth conserving anyway. 

John Derbyshire over at NRO rather gloomily responded that our society is essentially locked into this system. 

The unasked question is where does this leave us?  I agree that the American people (well, if there even is one anymore, maybe I should just say the people who live in the United States) will certainly never vote out this system.  I also think our elite can manage the slow decline indefinitely, and that there won’t be this sudden collapse that will lead to the Old Republic rising like a phoenix from the ruins. 

Most of the conservative movement is worried about how to build the New Majority that will allow the Republicans to regain power.  The answer is they can’t—as Mr. Derbyshire noted, the ground has already shifted beneath their feet as they were squabbling about marginal tax rates.  They were warned, they ignored it, and now the opportunity is gone.  The only way the GOP can win on a national level again is to adopt policies that adjust to the New America—socialist, dependent on government largess, and corrupt at the deepest levels.  Eventually they will, and the GOP will win again, but who cares?