Stepping Back Far Enough To Take Aim

RS McCain takes me to task for defeatism in my comment at The Other McCain-

http://theothermccain.com/2010/05/16/fun-light-hearted-and-accessible-is-ok-but-how-about-winning-elections/#comments

Mr. McCain is a few years older than me, I think, but he has only been a conservative since the early 90's. He was a yellow dog Southern Democrat- a white socialist- and then got into the von Mises and other crap and saw the light.

I on the other hand have been a sick, twisted right-wing fanatic since my earliest memory. I cried when Ronald Reagan lost the nomination in '76. I have watched, participated and cheered the modern conservative movement for all these decades. If I'm disillusioned it's because I have hoped for conservative change longer and it has been a deeper part of my identity.

McCain may be a conservative, but he has never really swallowed the red pill, or as in my case had it forced down his throat many times. Because his perspective is shallower he has not seen the profound failure of this movement and still thinks that politics, as we know it, is the solution to politics.

You can't fix something if you don't know what is wrong and don't know how to fix it. In auto mechanics there is something called "parts changing." There is a problem; a solution is guessed. A part is purchased and installed. The problem continues. A part has been changed, but nothing has been accomplished.

Conservatives have long thought that by obtaining a Republican president, House and Senate they would have all the parts changed to fix things. This happened and the change did not occur. The offices have reverted to Democratic control and it is now believed electing Republicans will help. But if it didn't work then why would it work now?

It won't work because real power does not lie in those places. Moldbug explains where power does lie, but does not offer a solution as to what can be done, other than patiently waiting for the system to collapse. That may be the only thing to do; I would still like to see what else might work. For those who have portable capital or skills the collapse of the West might be avoided by going elsewhere; but most people can't do that, and those that can shouldn't have to.

What doesn't work? Some things-

-Constitutionalism. Conservatives love the idea that we just need to follow the Constitution. But exactly the opposite is true. To adhere to the rule of the Constitution is to submit to the rule of judges who decide what it means, which is exactly what we have now.

-Color blind rule- part of constitutionalism, but an issue in and of itself. Everybody but white people know we live in a society of competing ethnic interests, and they compete for their own group. Racial and ethnic consciousness are unavoidable.

-Conventional politics- I will not say nothing has been achieved in this area. Thw worst excesses of the 60's have been rolled back. But beyond that a Republican legislature is only a little better than a Democratic legislature.

-Reliance on law and order. Whatever else happens at least they can't kill you in your own home, right? Conservatives don't see that police agencies have gradually been bent to the purposes of the liberal state. I have spent a bit of time in Seattle and the surrounding area. It is a mostly white, wealthy and civilized place. It is also very liberal and this is reflected in the weak and ineffectual police agencies of the region.

Real dissent is harshly punished by social ostracism. I'm nothing more strange and threatening than a Goldwater Republican but it's not for nothing I do this anonymously.

At some point however those who can need to speak up. Right now anything you can say on the record is not worth saying. The system protects itself by making anything that would actually threaten it taboo. Conservative arguments are simply ignored and business goes on as usual.