THE MANIFESTO PODCAST

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Rod Dreher is a crunchy conservative from Louisiana, an editor for The American Conservative and a prolific a writer – notably of The Benedict Option which reframed the discussion about Christianity in the West in general and America in particular after the advent of Trumpism. Far from the stereotypical mold of an American conservative Dreher's erudite Europhilia runs through his work though as he never fails to remind us of the fruits of western Christian civilization. From the bittersweet and autobiographic How Dante Can Save Your Life which serves a reminder of the joys and depths of great literature as well as his most recent Live Not By Lies which charts the lives of those dissidents who spend the 20th Century imagining, suffering for, and then bringing on a better world in face of overwhelming worldly power. 

We are very grateful for this beautiful conversation with Rod about the return of religion, the perennial search of Modern Man to alternatives to a Christian order and we are sure you will enjoy it as well. 

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Michael Gibson is the philosophy PhD who traded an Oxbridge career for tech journalism and when introduced to Peter Thiel, the venture capital and setting out to prove the Universities are not even close to the best incubators for curiosity, intellect and tallent.

We discuss his journey and his intellectual memoir and spirited screed against the current institutions of learning, governance and dissemination of information, The Paper Belt on Fire.

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As conservatives and leftists get their asses kicked in the West and liberalism, while not particularly popular at the ballot box is as dominant as ever as the culture becomes increasingly totalitarian, are we at a kind of Jacobite moment? In today's episode this is what we argue. That the protracted line of revolutions since 1517 - 1688, 1789 etc has left a significant part us in internal exile. So as mental emigrees we review the state of things in the summer of 2024 as well as very apparent the longing for a Prince beyond the sea. 

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond,

Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae,

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

Chorus:

O ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye,

But me and my true love will never meet again,

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

'Twas there that we parted, in yon shady glen,

On the steep, steep side o' Ben Lomond,

Where in soft purple hue, the highland hills we view,

And the moon coming out in the gloaming.

Chorus

The wee birdies sing and the wildflowers spring,

And in sunshine the waters are sleeping.

But the broken heart it kens nae second spring again,

Though the waeful may cease frae their grieving.

Chorus

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We are here to save the West. We see that politics and the political systems have failed or reached a dead end. But how does one save a moribund system from the grasp of an elite, of institutions and to be frank - a significant part of the electorate that benefits from it?

Since 2016 the very word for change is the dread and promise that is Populism. In its promise is a belief that our democracy is not just a finely tuned system and a machine that can, and should be managed, but the ultimate expression of a sovereign people.

The challenge is both national and supra-national. For today institutions not only span across countries but engulf entire continents. The whole of Europe and the whole of the West is intertwined in a myriad of ways – through academia, through the media and through law.

Populism is often decried by its detractors as mere demagoguery – the dark art of fanning popular unrest or the great unwashed ashes to seize power for the sake of power alone. But if we are to use Populism, what is it that we wish to conjure up? The election of Donald Trump as People’s Tribune in 2016 along with Brexit started the trend of vast numbers of voters breaking away from traditional voting patterns to support radical change. Before any of this, however, ‘populism’ referred mostly to left-wing movements – SYRIZA in Greece and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela come to mind. Are we here coming up against the limitations of this word? Is populism a guiding principle or a political method?

The idea of popular uprisings has always been a double-edged sword - the promise of liberation, symbolized in the 1989 great German slogan “Wir sind das Volk!”, but also seen in the violent passions of mob rule, and the corruption historically following in its wake.

Are we to condemn Caesar for crossing the Rubicon? Or condemn that arch-populist Pompey for forcing Caesar to do so, while backing a corrupt system? This is a timeless question, and one that shakes the very foundations of the Western world as we speak. There has never been a more apt time to answer them.

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Patrick Deneen is a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. Professor Deneen rose to prominence with his 2018 book Why Liberalism Failed. It drew a readership from the entire spectrum of American politics; from Cornel West, Jacobin Magazine and President Obama to the likes of Jonah Goldberg and George Will. The book drew praise and criticism alike as well as throwing a wrench in the smooth workings of the left-right divide of American intellectual life. He is a noted student of American democracy and shares many perspectives with one of its most noted observers and commenters, Alexis de Tocqueville. 

He visits our podcast to talk about his latest book, Regime Change - Towards a Postliberal future.

A conservative who rejects both the dogma of Republican Party “freemarket” corporatism as well as libertarian atomism he instead advances the argument for a common good conservatism. Being branded simultaneously dangerous radical and nefarious reactionary Professor Deneen traces the common good doctrine back to the very foundations of America and ties it to a wider European tradition. 

If our post-liberal future is to have a chance it is time to slaughter sacred cows and do battle against all both the current political regime and the nihilism of those who say that nothing can be done. 

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Why is modern architecture so ugly? Since at least 1950 the world has gotten immensely less attractive. Under the banner of poverty alleviating and social housing beauty in urban spaces became an outdated concept. Progress demanded that the bourgeoisie notion of function be discarded which is why your local library and Opera house now looks something designed by a wicked totalitarian regime totally obsessed with off putting shapes in steel and glass.

Surprisingly not everyone thinks Modernist Architecture, the official name of the movement - think Stalinst but without the sense of grandeur, is great. Carl tends to agree. So we interviewed one of the leading lights of a popular rebellion against Modernism to ask if we are condemned to a future where architecture is still making us depressed. He was suitably optimistic but warned us that this view might be a sign of political extremism, and as he'd been told by his opponents in the architectural establishment, you guessed it, racism.

Colour us surprised. We needed to know more.

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Since the collapse of Western centrism in the last decade, one thing is now very clear – the future is nationalist. The excesses of globalism and universalist thinking that deeply fractured The West has led to an upsurge of popularity for the concepts of 'national sovereignty' and ‘identity' that will dominate the 2020s and 30s.

But still, tectonic shifts have made the ground under our feet sway and there is no going back to the self-satisfied days of Western dominance. The very phrase “The West” is by now undermined and made suspect – militarily, morally and philosophically. Within its borders and without, Western civilisation is a term of slander and abuse.

This is a series of podcasts dedicated to those people who want to save The West, and who have the will and ideas to get it done. So: What is The West? Who are the men and ideas that will save it? Most crucially, what is to be “saved"?

The promise of The West has always been a combination of sovereignty, pluralism, justice and identity. In that vein, this series reacts against, and rejects, attempts to reformulate the centrist and globalist project as well as the nihilism of denying the need for a civilisation. From this vantage point, we ask: What is the role of identity and tradition? What are the limits to openness and pluralism in the world we are now shaping? And what replaces conservatism and liberalism within the scope of nationalism in the digital age?

We will strike at these concepts with a hammer and listen to what rings true. We invite you to follow us on a journey to discover this, our future. Will you be among the Men Who Saved The West?

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Jan Emanuel ger gammelmedia långfingret och gästar Manifestpodden för det första längre samtalet efter lanseringen av Folklistan tillsammans med Sara Skyttedal. De populistiska vindarna i Folklistans segel är snålblåst från ett svenskt politiskt landskap i kaos. År av vanskötsel och naivitet gör att den enda frågan nu är vem som bäst kan anklaga den andre för att vara orsaken till allt som gått fel. Ändå fortsätter det politiska maskineriet att rulla till samma gamla visa och samma gamla ansikten. Sossar och Moderater. I en värld där de flesta andra glatt skulle stannat kvar på en strand i Marbella, Palma eller Gran Canaria väljer ändå Jan Emanuel att spotta i handen och ge sig in i politiken igen. 

Varför? I detta avsnitt av Manifestpodden berättar Jan Emanuel vad som gör svenska politiker så in i helvete dåliga.

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The farmers are revolting. No, literary. Always have been. Since what they do always accompanies them with that certain smell.

Europeans are quite used to see farmers revolting. It’s a part of our long and troublesome history. The French have always been revolting, driving their tractors up and down the Champs-Élysées, spraying fertilizer on government buildings and keeping the baguette prices high and thus their way of life. Liberals and socialists alike have scoffed at their antics, see them as quaint relics of the past where food came from cultivating the land and that sort of reactionary nonsense. Today, modern people know that’s not where food actually comes from. Real food is either grown in a vat or is traded for from a poor country. You know really poor, where people actually work with their hands. Who needs an agri-sector when you have fair trade marked goods, right?

Something has gone very wrong though because it seems now non-Gallic farmers are revolting. First the Dutch, ever dependable calvinists, took to the streets and led a campaign that brought down the centre-right government. But now its serious. Germany, the most serious country in all of Europe, where there are actual banks and industry and such, has got a peasant revolt on its hands.

It’s time to care about farmers again. Well, as it happens, Johan was born on a farm. And Carl likes to eat actual non-vat grown food. There seems to be actual stakes now. So what the hell is going on anyway?!

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