Don’t conserve institutions that hate you

At their founding, the institutions of a civilization were created to serve the needs of its citizens and perpetuate their way of life. These organizations transmit and safeguard the values of the culture from which they arise. As a civilization grows and the scale of its operation increases, the people rely more and more on these institutions, which bind an ever-expanding population together and ensure their well-being.

Conservatives naturally seek to defend and preserve these institutions. But during a cultural revolution, this impulse can be turned against them. The right needs to rethink how it approaches institutions that have been captured by those who seek to radically alter the character of the nation.

Conservatives cannot slowly infiltrate existing institutions the way the left did because conservatism is not a form of civilizational entropy. The mechanics are not the same.

The FBI now tracks and monitors traditional Catholics as enemies of the state. The justice system delivers comically inflated prison sentences to January 6 protesters while handing out free passes to violent leftists. Illegal aliens get public assistance and housing, while drug-addicted vagrants form encampments in major American cities. The sitting president can funnel tens of millions of dollars through his drug-addicted son without penalty while his main political rival is indicted on flimsy charges designed to influence the next election.

America’s institutions certainly have an agenda, but it is clear that they no longer serve the interests of American citizens.

It is entirely understandable that conservatives would want to defend and preserve our ruling institutions. This is their natural disposition. In a healthy civilization, conservation is an important instinct that protects the culture and traditions that have served the people well and made them who they are.

But it is critical for conservatives to understand that these organizations have been re-engineered over decades to destroy the very things they once held sacred. The Department of Education simply indoctrinates. The Department of Defense defends the borders of foreign nations. The Department of Justice ensures that we live under anarcho-tyranny. While these institutions were originally founded with the good of the people in mind, they now exist primarily to transfer wealth to the client classes of the Democratic Party and dismantle American tradition.

No long march to the right

By now, everyone is familiar with the strategy of the “long march through the institutions” that the left used over decades to take control of everything from academia to the corporate boardroom. This constant ideological corrosion allowed leftists to capture America’s ruling institutions and turn them into vehicles for cultural revolution.

Understandably, many conservatives would like to take the same approach to recapture these critical nodes of culture and political power. But this misses a fundamental difference between left and right. The left is a force of chaos that wins through deception and decay, gaining power by breaking the bonds of nature and tradition. Conservatives cannot slowly infiltrate existing institutions the way the left did because conservatism is not a form of civilizational entropy. The mechanics are not the same.

When the right brings order, it does so through creation: New things are built, existing things are maintained, corrupt things are replaced.

Conservatives were told that their way of life would be preserved by politically neutral institutions, but that is not how the world works. That which is not actively maintained will inevitably decay. G.K. Chesterton described the dynamic accurately. “All conservatism is based upon the idea that if you leave things alone, you leave them as they are,” he wrote. “But you do not. If you leave a thing alone, you leave it to a torrent of change. If you leave a white post alone it will soon be a black post. If you particularly want it to be white you must be always painting it again; that is, you must be always having a revolution. Briefly, if you want the old white post you must have a new white post.”

When it comes to American institutions, there is no longer a post to paint. The wood has thoroughly rotted, and the only path to restoration is to build anew.

It is not simply a matter of appointing a new FBI director or replacing a few cabinet members. It is about stripping these organizations down to the foundations and removing the poisonous ideology that has planted itself there, root and branch. Many conservative politicians would shrink from the immensity of this undertaking, but it must be the standard to which the right holds its would-be leaders. The mild reform of the institutions that have led the culture war is insufficient, and conservatives will need to shift their perspective if they intend to restore American greatness.

Toward alternative institutions

This task can seem overwhelming, and some problems can only be addressed at the highest levels of power. In the meantime, we might take some practical steps.

The right can begin with the development of alternative institutions or, even better, by reimagining the way a critical system works. Currently, the left has a stranglehold on employment due to its control of the university system, which most employers use as a credential to filter potential employees. Conservative alternatives such as Hillsdale College are great, but they leave the larger leftist system in place. Establishing an alternative credentialing process that circumvents the college system, like the certifications that exist for many jobs in the technology sector, would be a good place to start.

Most employers embraced the college degree credential as a proxy for IQ tests, which civil rights laws and the courts barred companies from using. Overturning a case like Griggs v. Duke Power Co. and the “disparate impact” standard it introduced would also deliver a critical blow to the social power progressives wield through both colleges and corporate human resources departments.

These changes would not recapture old and dying institutions, but they serve as examples of how conservatives can shift their focus and change the game. The right cannot serve as an agent of chaos, infiltrating and corrupting the left. Instead, it must restore order through the creation of great works that will inspire and guide future generations.