If one believes in identity politics, which is to say, if one believes that people, if left free, will fall into identity groups that will then compete for power and try to oppress each other, then you have two logical things you can do with that belief:
1) Pick a moral and intellectual elite, and let them oppress everyone equally, or
2) Make sure that your identity group is the one at the top, where it can oppress everyone else.
Progressives believe in identity politics and want option 1, above, and there are various other groups who want option 2, above.
Nazis and other white supremacist groups only differ from groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in terms of which identity group they want on top. Nazis want white people on top, the Muslim Brotherhood wants Muslims on top, and there are many other groups who want some other group on top. Most of these groups are proudly held up by progressives as being ‘on the left’ – the only identity groups progressives disown are the ones progressives think are currently on top.
All of these groups base their world view on their, or on someone else’s, supposed right to oppress, and a ‘progressive’, is nothing more than a Nazi who bases their right to oppress everyone else on something other than race or religion.
The people truly on the ‘correct side of history’ are the people who still believe in the Enlightenment, rejecting identity politics entirely, and looking at everyone as an individual.
As we look at ‘left’ and the ‘right’, in the modern political lexicon, the ‘alt-right’ are really just progressives who believe that their group has historically been on top in the West, and who want to keep it that way. They view themselves as being on the ‘right’ only because they oppose ‘the left’.
Conversely, there are Christian groups on the ‘right’ that want Christians to be the group on the top. How are they any different from the Muslim Brotherhood, other than that they consider themselves ‘on the right’ instead of ‘on the left’?
MOST Christians, most Muslims, most people from other religions, and most people who are not religious, want the right to PRACTICE their own religions (or lack thereof), but they do not want to oppress those who live in ways that violate their religions – they just want to live their lives according to their beliefs. All of them, if they believe in individualism, believe in the same basic things that I do, and that most Americans believe in.
There are still Democrats who believe in individualism, but who want highly regulated markets. These used to be the bulk of Democrats, and I feel very bad for them, because their party has left them behind. There are actually a lot of these people still out there, and they must feel adrift without a paddle – kind of like so many Republicans, who watch our party talk about liberty while doing nothing to restore liberty, feel. I dare say most Americans feel politically adrift, without a paddle.
We need to redefine the political landscape as one between individualism on one side, and those who believe in identity politics on the other side. True conservatives needs to disavow identity groups on both the ‘right’ and the ‘left’, redefining our platform to be one about freedom and liberty for all. Only then can we truly stand as a force for good. Only then will we really have something to unite the country behind.
The sides should not be ‘right’ and ‘left’, but ‘freedom’, and ‘oppression’.
Wallace, I’m so glad you began this blog on your new website. It is most important that people recognize the danger postmodernism presents to the West. We cannot just idly stand by and let the moral revolution of postmodernism and secular humanism proceed unanswered. The critical importance of clarification of God’s law needs to be expressed in a public forum during these challenging times.