7.17.24 - National Conservatism, some loose thoughts
I consider myself as mostly, unhappily, aligning with the Democratic party. But when i read Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed in undergrad, got a gust of the early Jordan Peterson wave in the late 2010s, and now read various essays here and there on "common good conservatism," I feel that the new right's diagnosis of why things feel so bad is largely correct. It's the actual premises of liberalsim, which are really at odds wit how we're supposed to structure society and what leads to human fulfillment.
After the Vance pick I thought it was a good time to check out Regime Change by Deneen (cheap on Kindle!) and I'm liking it so far. Will have thoughts on it later. Book reviews is something I could get into.
The objectives, which I glean are, reducing inequality, reviatlizing national identity, becoming a maker of things, promoting traditional family formation, are all great. I agree with all of them, nominally. On the social side, we need ideals in society——the sort of libertine attitude America has towards all kinds of lifestyles is corrosive. There at least has to be some kind of "model lifestyle"——people won't follow it, shouldn't be forced to, they'll rebel against it like the hippies and punks did, but it's good to have. It should look something like a nuclear family. Having nothing leaves a void to be filled with psychos and perverts.
But I think that they're a little too optimistic about the power of the state to promote marriage, family formation, healthy sexual identity, etc. I think we can at least have policies to stop making things worse, that's easy. But after that? Child subsidies, banning abortions, family leave . . . I don't think it really moves the needle. I don't agree with banning abortions from a policy standpoint but that's a different issue. My point is that these policies don't even promote their goals. Cultural change is, I think, downstream of what's possible technologically.
It is possible to have a very libertine sexual life safely today. It is possible to put off having children for a very long time. It is possible to have a pretty comfortable life consuming things without building anything, like a family, for yourself. We are in this culture because our technology allows it: contraceptives, cheap entertainment, cheap credit.
At some point, what you're trying to do with policy is to ban or discourage the use of useful technology——useful in a narrow sense to some people. I don't think any state policy has ever successfully done this. There were virtues to many previous lifestyles——the rigors of paleolithic life probably cultivated a lot of strength virtue. But we just can't go back.
I guess that's my main problem, a lot of the movement is about going and RE-vitalizing older cultural forms. I just think it's not possible. I would make the exact same argument with their protectionism and industrial policies. But that's a failure they share with Democrats.
My suspicion is that if we, as a society, get really focused on building new things, on achieving big goals, and the achievement of those national priorities gets tied up with status, we'll see culture heal from the bottom up. And governments are actually really good at making big national projects, and to drawing money to them, and money in turn draws status. Once status is aligned with the "common good," the rest is easy.
I'm thinking of this old article I read which theorized that the pyramids weren't built by slaves, that it was probably some kind of public works, summer camp type system where healthy men would come contribute for a season, and that it could have featured games where teams were competing to add more bricks. They aligned masculine impulses with a natioal project with status. That feels like what the New Right is trying to achieve.
So, these are streams of consciousness, and I don't have a conclusion in mind when I start writing them, but my intuition is that national projects, something like a new moon landing, a new New Deal type program, huge national missions in science and technology, hundreds of operation Warp Speeds, a new and bigger peace corp, a national service programs that compel college students to do a semester doing some for of community service in underserved areas——things like this could really revamp America. If it sounds lefty, we can add a bunch of flags and eagles on it, pass it in a bill called "Reclaiming the American Century."
In short, I think that the new rights gets the problems right. But they should listen to their friends in the old right and Cato and all that. The government isn't good at policing people's lives or changing culture, it's really good at spending money. So make a policy platform focused on effectively spending it. (they don't have that right now they're going to blow up the deficit cause inflation and put a sales tax on Americans through tariffs)
I'll see if my thoughts change after I read Deneen's new book.