"The political debate roughly divided between the Left’s contention that Communism was a perversion of the ideals of social justice whose success could be attributed to it feeding on, as we would now say in “extremism” discourse, “grievances”—lack of economic opportunity, colonialism, ethnic discrimination, whatever—and the Right’s argument that Communism was an international movement with its headquarters in Moscow that existed as a logical culmination of liberalism or progressivism."
I always think of Richard Pipes on this point, but Chambers is another good example. And much as reactionary liberals like Hanania protest otherwise, I've yet to see a good argument refuting this fundamental flaw of the ideology.
It's a shame the dire state of contemporary conservatism leaves me with no home there, neither. But perhaps with a sufficient level of hijacking, one can be made all the same. The dearth of intelligence in the movement leaves it ripe for forceful conquest, and the sheer immorality of the majority of meaningful figures in the movement today, especially thosein office, really does remove any sense of guilt over the act.
"The political debate roughly divided between the Left’s contention that Communism was a perversion of the ideals of social justice whose success could be attributed to it feeding on, as we would now say in “extremism” discourse, “grievances”—lack of economic opportunity, colonialism, ethnic discrimination, whatever—and the Right’s argument that Communism was an international movement with its headquarters in Moscow that existed as a logical culmination of liberalism or progressivism."
I always think of Richard Pipes on this point, but Chambers is another good example. And much as reactionary liberals like Hanania protest otherwise, I've yet to see a good argument refuting this fundamental flaw of the ideology.
It's a shame the dire state of contemporary conservatism leaves me with no home there, neither. But perhaps with a sufficient level of hijacking, one can be made all the same. The dearth of intelligence in the movement leaves it ripe for forceful conquest, and the sheer immorality of the majority of meaningful figures in the movement today, especially thosein office, really does remove any sense of guilt over the act.