A letter from a reader
Here’s a good letter from a reader who recently discovered VFR. He gives an interesting account of his political evolution over the years from left-liberal to traditionalist.
I first came across your website, ‘View from the Right’, about 6 months ago through a link (from I believe ‘The View from 1776’) and read that one article. I didn’t bookmark your site then but came across it again a few weeks ago and this time have delved into it quite a bit; it’s my first stop when I have time to read. Even at that I have barely scratched the surface of the content. What I have found so far has been very refreshing; not only revelatory but corroborative as well. Not only is this due to your contributions but from your guests.
My own ideological odyssey has taken me from being Liberal Leftist in the late 80’s when I was in my mid-twenties (voted for Dukakis), to the Center Left by the early 90’s (Ross Perot anyone?), to being Right Left by the mid-90’s (voting Republican). In that timeframe I have become a Christian in 1993, married in 1995, a father in 1997. Couple those changes with a craving to make sense of things and more knowledge and it has led to a realization that something in ‘mainstream’ circles of discussion is not right. I currently support Republicans as a firewall against even more social ‘progress’ and a more sane view on foreign policy but am reaching the conclusion that this is no longer tenable since their (Bush, Nominal Conservatives) policies are leading us straight to cultural and racial destruction that the Liberals would lead us to faster. In a sense maybe faster is better since then there might be a real counter-revolution. You have very persuasively argued what Neo-Conservatism is. In the past I generally heard it used as a slur by liberals against those they used to consider allies, or as a defense by Neo-cons who say they came to their senses after being a liberal who was mugged.
When Sean Hannity strongly disagreed with a caller who labeled homosexuality a sin; when Jonah Goldberg said homosexual marriage isn’t wrong in principle, just in timing; when Dick Cheney said people should be able enter into any marriage ‘arrangement’ they choose; when George Bush said illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship and the businesses that profit from them ignored; when Rush Limbaugh rarely if ever criticizes the conservative establishment; when Mark Prior went against Roy Moore; when virtually none of them defend our European cultural roots; etc.; I thought ‘this’ is conservatism? These aren’t the RHINOS like Schwarzenegger and Pataki and Specter – these are supposed to be ‘real’ conservatives. The term has become almost meaningless. We’re getting to the point where (one of your threads spoke to this) we have nothing of value left to conserve and will have to focus on restoration. I don’t want to ‘conserve’ the ‘laws’ created by leftist judges from penumbras and emanations when they defy natural law and our Constitution. I don’t want to ‘conserve’ made up morality propagated by our elites. Your term Traditionalist does now better fit those of us who want to undo much of the damage of the recent past and return to our historic cultural roots.
It makes perfect sense now. Our entire political establishment is liberal; they just haggle over degrees. As you describe under the concept of unprincipled exceptions, the 2 need each other. Without these exceptions (instituted and pushed by Republicans mostly) to the corrupt structure of liberalism the body, the U.S.A./the West, would die. Left Liberals want the body covered with leeches while Right Liberals want just a few; but there is no debate over blood letting. The parasites will be fed and Traditionalists/Patriots are vilified for daring to want to knock them off.
Before finding your site I generally agreed with the writings of National Review but I was agreeing less on foundational principles than on the lunacy of unfettered liberalism. I enjoy the writings of Joseph Sobran but his leanings are more towards libertarianism than is prudent and he has never raised concerns about the dangers of Islam but many regarding our relations with Israel. Libertarians tend to forget that people who don’t organize and form a collective defense will be destroyed by others who do organize. I learned much about the danger of Islam from Jihad Watch but they are primarily anti-Muslim (necessary) than pro traditional America (sufficient). Some web sites offer some excellent thoughts combined with quite a lot of far fetched and counter productive conspiracy theories (like Save the Males). There are many other forums I have learned much from but there was always something missing from the core.
Above all I find enlightening your emphasis on our historic culture and race being indispensable to our survival and compellingly argue why. To see how our elites, in just a few decades, have embarked on an experiment that not only defies intuition (what group survives when it places diversity above unity?) but history is staggering. It is a betrayal of our country, culture and people.
Every year we are clearly becoming more degenerate and it seems very few in the mainstream are really asking why. They ask only ‘acceptable’ questions so not surprisingly the real answers are unwelcome. I strongly believe much of the progressive movement wants America, as we know it, destroyed since it is a hindrance to the EU/UN tyrannies they want to rule the world to enforce their utopian dreams. We face the threefold threat of Liberalism, nominal Conservatism, and Islam. Until a true traditional Conservatism returns we will continue to sink. There will eventually be reached a point of no return for the U.S., maybe for all the West, past which peaceful solutions will no longer be possible to halt the death of our culture. I can only hope there is still an opportunity to weave a critical mass of like minded people together to stem this tide and reverse its course.
Thanks for all your efforts.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 14, 2005 07:56 PM | Send