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Right versus left. Democrat versus Republican. Liberal versus Conservative. These are the terms we are all too familiar with that practically serve to symbolize the political struggle between good and evil, freedom and tyranny, or big and small government. But if the last 50 years of politics have proven anything, it’s that these labels mean shockingly little. Whether it’s Reagan opening the nation’s floodgates via amnesty under a Republican elephant or the supposedly anti-big corporation Democrats mandating an untested vaccine, both ideas functionally operate as little more than two sides of the same coin. The yard sign changes every four years, but the underlying assumptions and commitments to liberal democracy don’t.
Yet when you trace the intellectual formation of the American conservative identity you find that wasn’t always the case. Something happened in the ’60s and ’70s that broke our connection to our English, Anglo, and Protestant past and made America into the degenerate war hawk it became in the ’90s and early 2000s. Committed to a defense of Israel and esoteric readings of the Ancient Greek philosophers, influential academics like Leo Strauss and Harry Jaffa—alongside journalists like Irving Kristol—birthed a powerful new flavor of conservatism that took root in the American consciousness.
This supposedly right-wing political thought had little differences with the left in its embrace of liberal democracy and equality, but served its purpose in turning America into a dominant foreign adversary alongside a compelling narrative about its embrace of creedal nationhood and the peoples of the world. But as the downstream effects of decades of universal suffrage and propositional nationhood come home to roost, neoconservatism offers shockingly little substance in the way of resistance or conserving our Christian European heritage. Populism and revolution are on the rise, and the strong gods are coming home.
It’s time to stop calling ourselves conservatives and falling into the same dialectical trap again and again. We are not neocons and we are not interested in the solutions of Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, and Mitch McConnell. Like the Founding Fathers who risked it all to forge a new, self-governed future, we also need real and potentially radical solutions to our dilemma. Cutting taxes by 10% and another war in the Middle East isn’t going to do it.
Tune in now as we discuss Leo Strauss, American conservatism, and the coming right-wing revolution.
MINISTRY SPONSORS:
Kingsmen Caps
Carry the Crown with Kingsmen Caps — premium headwear made for those who honor Christ as King. Create your custom crown or shop our latest releases at https://kingsmencaps.com.
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Right versus left. Democrat versus Republican. Liberal versus Conservative. These are the terms we are all too familiar with that practically serve to symbolize the political struggle between good and evil, freedom and tyranny, or big and small government. But if the last 50 years of politics have proven anything, it’s that these labels mean shockingly little. Whether it’s Reagan opening the nation’s floodgates via amnesty under a Republican elephant or the supposedly anti-big corporation Democrats mandating an untested vaccine, both ideas functionally operate as little more than two sides of the same coin. The yard sign changes every four years, but the underlying assumptions and commitments to liberal democracy don’t.
Yet when you trace the intellectual formation of the American conservative identity you find that wasn’t always the case. Something happened in the ’60s and ’70s that broke our connection to our English, Anglo, and Protestant past and made America into the degenerate war hawk it became in the ’90s and early 2000s. Committed to a defense of Israel and esoteric readings of the Ancient Greek philosophers, influential academics like Leo Strauss and Harry Jaffa—alongside journalists like Irving Kristol—birthed a powerful new flavor of conservatism that took root in the American consciousness.
This supposedly right-wing political thought had little differences with the left in its embrace of liberal democracy and equality, but served its purpose in turning America into a dominant foreign adversary alongside a compelling narrative about its embrace of creedal nationhood and the peoples of the world. But as the downstream effects of decades of universal suffrage and propositional nationhood come home to roost, neoconservatism offers shockingly little substance in the way of resistance or conserving our Christian European heritage. Populism and revolution are on the rise, and the strong gods are coming home.
It’s time to stop calling ourselves conservatives and falling into the same dialectical trap again and again. We are not neocons and we are not interested in the solutions of Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, and Mitch McConnell. Like the Founding Fathers who risked it all to forge a new, self-governed future, we also need real and potentially radical solutions to our dilemma. Cutting taxes by 10% and another war in the Middle East isn’t going to do it.
Tune in now as we discuss Leo Strauss, American conservatism, and the coming right-wing revolution.
MINISTRY SPONSORS:
Kingsmen Caps
Carry the Crown with Kingsmen Caps — premium headwear made for those who honor Christ as King. Create your custom crown or shop our latest releases at https://kingsmencaps.com.
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