If 2016 has shown us anything, it is that the traditional message of the right wing can no longer win even a plurality of one of our two major political parties. That message has long been some combination of smaller government, less spending, lower taxes, increased freedom, and protecting the Constitution. That message not only never worked as a governing program, it also no longer resonates with a sufficient number of voters to win electoral majorities. Election after election has given us bigger government, more spending, less freedom, and an ignored Constitution.
A positive aspect of the Trump campaign is that both parties have finally ended with the pretense that voters want the right wing agenda. Voters want a government that works for them. As anathema as that sounds to the conservative and libertarian intelligensia, that is the unfortunate reality of our times. Even an undercurrent of the tea party movement’s resistance to Obamacare was rooted in a fear that the funds to pay for it would come out of Medicare.
Given that the old message has failed as both dialectic—a coherent philosophy of governing—and as rhetoric—campaign messaging to win elections—we should start anew. The America in which a message of limited government could succeed in rallying the voters to the polls no longer exists. The causes are many, and should be explored in a later column. Needless to say, the times are not changing—they have already changed. In one sentence, here is my attempt at a new vision for the right wing:
America should be a society where a man working full time can provide for his family using only one income.
That should be the message of the Republican Party in 2018 and beyond, as well as the message of the right wing institutions in all their forms: think tanks, seminars, magazines, oped columns, online media, blogs, and social media. There is no reason that the left wing should own this issue. Families and the provisioning thereof should be of prime importance to the party of family values. Every policy proposal should be measured against this vision and fought on those grounds.
Families are vital to Western Civilization, both in the present and even more so in the future. They are the institution that it is most vital to conserve. The West will not be saved by lone rangers, nor was it won by them. The West was won by the homesteading family venturing out into the wilderness and reclaiming it for civilization. They followed in the footsteps of Isaac when they built their altars, pitched their tents, and dug their wells. Lone rangers need none of those things, but civilization does. We must create a society where families once again build their homesteads and reclaim what has become wild again. America needs to be a society where a man working full time can provide for his family using only one income.
That is my vision for a new right wing message. What’s yours?
A New Vision For The Right
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Nicely done, Southron
Quite the opposite. Repeal Obamacare. Cancel 2 regs for every new 1. End the cronyism (which depends on bigness and barriers to entry). Audit the Fed. Shut down the DoE, EPA, etc. TPP, NAFTA, WTO are crony anti-free trade anyway. Lower taxes. Originalist judges.
Freedom, the Constitution.
I think Trump will do more in his first 100 days that Ron Paul could have done in an entire term to shrink government and enhance liberty and freedom. It has been the SJW and PC left that has been the oppressors, aided by the Cuckservatives that delivered for the left like Paul RINO’s omnibus of last year.
The problem is what the cucks campaigned on and what they did in office (Medicare part D?) were so different.
Agreed. The family is the fabric of society. The stronger the family, the stronger the society.
A good start would be to end no-fault divorce, which is the root of the perverse “marriage” monstrosities being floated, including “gay” marriage.
As a way of rhetorically getting the message across:
1. Life – from conception to natural death, all citizens have a right to life. The state has no power to create nor to take life. The right to life makes possible:
2. Liberty – citizens have the liberty to conduct their lives as they see fit, provided that their actions do not infringe upon the liberty of others to do the like. The right to liberty will make possible
3. Happiness – citizens are encouraged to pursue happiness through:
A. Family – a family consists of the father, mother, and their children
B. The ability to provide for their family – through honest work, a family has the capacity to improve its station by its own measure
C. The ability to raise the family – one income
Not perfect, but better minds than me can get the message across for effectively.
Succinct and to the point. Make Families Great Again.
Or: MF Great Again
End property tax, income tax, death tax. A man should be able to live in his own land, grow his own food, and pass it all along to his family without fear of losing it all for failure to pay rent to our masters.
I’m presently reading a book called “Toward a Truly Free Market: A Distributist Perspective on the Role of Government, Taxes, Health Care, Deficits, and More” by John Medaille.
It concludes that “a society where a man working full time can provide for his family using only one income” is what will be the case if we have a just economy.
And yes, death to the slave taxes of property, income, and death.
The message has failed because the average american can’t grasp that such a thing as dialectic still exists and follows any rhetoric that seems to promise a supersized personal gain.
The fundamental re-writing of societal ideals would take far longer than 2018 to get to “one man/one job/family intact”.
It’s a pretty idea though.
It has taken several generations to get to where we are today. It will take several generations to get out where we are today. My hope and belief is that the Trump election, which is not really about Trump the man, but Trump the idea, will mark the turning point of moving back in the direction of the values that made this nation great.
I think that Lector said it best in his essay “What is Wrong With America?” Change starts with me. Change starts with our homes. We cannot change the whole world, and we cannot change it overnight. We may not even see the changes in our lifetime. But by starting with getting our own homes in order, raising our children to value God, family, and country and to serve others, and by making those who live around us better by living an example, we can start the move toward the changes we would have like to see.
“The state has no right to end a life’. That’s fine, if the citizens do.
There are some lives that must be ended. If not by the state, than by lynch mobs.
At the point at which we are in this country, the only consistent option is to take the power of the state to decide life or death of its citizens. This does not mean that we should re-instate lynch mobs as a means. Maybe at some point in time our government will be just enough to make the correct judgement as to those who should be put to death for the good of the whole, but at this point, the legal system is a joke and cannot be trusted to do so. The lesser evil is to keep the bane of society locked away until their natural deaths at this point.
It need not be limited to lynch mobs. Pitchfork mobs or kukri mobs work just as well. I’m flexible.
Lone wolves and the Mannerbund who are willing to fight and sacrifice for God and the greater good are just as important as beta family men.
No LBF. they are not.
This came off as “since we can’t conserve anything else, let’s conserve this one thing.” We should be advancing all the time, not holding anything (to borrow a mentality from one of the greats).
Granted, the family must be defended and promoted. Indeed, that may be all our generation can hope to keep. However, other fights exist and we should be organizing on those fronts as well, starting in our towns.
“since we can’t conserve anything else, let’s conserve this one thing.”
You have that backward. This has been lost, we’re fighting to get to back.
Yes, yes, yes. “America should be a society where a man working full time can provide for his family using only one income.”
Workshop some simplified versions? “One man, one job, one family.”
Much is made about how such-and-such politician is doing among “women” [the hidden implication of which is a single, unhappy, working woman]. If a true statesman can tap into the TRUE desire of most ladies: a home, family, and a man who will love her and provide for her, he would have a distinct, though unspoken, advantage.
“One man, one job, one family.”, Indeed
The statement that the family is the core unit of [western] society is no exaggeration. It was precisely the development of the nuclear family within the Haijnal line 1000 years ago that led to the high-trust society in which Western Civilization could flourish.