04/23/2021
Bonus: James Kirkpatrick announces our next feature here in the public segment of the podcast. Click to listen and be the first to know!
Earlier this week, I recorded a podcast on Andy Ngo’s Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. The full podcast is exclusively available to members of VDARE.com’s Book Club.
The Book Club has become one of the things I most enjoy about being a contributor to this institution. (That and the Castle). It’s really means a lot to have you guys contributing to us, not just in terms of money, but in terms of your time, attention, and intellectual output.
I find that I am usually against the spirit of the times, whatever direction they are moving in. While the Trump Administration supposedly "radicalized" the hard right, I found it generally brought me back down to earth from some of my more youthful excesses. While the Trump defeat in the election and the post-January 6 crackdown has demoralized many people, I find myself more optimistic than ever.
The reason why is because I’m seeing so many people spontaneously self-organizing, forming formal and informal groups, networks, house churches, tribes, fraternities, businesses and so many other exciting developments. These are the citizen institutions that Alexis de Toqueville said were the glory of America.
As he put it in Democracy in America:
Americans of all ages, conditions and all dispositions constantly unite together. … To hold fetes, found seminaries, build inns, construct churches, distribute books, dispatch missionaries to the antipodes. They establish hospitals, prisons, schools by the same method. Finally, if they wish to highlight a truth or develop an opinion by the encouragement of a great example, they form an association.
This is what we once called "civil society." Now, those very words cause me to snort in contempt. So many so-called Non-Governmental Associations are anything but. They are part of the System of control and often directly funded by the state. Those groups which facilitate the continuing invasion of American territory through "refugee resettlement" are perhaps the most spectacular example of this racket. The self-organizational capacity of many ordinary Americans has faded. Instead, they follow the orders of the powerful and are backed by institutions and elites that are pushing a top-down transformation of American society.
Antifa are perhaps the most spectacular example of this. One can’t help but observe how these supposed champions of the working class spend their days mostly attacking the working class and trying to destroy citizen institutions. Indeed, when you dismiss the propaganda and rhetoric (James Burnham’s "formal argument") and get to the concrete interests they serve (the "real argument") you find that the ends they serve aren’t very different from those of Woke Finance and the national security state. For this reason, I've called them the militant wing of the system, groups that are not just permitted but encouraged to exist by those with power.
This isn’t to say that those on the ground think of themselves this way. I actually credit antifa with having a powerful moral compass that allows them to justify property destruction, violence, and even murder without troubling themselves. I’m especially impressed with their ability to simply lie about what’s happening, even when it is captured on camera. Of course, the regular antifa violence against journalists (despite most journalists' support for them) is one of the most striking realities in American politics ["Anti-Fascists Are Also "Anti-Journalists," by Gregory Hood, American Renaissance, August 15, 2018]. Indeed, as Ngo describes in his book, many journalists not only excuse violence against their colleagues but seemingly enable or encourage it.
I hate calling Andy Ngo a "journalist" because in my mind, and in the minds of millions of Americans, "journalist" is an insult. It just means “professional liar.” I’d call him a citizen reporter. He endangers himself to get out that and show us what is really happening in the streets. His courage is admirable and his book well worth reading.
Of course, just reading the book isn’t enough. I’m honored that we're building an online community to talk about this book and other ideas. I look forward to doing more of this in the future. Join the Book Club, enjoy the podcast, organize with those of like mind for collective self-protection and self-improvement. Above all, in these dangerous times, watch your topknot.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.