Hat tip to The Orthosphere
As traditionalist conservatives, we understand that the current order, although it contains pockets of relative sanity, is, overall, hopelessly corrupt. Although we knew the chances were not good, many of us had been hoping that a renewal of American society could somehow be brought about. We knew that the old America—the predominantly white, Christian America of ordered liberty under God and the Constitution—was in some senses gone. But while the permanent loss of America was seen as possible, even likely, it was not foremost in our minds. We generally focused on what could be done to oppose liberalism.
That has changed. While the recent presidential election did not change anything fundamental (elections cannot do that), it did reveal that even a President who obviously hates and opposes the traditional American way of life can easily be reelected. It revealed that a president who is incompetent at doing what he should, and very competent at pursuing leftist-inspired destruction, can gain the votes of the majority. It revealed anew that in the new America the enemies of a decent order have all the advantages. Barring a miracle, we cannot see how it will be possible to revive a properly-ordered (or at least adequately-ordered) American nation from sea to shining sea.
This insight did not just come from the recent election. Nearly a year ago, for example, Lawrence Auster announced that he no longer believed it possible for America to reject liberalism, and that, in his words, “…liberalism will continue until it has destroyed our civilization, and liberalism itself, having been deprived of its host, will also perish…” This conclusion was not the result of any specific event, but was rather an intuitive insight based on cumulative data.
What to Do?
It is a dreadful thing to contemplate the loss of one’s nation. An appropriate first response is mourning.
After mourning should come repentance. Part of repentance is to change our understanding of what must be done. Man naturally wants to preserve what is best about his nation, and conservatives, almost by definition, wish to defend their nation from internal (and external) enemies. It is natural for a conservative, traditionalist or otherwise, to view his task as preserving or renewing his nation.
But if this is no longer possible, what’s a conservative to do?
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