Strategies and Heuristics for Confronting Liberal Institutions

My contribution to Up from Conservatism

I was asked to contribute an essay to the volume Up from Conservatism, edited by Arthur Milikh. I have ambivalent feelings about what’s called the “New Right.” While I wholeheartedly endorse their willingness to get serious about pushing back against everything woke and public health (minus the anti-vaxx stuff), overall, the movement is too tribal and pessimistic, and too willing to paint in broad brushes, for me to fully embrace. That being said, I appreciate Arthur giving me the chance to share my thoughts on what I think are some of the best ways to challenge the left.

My essay has the title of “Strategies and Heuristics for Confronting Liberal Institutions.” The publisher was kind enough to let me reproduce it here, so I’m making it available to paid subscribers below.

The essay discusses topics including education policy, lessons from Arizona and Wisconsin, labor unions, the Log Cabin Republicans, how to approach sex differences in political attitudes, and what I think are some potential political and intellectual dead ends. The main focus is on what I believe the main priorities for conservatives should be as they think about how to change, take over, or limit the influence of hostile institutions.

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Fredrick the Great said “he who defends everything, defends nothing.” One could similarly say “he who attacks everything, attacks nothing.” Any individual, or movement, trying to change the world is going to have limited time, energy, resources, and focus. In the last decade in particular, conservatives have come to feel that practically everything that can reasonably be called an “institution”  — from sports journalism to the federal bureaucracy — is against them. It is common to hear conservative commentators complain about big banks, large corporations, medical and trade associations, labor unions, government agencies, universities, and an endless number of other villains leading the country to ruin. While the “world is against us” sound bite is good for fundraising and building a media following, it neither provides clear steps for taking political action, nor allows one to intelligently differentiate between worthy and unworthy targets.