Prospects for a new party

Dear friends, I have a confession to make. I am open-minded. When presented with new evidence, I am willing to change my mind.

Up until a few days ago, I was ready to write the definitive post on why MAGA patriots should not create a new party. Today I am not so sure.

The argument against a new party is empirical. No third party has won a state in a presidential election since 1968 (American Independent Party), and before that 1948 (States Rights Party). The largest popular vote share for a third party in recent years was won by Ross Perot in 1992, at about 19%, but he won no electoral votes.

The structure of the political spectrum was expressed most memorably by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said that there are always two political parties: the party of hope, and the party of memory. That is a nice mnemonic to cut across the politics of most countries.

In countries with parliamentary governments and proportional representation (PR), there is usually very little obstacle to establishing a new party. PR guarantees that when you pass a certain threshold, your party will have some representation in the parliament. This is commonly seen in Israel, for example, in which the entire country is a single constituency. The number of seats a party wins in the 120-seat Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is approximately proportional to its support in society as a whole. This contributes to the instability of the Israeli government, and parliamentary governments in general.

In contrast, the Framers of our Constitution designed our legislature so that members would – in theory! – be more responsible to their own constituents than to their party. Any attempt by a new party to break into Congress would have to win one congressional district at a time. This is a daunting challenge, and deliberately so.

In a parliamentary country, I would advise creation of a new party to represent the values of MAGA patriots. In America, such an endeavor is likely to be counterproductive. It would end up splitting the votes of the party of memory. The better strategy, I felt until just a few days ago, was to take over an existing party: the Republican party.

That would have been the best strategy indeed going into the 2020 election. Now that the election has taken place, my perspective is different. The next presidential election is four years away, and the behavior of Republicans has been alarming. President Trump himself just questioned in a tweet whether Republicans “have a death wish” (by voting against the $2000 pandemic subsidy).

Worse, the Republican establishment has exhibited an astonishing lack of curiosity regarding the details of an obviously stolen election. See Peter Navarro’s 36-page report: https://bannonswarroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/The-Immaculate-Deception-12.15.20-1.pdf

Here is Sidney Powell’s 270-page dossier on electoral fraud: https://wpcdn.zenger.news/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/24190822/2020-12-23-Sidney-Powell-Team-Binder-ZENGER-NEWS.pdf

Worse is a rumor floated by a Republican just elected to the House, suggesting that Republican Senator McConnell is conspiring with Speaker Pelosi to deny legislators their rights to object to the electoral slates: https://twitter.com/mtgreenee/status/1344325697473544194

If true, this is perfidy of the highest order. If true, I could not be a member of a party in which Mitch McConnell is considered a leader.

Recall too that even a combined objection by one Representative and one Senator does not trigger a contingent election. First, the objection must be sustained by a majority of one of the two houses of Congress. That will not happen in the House, where Democrats will maintain solidarity. In the Senate, even if Loefler and Perdue are elected, the objection can be overruled by any three of the following: Alexander, Collins, Cornyn, Murkowski, Romney, Sasse, Thune, Toomey. Unlike Democrats, Republicans are not loyal.

It is clear that the Republican establishment is not merely inexcusably indifferent to President Trump, but is outright hostile to him and to us, his voters. He has repatriated many American jobs, enriched the lowest earners, fostered energy independence, stopped wars, increased peace, increased American pride, and promoted life-saving medicines. All this angers the establishment hiding behind the charade of a two-party system.

Now that the election is over and I see the Republican Party’s disloyalty to me, I am open to reciprocating the favor. Donald Trump forced us to re-think the definition of conservatism, as I discussed in several earlier posts. The establishment “conservatives” insisted that we should give our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor for… free trade. If that resulted in the death of American communities, so be it; they could always learn to code. Conservatarians have struggled to understand why they are not more popular.

Candidate Trump, however, told us that to be a conservative means to want to conserve something. This concept is well-expressed in the manifesto for Britain’s Heritage Party, which I posted last week. Conservative economic policy is not automatically Randian objectivism, either. Alexander Hamilton had a very different view of the role of the government, which we need to discuss in future posts.

I think the time to move is right now. Let the Republican establishment know that the gravy train is coming to an end. If they do not fight for Trump and overturn the electoral fraud, then they are dead to us. We will have our party, be it American or Constitutional or Heritage or MAGA or Patriot. They must hear this from us before January 6. The political future of every Republican is at stake on that day. Do you stand with the people and the Constitution? If not, this is your last term in Congress.

After this election, we begin the messy process of organizing. We know who the patriots are, who were scarred on our behalf while the elites mocked us. We elect a few representatives in 2022, then a senator or two and more representatives in 2024. We invite Libertarians and the Constitution and Reform parties to have a voice – but the goals of the Heritage Party supersede all others.

However, if Democrats capture both the White House and Congress, there will be an amnesty for all illegal aliens (about 22 million), two new states (the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, with four new Democrat senators), and supernumerary justices on the Supreme Court. Next time, we return to discuss F. H. Buckley’s new book, American Secession.

The Heritage Party

Hello, friends. While we are waiting for action on the 2020 election steal, I wanted to share a very interesting webpage I found yesterday. This is the manifesto webpage on the website of a new British political party, the Heritage Party: https://heritageparty.org/manifesto/

This party was founded by a breakaway member of the UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party). Most Americans associate UKIP with Nigel Farage, but this is only partially correct. Farage left the UKIP after it began speaking up more on immigration and cultural issues, issues that Farage prefers to sweep under the rug. Upon his departure, Farage founded the Brexit party, which is a great name for a temporary party, showing Farage’s ongoing lack of seriousness.

UKIP alienated Farage with their hospitability towards Tommy Robinson, the only prominent Briton besides Katie Hopkins willing to speak openly about Britain’s cultural challenges. However, another UKIP member chose to speak even more assertively on cultural matters, David Kurten. He has formed the Heritage Party, and formulated a platform that appeals well to cultural conservatives. I invite you to read the full manifesto – it is not long – but I will copy and paste the highlights below.

The Heritage Party – A Manifesto for Social Conservatism

The Heritage Party seeks to preserve and promote life, liberty, prosperity and national sovereignty.

Protecting our Culture and Heritage

The United Kingdom is a great country and we have much to be proud of: our system of Common Law, the development of democracy and liberty, the abolition of slavery, and numerous world-beating innovations in science and technology.

Liberty and Free Speech

The Heritage Party will assert, promote and defend the principles of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of belief and liberty of conscience.

Traditional Family Values

The Heritage Party will seek to maintain and strengthen the institutions of marriage and the natural family. The Party holds that the true and right definition of marriage is that of a covenant and union between one man and one woman.

National Sovereignty

The United Kingdom should be governed only by her own citizens, and all legislation passed by Parliament should be formulated with primary respect to the national interest, and the liberty and prosperity of the British people.

Low Immigration

Since 1997, a program of mass immigration has been imposed on the UK. The people were never consulted on this huge and rapid influx, which has caused unsustainable pressure on resources, overcrowding and cultural concerns.

Preserving Our Environment

The beauty of our physical environment is a part of our heritage, and it is our duty to look after it and preserve it for future generations.

Self-Sufficiency in Skills

Education in the UK has been run down and dumbed down. It needs a complete overhaul to tackle the red blob of Marxist activists which currently controls it.

Equality before the Law

Our British system of Common Law is the best in the world. All people are considered equal before the law, whether rich or poor, male or female, young or old, black or white.

Financial Responsibility

Governments easily forget that they do not have their own money; the money raised from taxation belongs to the people and should be spent wisely, not wastefully or in self-interest.

Free Market Economy

A free market economy provides liberty and prosperity. Where individuals are rewarded for their endeavours, they have the incentive to work efficiently and avoid poor decisions.

A Culture of Life 

The Heritage Party is pro-life. We believe in the dignity of every human being and that every life is infinitely precious. This includes the sick, the disabled, the elderly and unborn children, who all have an inalienable right to life.

This is a magnificent start for a political party. If I were British, I would sign up right away. Leftist skeptics should know that Mr. Kurten is an interracial descendant of British and Jamaican ancestors. His platform encapsulates what is best in Anglophone culture.

Should we have such a party in America? Mrs. Surak and I disagree on the means to this desirable end. That is to say, should we form a new party or not? I will discuss that with you next time.

Beauty as an expression of meaning

Later this afternoon, Friday, December 18, 2020, President Trump will meet with Acting Secretary of Defense Miller in the Oval Office. Defense briefings for the Biden transition team have stopped. I have warned you about this moment. Be ready.

I do not know how our life will change in the next few weeks. Should we get separated, I want to leave you with one more thought that is on my mind increasingly: the nature of beauty.

Everyone knows that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. It is totally subjective. There is no objective reality to beauty. To imply so is intellectually primitive – deplorable, one might say.

Below, I have compiled five visual contrasts for your consideration.

You should be able to identify all the people in these pictures. The two architectural photographs were taken in Czechia, I believe.

Next, I offer links to two pieces of music: “Spem in Alium”, a 40-part motet by Thomas Tallis, the best piece of music ever composed, from 1570; and the modern “F___ tha Police”, one of the worst.

Remember, there is no such thing as objective beauty. It is all just a personal preference. Or is it?

The first picture above shows First Lady Melania Trump, the most beautiful First Lady in American history, coming to greet Washington, DC schoolchildren in the White House during Christmas, 2017. This former model was never asked to be on the cover of any women’s magazine, unlike her predecessor, pictured next to her.

Look again at the picture of Mrs. Trump. What do you see? The children in the White House that day had not yet been trained to hate. They spoke with the innocence of youth. One little black boy was astounded by her appearance. He asked his friend, “Is she an angel???”

As an observant Jew trained in millennia of philosophy, I would have to answer by giving the official explanation of what an angel is, as a powerful messenger of God. As a person with a heart, listening to the spiritual yearning in the pure heart of a child, I would answer, “She most certainly is.”

Beauty is consonant with purpose. For the last person pictured above, his life choices have not harmonized with his purpose – his final cause, in Aristotle’s words. Speaking of Aristotle – he wrote that the purpose of the arts was to console and to exalt. No one has ever said it better.

Did anyone suffer in the year 1570? Most probably they did. Would they, or anyone suffering in any year, including 2020, be more likely to be consoled and exalted by the first piece of music or the second? Were their lives improved by people tending to listen to the first kind of music or the second? Why is Pachelbel’s Canon in D chosen as wedding music far more frequently than “F___ tha Police”?

I believe there is a transcendent convergence of Truth, Good, and Beauty in the Mind of God. The manuscripts of Johann Sebastian Bach were usually signed SDG, which stands for Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone the glory. This is not merely an expression of humility. It is also an acknowledgement that all reality is dependent on God alone, and that our best work in science, art, or morals merely reveals some of the workings of God’s Infinite Mind.

What the Left and Right Strive For

The distinction between what the left and right strive for can be understood in the context of “Big History”. Big History tells history continuously from the creation of the universe. Permit me a very rapid summary. You can watch an 18-minute version online:

The following version is about 90 minutes long:

Shortly after the Big Bang, the universe was filled with a dark swarm of elementary particles. Most of the familiar particles found themselves in two types of atoms: hydrogen, mostly, and helium. The hydrogen atoms linked into diatomic hydrogen molecules, helium is inert – and that was all. Gravity condensed clouds of hydrogen gas to the point fusion began. Stars were born, and there was light for the first time.

When these early stars used up their hydrogen fuel, they started fusing helium. For the first time, all the familiar heavy elements appeared. These stars exploded. The dusty clouds of remains eventually condensed into second-generation stars, surrounded by debris that coalesced into rocky planets orbiting these stars.

While most of our solar system is cold and solid, with an inner core that is hot and gaseous, a narrow belt allows for liquid water to exist. The complex organic molecules of the early earth existed in a liquid medium, and were subject to intense electrical energy. Self-replicating molecules formed. Clusters of such molecules aggregated, performing different functions, and living organisms were born. By adapting to challenges in their environment, more complex and capable life-forms appeared, including humans, after the passage of billions of years.

At this point, the mainstream approach of Big History takes off in a very revealing Platonist/marxist direction. They observe, correctly, that all the developments above seem to contradict the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which holds that entropy (disorder) always increases in a closed system. You cannot unscramble a scrambled egg. However, the universe appears to have a tendency to permit, if not encourage, the growth of increasingly complex structures.

So too, they observe, it is natural for human society to evolve to levels of increasing complexity. We humans, in their view, are not ends in ourselves, as Kant taught, but rather like interchangeable atoms in molecules, or molecules in cells, or cells in a larger organism. Who mourns the death of a hair clipping or nail clipping? Humans are equally disposable, and better directed by the “brain” of the cognitive elite.

For the right, in contrast, the goal of creation was reached when humanity became self-aware, and aware of its Creator. Life is more meditative, gazing in wonder and awe at the Creator’s work. Building monuments and structures is less urgent because an eternal life awaits after this world. Even for the atheist objectivist, life’s goals are best achieved as an individual engaging solely on a voluntary basis with other people, if he or she wishes.

What would happen if the USA separated into the two countries of America and Alinsky? America would have a brief respite of peace, worshipping God and following the Constitution. Alinsky would engage in frenetic social experimentation and regimentation, using ever more powerful technology. The rate of innovation in Alinsky would exceed that in America. Eventually, America might well find itself at existential risk from Alinsky.

Why is it that the great research hospitals and industrial leaders happen to be in leftist communities? Are innovators naturally leftist? Or does left-wing society tend to encourage innovation more so than culturally conservative society? I am not considering extreme examples such as Germany and Japan during World War 2, or the Soviet Union or communist China, but rather regions in the USA. Similar questions have been asked about the social and scientific innovation found to be much higher in northern Europe than southern Europe after the Reformation. I leave this to the reader as a very serious question.

Prepare

Patriots, I get my news from a number of sources. I compare the sources to assess their reliability. When I find reports from several apparently independent sources pointing in the same direction, that gets my attention.

Several apparently independent sources are claiming that there will be some sort of dramatic escalation shortly in President Trump’s war with the Deep State. We know that the Electoral College voted for Joe Biden today, Monday, December 14, 2020, a day that will live in infamy. Simultaneously, alternate slates of electors supporting Donald Trump were chosen in seven states, creating a contested election.

This Friday, December 18, 2020, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe is expected to deliver a report regarding foreign interference in our elections, pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 13848: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-imposing-certain-sanctions-event-foreign-interference-united-states-election/

This all comes ahead of the new Congress convening on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, to certify the results of the election. Congress will have to adjudicate contested slates of electors and consider challenges presented by one Representative together with one Senator.

The analysts I have read say that Friday’s report will signal the beginning of a particularly dangerous period. Foreign interference involves the willing participation of American traitors. In order to avoid being caught, these traitors will escalate the kind of violence we have seen all this year, involving riots, and death threats to judges, politicians, electors, and the like. This could lead to invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807. Some analysts are raising the specter of martial law.

If we are lucky, we will see mass arrests of the traitors, and nothing more. However, the empire is likely to strike back. Tragically, it is clear that our justice system is fatally compromised. The rule of law is dead. Furthermore, the bureaucracy and our cultural leadership in academia, media, and industry, is in thrall to a hostile foreign power, China.

I urge you to use the next few days to prepare. Make sure you have adequate supplies of water and non-perishable food; the medicine and supplements your household needs; first-aid equipment; batteries, flashlights, and radios. Don’t make any assumptions about the availability of the comforts of life.

There are several sources for survival information online. One popular blog belongs to James Wesley Rawles. Here is his assessment of 2021, and it is not positive: https://survivalblog.com/ready-turbulent-2021-beyond/

I will continue to write this week, as I can, continuing my analysis of the left-right divide. This is not intended to discourage patriots, God forbid, but rather to realistically assess our weaknesses and the strengths of our opponents.

God bless America.