The False Promise of Pluralism
My thing good. Your thing bad.
Ever since I started this publication a consistent theme has been a thoroughgoing commitment to pluralism and coalition building as an end in itself.
One can observe the depth of this commitment in both the fifty podcast episodes I’ve recorded alongside an extraordinarily broad range of guests and in the two detailed manifestos I’ve written: How to Castrate the Left and The Barstool Right.
Looking back I’d say this pluralism basically emerged from four motivating factors:
nostalgia for the dynamic “big tent” energy of the 2015 Alt Right
a sense that I’d personally benefit from a more pluralistic idea space, being a strange and eccentric feller with lots of peculiar sensibilities that don’t cleanly align with any extant faction of the Dissident Right
a civicminded commitment to the idea that a dialectic between contrary worldviews is necessary to produce the best takes
a pragmatic determination that bold political goals require a broad coalitional strategy, while the right wing is currently stymied by purity spiraling / inflexibility
None of these motivations were remotely bad and all of them continue to animate me. But I’ve since come to realize that my approach to pluralism was fundamentally wrongheaded and my understanding of coalition building toothless and naive.
Having matured somewhat in my views, I’ve determined it’s time to pivot into a more straightforward and full-throated kind of advocacy for the things I actually want.
And that means the Walt Right’s pick-me era must finally come to an end.