The mainstream conservatives’ hopeless schizophrenia

Greg W. writes (July 3):

Conservative talk radio seems to have a similar theme throughout today. Each host I’ve listened to wonders where our patriotism has gone. This is interesting, considering that these so-called conservatives are in step with the liberal zeitgeist: they believe multiculturalism and diversity is a great thing which makes our country stronger.

Amazing that these hosts can tout the strength of such nation- destroying policies, while wondering why we aren’t as patriotic as we previously were. It’s as if they don’t understand that under our liberal belief system the less patriotic you actually are, the more American you are. Today, a patriot is one who is a recent immigrant who wants all traditional American edifices destroyed and believes equality is the founding principle of the nation. The patriots of yesteryear are bigots, meaning they are the anti-patriots.

LA replies:

You have well described the schizophrenia that characterizes essentially ALL mainstream conservatives. Like Dennis Prager, they want to America to keep receiving all peoples as immigrants including Muslims, and they want American “Judeo-Christian” traditions to be protected and enforced. Like Norman Podhoretz, they redefine America as an abstract Proposition Nation equally open to all races and cultures on earth, and they complain about how Americans have “lost their voices,” their ability to stand up against multiculturalism.

The mainstream conservatives have two utterly contradictory values—the nondiscriminatory inclusion in America of everyone in the world, and the preservation of America as a special country and culture. They cannot see the contradiction or extricate themselves from it, because both these values are sacred to them. For them to recognize that their belief in non-discriminatory openness dooms the nation and must be abandoned, would be to lose what is the “highest” to them, it would be to lose themselves, so they can’t even conceive of it. They can’t even form the thought process that would lead in the direction of this insight. Therefore the schizophrenia, and the concomitant destruction of traditional America, will continue. But over time the contradiction will be resolved, as the mainstream conservatives gradually and insensibly give up their belief in America as a distinct culture and side with the leftist destruction of America.

What I’ve just said is not just a prediction for the future; it is something that has already been going on for many years. Starting around the turn of the century, the neocons/mainstream conservatives essentially stopped complaining about multiculturalism and minority group privileges, and began touting America’s “diversity.” When they do complain about multiculturalism nowadays, it’s a vestigial habit, it has no force and conviction in it. They’ve already surrendered.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 05, 2012 07:55 AM | Send