Robert Kennedy Jr.’s dramatic suspension of his campaign in order to endorse Donald Trump has the chattering class abuzz. So, let me add my chatter to the mix.
Kennedy is not a conservative – and this does not signal a journey towards a conservative conversion for him. What it does signal is something that could profoundly change this race and political alignment in this country. RFK has become politically homeless – along with every other traditional Democrat who actually believes in The Constitution and a commitment to civil rights. In his speech Friday announcing his decision, Kennedy was candid in his horror at what the Democratic Party has become: “the party of war, censorship, corruption, big pharma, big tech, big ag, and big money.”
Kennedy expressed his utter disgust at how the modern Democrats do not engage in an open contest of ideas and policy, but use lawfare to try to destroy all challengers to the party line, tossing them off the ballot or harassing them to thwart any effort at a free, open contest. It must be really bad, for his vice-presidential pick, super-wealthy tech lawyer and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan was shocked and disgusted at the heavy-handed tactics the Democrats used to try to destroy them. Shanahan, by the way, is a doctrinaire liberal and major donor who now says that her deepest regret is having helped Chuck Schumer get Ralph Warnock elected to the Senate from Georgia. Democrats are now concentrating on getting Green Party Candidate Jill Stein tossed off the ballot in Wisconsin and have successfully gotten Cornell West tossed off the ballot in Pennsylvania.
It was once common for Democrats and Republicans to unite in pursuit of some policies, particularly foreign affairs. The old foreign policy dictum was that, “politics stops at the water’s edge.” That made sense because, though the parties differed (sometimes dramatically) on how to achieve their goals, they were united in the fundamental aim of those goals. They both loved America, even to the extent that both were fundamentally America First. That fundamental unity on goals began seriously fraying during the presidency of Bill Clinton. It continued to degenerate until it was blasted to smithereens with the ascension of Barack Obama to the Oval Office. Since then it has been all gaslighting and narrative from the left – mixed with a primitive tribalism that brooks no dissent from the party line, even internally.
Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, Jonathan Turley and a host of others are not going to suddenly become committed conservatives on policy. That is not what this is about. This is an emergency alliance of American patriots of all viewpoints to preserve the traditional American system of liberty and the sovereignty of the people. It is about who shall rule: the people of America or a small cadre of self-selected and unaccountable authoritarians.
All who make common cause with this emergency coalition are classic liberals. Originally, “liberals” were those who put a priority on individual liberties, decentralized governmental systems, and clear accountability of public officials to the public. In John Stuart Mill’s time a “conservative” was one who supported centralized government which ruled by decree. If you’re scratching your head thinking the roles have been completely reversed, you are absolutely right. Leftists have never been able to govern competently – and are as averse to accountability as a vampire is to a crucifix. But they DO have a genius for mangling language, co-opting the name of what works and falsely applying it to their old errors, errors designed to cement their own hold on power. The American Revolution was a classically liberal revolution, one that inspired countless imitators throughout the world over time. Once liberalism started sweeping the globe, statists began repackaging their own old will to power as “liberalism.” So modern conservatives are actually liberal; modern liberals are actually conservative; and I’m my own grandpa.
There are, however, a lot of 60s-style modern liberals who are committed to the American principles of free, open discourse; public accountability; and the sovereignty of the people – alongside modern conservatives. They do not seek the power to decree what is and is not truth; but the right to persuade the public of what is the best policy through open discourse. They do not seek the power to rule the public by decree, but to enact policy by consent of the governed – to whom they remain rigorously accountable. They know that open discourse, fair contests, election integrity, and public accountability is the bedrock upon which the traditional American system is built – and that it is the system which provided the greatest freedom and prosperity in the history of the world.
We have been slowly and assiduously invaded by an alien ideology that seeks not to govern, but to rule with absolute authority. A recent survey of federal bureaucrats by the Napolitan Institute showed that 54% would issue orders despite overwhelming public rejection if they felt like it. Some 51% of those same bureaucrats believe that the American people have too much freedom. This is the foundation of the deep state.
Of course, the leftists always package their depredations with deceptive, pretty phrases. Censorship is described as banning “misinformation” or “hate speech.” Ironic that the people who have been the most prolific fount of misinformation and hateful speech in modern times want to reserve to themselves the right to define what truth is. Barack Obama defined his vision of authoritarian power as granting Americans “positive rights” rather than just “negative rights.” Negative rights, he explained, were what the government cannot do to you; his vision of positive rights were what the government must do for you. This completely elided the reality that, to grant “positive” rights, the government must have the authority to compel society to do what it commands, thus utterly vitiating the “negative” rights that protected you.
Woodrow Wilson, president more than a century ago, was openly contemptuous of the concept of a democratic republic where sovereignty was vested in the whole people. He was convinced America ought to be ruled by a cadre of “experts” for their own good – and that he and his colleagues would choose the experts. The modern Democratic Party has adopted and expanded upon that idea. In their definition, though, an expert need not have any expertise at all, only a credential issued by their ideological formation factories (modern colleges). This is how, say, an AOC or a Kamala Harris can have economics degrees despite routinely spouting errors that are dispelled within the first two weeks of a genuine Economics 101course.
While ideologues of every stripe tend to overestimate their own intellectual prowess while underestimating that of their opponents (and this tendency IS more pronounced in the mainstream of leftist thought) more than a few modern liberals understand that this vanity has metastasized into a raw will to power that, if not stopped, will destroy the American system of liberty under ordered law, altogether.
The stakes, then, of this election are as high as they ever have been in America. If this emergency coalition succeeds and Trump is elected, the concept of ordered liberty will be extended in America. It will require hard work extended with fortitude and focus to get us back to where liberals and conservatives can work and laugh together, supporting the same fundamental goals while advocating different approaches to attaining those goals. If they fail and Harris is installed, ordered liberty will be lost – only to be regained through revolution and civil war. The best we can hope for under those circumstances would be the political division of our country into two countries, one blue, governed by the dictate of self-appointed experts and the other red, governed by the consent of their citizens. It is hopeful that so many traditional Democrats have realized the terrible peril that the leftist project has brought us to. It can dramatically change the entire scope and character of this election. It could lead to a Trump landslide. But do not be deceived: it will not be a realignment, but a restoration to honest contests of ideas under ordered law.
It would be a great step forward if the red (conservatives) and the blue (traditional liberals) successfully united against the alien ideology that threatens to topple us. But the unity will not be complete or secure until it is united under the ultimate sovereignty of the white (God).
If communication goes out for any length of time, meet outside your local Church at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Tell friends at Church now in case you can’t then. CORAC teams will be out looking for people to gather in and work with.
Find me on Twitter at @JohnstonPilgrim
The Corps of Renewal and Charity (CORAC)
18208 Preston Rd., Ste. D9-552
Dallas, Texas 75252
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