Why The American Right Succeeded

UPDATE: Check out Rich Lowry making my point in response to a hostile review of his new book in The Washington Post:

“That aforementioned Washington Post review says that I look “back with nostalgia to the days when immigrants were overwhelmingly European.” This is false.”

Here he is again on Twitter:

And then about a page later I endorse intermarriage as a powerful tool of assimilation pic.twitter.com/xSPgGyb2Vw

— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) November 1, 2019

I agree with the basic thrust of this article.

It is true that the Center Right has been given enormous power. It is true that conservative liberals have failed to win the culture war. It is true that these people made no effort to conquer and dominate culture forming institutions like the media and the education system.

American Mind:

“Republicans have controlled the presidency for 32 out of the last 52 years, a time during which they have appointed 15 of 19 Supreme Court justices. In the last 25 years, they have controlled the Senate for about 15 of them, and the House for 20. For a party to be so remarkably successful politically while losing on practically every issue requires a deep rethinking of where things have gone wrong.

Conservatives for two generations now have worried that immigration was turning the country more liberal. Yet even while it has continued, the massive leftward shift of college educated white women has emerged as much more electorally significant in the short term. In 2016, President Trump won the election and had both houses of Congress, yet his only legislative accomplishment of note before losing the House was tax cuts. …

If conservatives are to make lasting gains, they must think strategically about how to assert influence in public education and the new media. This is not easy, and success is far from guaranteed even with the best strategy. Yet a continuing, endless shift to the left is guaranteed if Republicans run on nothing but economic issues and foreign policy into the foreseeable future. Economic determinism on these things, whether in support of libertarian or more statist policies, is a mistake. We need serious thought regarding how to go about changing the media and universities. …”

How should I put this?

The Center Right has been like a libertarian gardener. It has made no effort to tend to the garden that is our culture which has been overrun by noxious weeds. Liberty and The Invisible Hand were trusted to work it out. The result was that Jews took over every major culture forming institution and from their perches in the news and entertainment media and higher education have been dumping a neverending stream of toxic waste into our culture for 75 years.

In spite of this, the Center Right has been highly successful in achieving its actual goals. These goals aren’t to be confused with the agenda it runs on in our elections.

1.) If a goal of the Center Right is to block and marginalize the Far Right on behalf of the Left, then it has been highly successful in that respect for decades.

2.) If a goal of the Center Right is to cater to the interests of the wealthy Jewish donors who buy the policy agenda of the Republican Party, then it has been highly successful in that respect as well. What did the GOP do with power in all of 2019 except “fight anti-Semitism”?

3.) If a goal of the Center Right is to cut taxes for the wealthy and multinational corporations, then it has been a highly successful movement. What does the Trump administration have to show for the 2016 election but the tax cuts, deregulation, Jerusalem and ending the Iran Deal?

4.) If a goal of the Center Right has been to stabilize and conserve leftwing social revolutions, then it has been highly successful at that as well. It has spent the Trump presidency mainstreaming the LGBTQ social revolution of the Obama years and absorbing it into conservatism.

5.) If a goal of the Center Right has been to preserve the American Empire and the liberal world order, then it has also been highly successful at that.

What does the Center Right actually do with power?

In the 21st century, the single most important thing it has done with power is unquestionably the Iraq War. It was highly comfortable with wielding power abroad to set a large swath of the world on fire. It was much less comfortable in addressing the blessings of liberty like the endless wave of caravans crossing the border or pushing back against Drag Queen Story Hour.

The American Right has been highly successful. It’s just that what it really wants – the donor class, the think tanks, the pundits, the talking heads, the staffers, the state legislators, policymakers, congressmen, etc. – and what its “base” wants and votes for in backlash politics which is to conserve the White Christian social order are two radically different things.

If you don’t believe me, pay close attention to the 2020 election. Listen to what the Center Right and the Republican Party says it wants to do in this election cycle. Then watch what it does after the election is over. Better yet, pay attention to what the donor class wants no matter how unpopular it happens to be because that will be the legislative agenda.