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Decline of the Right

“Those of us who retain the skepticism about ambitious government that once seemed to define the right are ceaselessly told that we are obsolete. We do not, the cliché has it, know ‘what time it is.’” - Cranach

Discussion

Wed, 07/01/26

It strikes me, as someone who doesn't fit firmly into any of the categories, that a key part of the trouble is first we treat people with whom we disagree as enemies (on both sides of the aisle), and then we see ourselves in view of movements (or "tribes", perhaps).

The trouble with the first is that the quickest way to transform, say, Boston into Yugoslavia is to see the other as an enemy--it is akin to a football game becoming a brawl, or for that matter a war becoming a series of atrocities. We lose a lot of prospective leaders that way as they decide the barbarity just isn't worth it.

The second is the same--if I think of myself as neocon, Trumpist, and such, I will tend to simply follow the "Party line" (re-read Washington's farewell speech, no?) instead of actually thinking things through. To draw a picture, I happen to favor a revenue tariff with some provisions for penalties for those who don't respect U.S. IP, or who invade their neighbors--but that does not make me a Trumpian following his executive orders. Treaties like NAFTA and GATT matter, and so does the process of enacting, per Article 1, legislation.

We make a lot of dumb mistakes when we make enemies and follow the party line.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Thu, 07/02/26

One area you see this playing out is Congress. Congress is essentially broken at this point and no longer operating rationally. They continue to focus on the fact that they are aligning to Trump's policies and trying to get in line with the party, instead of being a check and balance on the executive branch and ensuring they represent the people they represent and not the person in the White House.