Instead of trying to generate new ideas, American conservatives often hoover up after the Left. They pick up some deeply embarrassing leftist shibboleth and make it proudly their own.
One example is the notorious “Democrats are the real racists.” The underlying idea is that Americans are engulfed in racism and it’s our duty to explain everything that ails our society through that structural racism.
Another example is “crowds of black people are unfairly incarcerated and we need to release them ASAP.” Enter Donald Trump with his Kim Kardashian plan to do just that.
Yet another example is “America is a source of bad in the world, starting unnecessary wars and opposing dictators whom we need to worship precisely because of how much they despise America.” Enter JD Vance with his paeans to the poor, well-meaning Russia, grievously misunderstood by evil Americans.
Yet another example is the belief that the American institutions – the envy and wonder of the world – are inherently evil and need to be ditched in favor of a dictatorial model. It was the Left’s favorite pastime to moan about “the Deep State.” Now we have Glen Greenwald who lives in some third-world craphole lecturing us on how our institutions are evil.
In 1918 Lenin ordered that a concentration camp for university professors be created and 40 be executed at random. Now we are hearing from the right that we should just disband the US academia – the envy and wonder of the world – because we are too lazy and stupid to offer any ideas that would displace the bad ones that have taken hold there. But what are our ideas? What do we have except for the regurgitated slogans of the left?
I have one such idea – the nation-state. But it’s hard, it takes a lot of work, it’s not a magic pill. Who needs all that? It’s so much easier, instead, to hoover up somebody else’s trash and present it as our own, original thinking when it’s nothing of the kind.