I sometimes fall into the Spengler trap of viewing everything as part of a spiritual war against the reign of quantity and a need for a Retvrn to Tradition. This essay was a fantastic splash of sobering ice cold water to the face.
The right-wing influencer ecosystem is a nightmare. Grifters and liars abound. Richard Hanania is correct that the right is now low human capital. For example, who are the exceptional right-wing thinkers in the realm of economics who: 1. share the bleak economic outlook of the radical right; and 2. have accurately described the problems we face and offer realistic solutions? I don’t think there are any who rival the intellectual stars of mainstream economics. From my point of view, as a libertarian, government failure and inefficiency seems far worse than market failure (real or alleged). One way to solve the immigration problem would be to restore freedom of association but in the U.S. at least, the same voters who are against illegal immigration are also against discrimination!
I agreed with almost all of it, but I would object to dismissing the spiritual entirely, as long as 'spiritual' means 'mental' or 'ideological' and not 'supernatural.'
It's very true that our problems are caused by bad policies pushed by people with bad ideas. But where are those ideas coming from? Why is there so little pushback? Why when Enoch Power delivered his 'Rivers of Blood' speech, to enormous public approval, was he not embraced as a hero by his own party? Why did the Tories reject Winston Churchill's suggestion to run on the slogan 'Keep Britain White?' At the root of all of the bad policies and bad ideas is a deep-rooted ideological malaise.
This is the kind of article that will lose you subscribers. Carlson is clearly right here: spiritual evil is real, it has insinuated itself into the power structures of this country, and the struggle for our civilization has spiritual dimensions. This view has been well represented on the British right in the past, including by writers who remain leading lights for subsequent generations, and who continue to open the minds of young people to principled dissent: Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, et al. It is hardly an alien intrusion. The Church of England has fallen, yes, but that is a reason to mock the Church of England, not biblical Christianity wholesale (which no biblical Christian would agree the CoE still represents).
Regardless, punching right and gatekeeping what are acceptable views on the right simply does not help anyone. All it does is alienate people unnecessarily and thwart unity of action. The reflexive urge to form a circular firing squad is an impulse which conservatives and radicals are going to have to unlearn before it is too late. Leftists, barring a few oddballs, have successfully learned not to do this. We have to find the same ruthlessness if we are to save anything.
There you go again, writing things that force me to think - sadists.
I completely agree that dishonesty (or shall we call it a disregard for the truth) in public life is bad and there should be less of it. It's also a good observation that one of the British Right's strengths is that we can speak truth to punter, correctly identifying problems and proposing solutions without hiding behind tribal SW1 shibboleths.
But how this ties in with the Christianity question is another matter. Yes, we will be on a hiding to nothing if we try to present political and economic reform in Christian clothing, because British politics doesn't work that way. But no British conservative or right-winger should be apathetic about the state of Christianity in Britain.
Lots has been written about Christianity's enormous formative influence on British society, culture, law and politics (Tom Holland, Bijan Omrani, etc. etc.) but more relevant for this largely secular Substack is the fact that Anglican Christianity occupies the "religion" square on the national chessboard in the same way the King occupies the Head of State square. Anglicanism is largely a constitutional religion, in the same way the King is a constitutional monarch, but though that may sap its spiritual and moral force it DENIES THE SPACE TO ANYTHING ELSE (sorry for the block caps but you can't properly imagine me hectoring you without them).
Our villages and towns have lovely churches, our Parliament has morning prayers, our national flags are all variations on the cross, our police wear a cross together with a crown on their uniforms, etc. etc. etc., which add up to a still-healthy bit of Christian ballast in the ship of state. Yes, we allow bits of this ballast to be thrown overboard every day, especially under Labour governments, but a conservative ought to try to keep as much of it as possible on board.
There's also the fact that religious revivals do happen: they have happened here before and they probably will again, and personal belief aside a more Christian Britain would be good news for conservatives. We want stable families with plenty of children, we want an industrious, peaceful, sober and law-abiding citizenry, we want stable national institutions, we want the continuation of traditional high culture, and (to return to the start) we want a high degree of personal honesty, decency and probity in public life, and all of these things would be strengthened by a widespread Christian revival. So by all means let's not campaign as Christian Conservatives and scare off the voters, but let's not lose sight of the fact that in Britain conservatism and Christianity are natural bedfellows.
Hilarious condemnation of “you can just say things” from a set of pillocks prone to shouting “12,000 free speech arrests a year” and “jailed for a tweet”
Carlson mentioning the native tribes of North America is apt since his entire article is essentially a Christian rain dance.
Haha nice!
I sometimes fall into the Spengler trap of viewing everything as part of a spiritual war against the reign of quantity and a need for a Retvrn to Tradition. This essay was a fantastic splash of sobering ice cold water to the face.
Love everything George spencer writes
The right-wing influencer ecosystem is a nightmare. Grifters and liars abound. Richard Hanania is correct that the right is now low human capital. For example, who are the exceptional right-wing thinkers in the realm of economics who: 1. share the bleak economic outlook of the radical right; and 2. have accurately described the problems we face and offer realistic solutions? I don’t think there are any who rival the intellectual stars of mainstream economics. From my point of view, as a libertarian, government failure and inefficiency seems far worse than market failure (real or alleged). One way to solve the immigration problem would be to restore freedom of association but in the U.S. at least, the same voters who are against illegal immigration are also against discrimination!
Endless bangers from you guys.
Brilliant article
I agreed with almost all of it, but I would object to dismissing the spiritual entirely, as long as 'spiritual' means 'mental' or 'ideological' and not 'supernatural.'
It's very true that our problems are caused by bad policies pushed by people with bad ideas. But where are those ideas coming from? Why is there so little pushback? Why when Enoch Power delivered his 'Rivers of Blood' speech, to enormous public approval, was he not embraced as a hero by his own party? Why did the Tories reject Winston Churchill's suggestion to run on the slogan 'Keep Britain White?' At the root of all of the bad policies and bad ideas is a deep-rooted ideological malaise.
This is the kind of article that will lose you subscribers. Carlson is clearly right here: spiritual evil is real, it has insinuated itself into the power structures of this country, and the struggle for our civilization has spiritual dimensions. This view has been well represented on the British right in the past, including by writers who remain leading lights for subsequent generations, and who continue to open the minds of young people to principled dissent: Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, et al. It is hardly an alien intrusion. The Church of England has fallen, yes, but that is a reason to mock the Church of England, not biblical Christianity wholesale (which no biblical Christian would agree the CoE still represents).
Regardless, punching right and gatekeeping what are acceptable views on the right simply does not help anyone. All it does is alienate people unnecessarily and thwart unity of action. The reflexive urge to form a circular firing squad is an impulse which conservatives and radicals are going to have to unlearn before it is too late. Leftists, barring a few oddballs, have successfully learned not to do this. We have to find the same ruthlessness if we are to save anything.
There you go again, writing things that force me to think - sadists.
I completely agree that dishonesty (or shall we call it a disregard for the truth) in public life is bad and there should be less of it. It's also a good observation that one of the British Right's strengths is that we can speak truth to punter, correctly identifying problems and proposing solutions without hiding behind tribal SW1 shibboleths.
But how this ties in with the Christianity question is another matter. Yes, we will be on a hiding to nothing if we try to present political and economic reform in Christian clothing, because British politics doesn't work that way. But no British conservative or right-winger should be apathetic about the state of Christianity in Britain.
Lots has been written about Christianity's enormous formative influence on British society, culture, law and politics (Tom Holland, Bijan Omrani, etc. etc.) but more relevant for this largely secular Substack is the fact that Anglican Christianity occupies the "religion" square on the national chessboard in the same way the King occupies the Head of State square. Anglicanism is largely a constitutional religion, in the same way the King is a constitutional monarch, but though that may sap its spiritual and moral force it DENIES THE SPACE TO ANYTHING ELSE (sorry for the block caps but you can't properly imagine me hectoring you without them).
Our villages and towns have lovely churches, our Parliament has morning prayers, our national flags are all variations on the cross, our police wear a cross together with a crown on their uniforms, etc. etc. etc., which add up to a still-healthy bit of Christian ballast in the ship of state. Yes, we allow bits of this ballast to be thrown overboard every day, especially under Labour governments, but a conservative ought to try to keep as much of it as possible on board.
There's also the fact that religious revivals do happen: they have happened here before and they probably will again, and personal belief aside a more Christian Britain would be good news for conservatives. We want stable families with plenty of children, we want an industrious, peaceful, sober and law-abiding citizenry, we want stable national institutions, we want the continuation of traditional high culture, and (to return to the start) we want a high degree of personal honesty, decency and probity in public life, and all of these things would be strengthened by a widespread Christian revival. So by all means let's not campaign as Christian Conservatives and scare off the voters, but let's not lose sight of the fact that in Britain conservatism and Christianity are natural bedfellows.
You are a pompous ranting windbag. Carlson isn’t the greatest journalist in the world , which is obvious to anyone with half a brain .
Any one with a tenth of normal brain function could give reasons for this in less than a 100 words.
Are you related to the flatulent note Boris Johnson perhaps, or one of his bastard offspring?
You sleep with hunting dogs in your bed and you wake up with claw marks and bleeding and you blame 'Demons'?
Right...
The truth is treated like an illness to be avoided.
Hilarious condemnation of “you can just say things” from a set of pillocks prone to shouting “12,000 free speech arrests a year” and “jailed for a tweet”
Wazzocks