My basic point is not that an effort to persuade the editorial board of the New York Times or the deans of the top 50 law schools is the key to victory, but that there is no practical political strategy that will give us many near-term victories.
Advanced liberalism is a comprehensive system based on a particular fundamental understanding of knowledge and reality. As such it resists radical change and has a great deal of resilience. Even if the traditionalist Right (i.e., people who are neither left-wing ideologues nor adrift) do manage to elect a president or congress their guys will seem like unacceptable alien intruders. Other parts of the system (the media, political activists, experts and educators, civil servants, other parts of the legal system) will work together to isolate them, make them ineffectual, coopt them, and make sure the same thing can't happen again.
So it seems to me the primary need is to confront liberalism and overthrow it in mind and spirit. Every bit counts, so I agree the effort to elect conservative legislators is good. I also agree that to the extent there's truly common ground with neocons, non-paleo libertarians and so on it's good to cooperate. It seems to me though that the most important thing is to clarify, publicize and insist on principle. As long as the views of the traditionalist Right are foreign to public discussion the practical goals of the traditionalist Right aren't likely to get anywhere.
My basic point is not that
My basic point is not that an effort to persuade the editorial board of the New York Times or the deans of the top 50 law schools is the key to victory, but that there is no practical political strategy that will give us many near-term victories.
Advanced liberalism is a comprehensive system based on a particular fundamental understanding of knowledge and reality. As such it resists radical change and has a great deal of resilience. Even if the traditionalist Right (i.e., people who are neither left-wing ideologues nor adrift) do manage to elect a president or congress their guys will seem like unacceptable alien intruders. Other parts of the system (the media, political activists, experts and educators, civil servants, other parts of the legal system) will work together to isolate them, make them ineffectual, coopt them, and make sure the same thing can't happen again.
So it seems to me the primary need is to confront liberalism and overthrow it in mind and spirit. Every bit counts, so I agree the effort to elect conservative legislators is good. I also agree that to the extent there's truly common ground with neocons, non-paleo libertarians and so on it's good to cooperate. It seems to me though that the most important thing is to clarify, publicize and insist on principle. As long as the views of the traditionalist Right are foreign to public discussion the practical goals of the traditionalist Right aren't likely to get anywhere.