As if on cue and without so much as an altar call, an entire generation of sexual libertines announced their overnight conversion to sexual propriety. And, just like that, murder, taking one for the team, rape, unwanted displays of genitalia, semen-stained blue dresses, cigars, knee pads, one free grope, enabling the same, and Harvey Weinstein’s money all became socially unacceptable. What a transformation!
The Left’s hubris means it missed the irony that the beginning of their purge coincided with the 100th anniversary, to the month, of the Bolshevik Revolution. And, like Pravda before them, the mainstream media—“Democratic operatives, with bylines”—followed the new party line in obedient lockstep.
But don’t be fooled. The new sexual politics is all one big misdirection maneuver, a will-to-power move by the Left.
With this, they are pushing our previously cold cultural war further out into the open. If you get the sense that social tensions are ratcheting up and our culture feels like it is spinning out of control, you’re not alone.
In such times, it is imperative to have clarity on the issues that are driving us to this heightened sense of tension and to hold a strong hand in the fight.
The Real Meaning of the 2016 Election
The meaning of the 2016 election hasn’t been well articulated. People stunned at the outcome is not the salient point. That assumption misses two greater points.
First, the 2016 election clarified new political dividing lines. It is no longer Republican/Democrat or Conservative/Liberal or even Right/Left. Instead, it is a well-formed statist ruling class (or faction) with five key constituencies against a dissatisfied but unorganized American people who desire to be recognized as equals and part of the sovereign people who are supposed to govern America. Overlooked in the postmortem is how both Donald Trump and Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders tapped into the deep discontent felt by many.
Reactions to that discontent have made it clear that the GOP establishment (constituency No. 1) are part of a statist ruling class, largely indistinguishable from Democrats (No. 2). Some of them apparently used the people’s monies to pay off their sexual harassment charges and all of them are partnered with an administrative state bureaucracy (No. 3) that has decided it has a right—even an obligation—to resist a duly elected president, after unprecedented sabotage before his inauguration. Meanwhile, a corrupt mainstream media (No. 4) have proven themselves to be partisan political activists who promote narratives instead of news reports, willfully seeking to undermine President Trump. Hence the accurate “fake news” label.
Finally, there is the cultural Left (No. 5)—including Hollywood, the music industry, and academia—which, together, may be more important than any of the aforementioned constituencies. Being upstream from politics, as the saying goes, they drive the culture that informs the politics of all of these groups.
As a result, we have a cold cultural war underway because the five statist ruling-class groups view the vast majority of Americans with disdain. They have no interest in resolving the discontent, and are acting to resist Americans’ legitimate and solemnly expressed will. This is not just about the way the 2016 election turned out, more broadly, it is even including the disregard the ruling class has for the constraints placed on them in the U.S. Constitution.
Rather than exercise their legislative powers and stand accountable for their decisions, the statist factions pass them off onto a vast unelected bureaucracy armed with expert and politically “correct” opinions we mere peasants dare not question. The ruling class would delegitimize the people’s will, because it is “incorrect” or, condescendingly, “misguided,” “misinformed,” or just “wrong.” Or, as Hillary Clinton claimed notoriously, it is racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and any other “-ist” or “-phobic” she thought might carry the day. Any weapon at hand to shame the people and make them feel their inadequacy to pronounce on the laws that govern their lives. Right now, a largely isolated Donald Trump is the only apparent lifeline for a large number of dissatisfied Americans.
Second, while an obvious lesson has been how the Republican establishment (GOPe) lied to voters for years about its policy intentions, a less obvious lesson is that a more radical New Left has been in a battle with the Old Left for primacy within the Democratic Party. Purging the Clintons is part of that battle.
In summary, the 2016 election clarified the stakeholders in today’s political milieu are a statist ruling class who do not value the American people, Trump, or a large number of Americans who feel marginalized by the status quo. It is a formula for ongoing conflict until something changes.
The Real Meaning of the Left’s Sexual Politics
Yes, the New Left will purge the Clintons eventually. But the real purpose of that cleansing is not motivated by any sense of remorse for what the Left enabled in the past. Rather, it is about achieving what the Left really wants, which is power over you. This latest move is merely an attempt to claim the sexual politics “moral high ground.” And this is nothing new as the Left has had a long-time obsession with using sex demagoguery as a tool for manipulating American politics and to gain maximum political leverage.
With that newfound sense of political righteousness as its weapon, the Left will go full Alinsky, escalating sex attacks on anyone to its right. Facts and the truth are irrelevant because it is all about the narrative. Being good statists, the GOPe will play its role and issue the usual “moral panic” as they parade in their servile eunuch costumes.
Their game is already underway: Franken gave his graceless “resignation” speech on December 7. By that evening, Chris Matthews (who now finds himself under fire!) said “the worst you can say about Democrats is they’re too pure” and a CNN panel was asking if the Democrats now had the “high ground on sexual harassment.” Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on December 10 that Franken’s departure set a “national standard” for Roy Moore. By December 11, NBC’s Megyn Kelly was interviewing alleged harassment victims of Trump after they held a press conference funded by Soros money. The next day, December 12, more than 100 House Democrats signed a letter calling for a House investigation into President Trump. Such religious fervor, all in five days! Isn’t that special?
Call what is coming what it is: the “politics of personal destruction,” generation two. The Clinton legacy will live on without them.
“Everyone knew” meant “nobody cared”—until there was a partisan political advantage to be gained.
The Left’s new actions are destructive and have nothing to do with women, male-female relations, morality, or virtuous behavior. If they did, Franken would have apologized sincerely and some Democrats would not now be publicly regretting their call for his ouster. All bad cultural Left players—including hip-hop artists with their misogynistic lyrics—would be disowned rather than feted and otherwise celebrated. Instead, the Left only offers what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace . . . the grace we bestow on ourselves . . . the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance.”
No, this is only about will-to-power political moves, not moral propriety or concern for real, individual people. Want proof that sexual harassment is largely a Leftist problem? Below is a list of the Left’s 146 alleged harassers, enablers, and icons. It is a number far dwarfing alleged bad players on the Right. The Left holds the American people in such low regard that it would brazenly seek partisan gain while ignoring the fact that most of the bad behavior emanates from its own ranks. What chutzpah!
Playing to Win and Breaking the Left’s Power
Ronald Reagan famously said that victory in the Cold War could be defined as, “we win, they lose.” Two fronts exist in today’s cold cultural war. We have to win both—the culture itself, and the power of government that both funds and regulates the culture. How do we win this war, like Reagan won the original Cold War, without firing a shot?
First, become indifferent to the Left’s Alinsky tactics. Do not let the Left’s political and cultural leadership act as society’s moral compass, dictating terms of the public debate. Alinsky attacks stop working once people see them for what they are. (Listen to the Shock Therapy podcast for a lively discussion on this point.) Get familiar and recognize how Saul Alinsky’s rules are a form of psychological warfare. Don’t give them power by engaging, responding or explaining. Instead, laugh at and dismiss their hypocrisy and will-to-power because they are not morally serious. Watch how Trump handles the Left masterfully. Recognize there is only value in explaining ourselves to other people of character.
Second, have zero tolerance for their physical violence and the resulting suppression of free speech. Be politically incorrect and promote free expression within common sense rules of decency and propriety.
Third, the Left owns today’s culture—so stick ’em with it. With longstanding tolerance for Clinton and Weinstein types, while everyone knew, the Left and its spokesmen have zero credibility on sexual harassment. Hammer the cultural Left on its bad actors; don’t let its talking heads, propagandists change the subject. Inform them we have no interest in hearing any of their fake pieties until we decide they have cleaned up their act. Compel the apologists to apologize.
Fourth, end public graft by identifying and cutting off inappropriate government funding of programs provided outside the ordinary course of congressional budgeting, and reinvigorate constitutional checks and balances by dismantling the regulatory state which, of course, is operated primarily by the Democrats’ trained lackeys.
Fifth, speak simple truths without apology in this time of moral confusion and be clear there are no differences to split with the Left, which may speak of “public benefit” but delivers only government control. The Left attacks liberty in its quest for power and uses that power dishonestly. The end result is a nihilistic power struggle that divides us, stirs resentment and victimhood, thrives on the resulting chaos, and knows no limit. Learn and reject the underlying beliefs that animate the Left—identity politics, postmodernism, speech restrictions, political correctness, multiculturalism, moral relativism, cultural Marxism, and so forth, because those beliefs conflict with fundamental American values.
Sixth, we should rapidly assemble a new political coalition of people of courage and character who are defenders of liberty, offering something for the American people to be drawn to. Go where the Left’s nihilism and evil can’t go, where the statist ruling class won’t go. In doing so, we will move our culture to a completely different playing field that is not tied to current events or the Left’s tenets but based on the truth that “no people who lost their character kept their liberties,” that individual character formation, or organized conscience formation that teaches self-restraint, is essential. Praising the good and true, and protecting the vulnerable by promoting just outcomes is what people of character do. Only then can we have a genuine conversation about sexual harassment that seeks justice, avoiding #MeToo’s deceitful tyranny of false accusations without due process that destroys trust and lives.
As human beings, we are called and drawn to something bigger than ourselves. The way forward is to “Get yourself together, transcend your suffering, see if you can be some kind of hero, make suffering in the world less.” As people of courage and character, our mission is to reclaim our Western Civilization culture that values liberty and each individual by loving, honoring, and protecting our family, friends, and neighbors.
Links to the Left’s 146 (and Counting) Alleged Sexual Harassers, Enablers, and Icons
62 Politicians (so far): Bob Menendez (D), John Conyers (D), Al Franken (D), Jesse Jackson (D), Bryon Hefner (D), Harold Ford, Jr. (D), Al Green (D), Anthony Weiner (D), Bob Filner (D), Raul Bocanegra (D), David Alcon (D), Steve Lebsock (D), Crisanta Duran (D), Dan Schoen (D), Tony Mendoza (D), Kevin de Leon (D), Philip Ahr (D), Andrew Cuomo (D), Phil Bredesen (D), Calvin Smyre (D), Sally Boynton Brown (D), Michael Padilla (D), Paul Rosenthal (D), Ira Silverstein (D), Josh Peters (D), Mark Manendo (D), Will Fourkiller (D), David Gomberg (D), Brendan Williams (D), Scott Chamberlain (D), Jeff Clemens (D), Joe Biden (D), Bill Clinton (D), Hillary Clinton (D), John F. Kennedy (D), Teddy Kennedy (D), Chris Dodd (D), Al Gore (D), Barney Frank (D), Jon Favreau (D), 5 SEIU officials, David Wu (D), Ed Murray (D), Eric Massa (D), Jacob Schwartz (D), Jeffrey Rosato (D), Keith Farnham (D), James Michael McHaney (D), Mel Reynolds (D), Matt Dababneh (D), Neil Goldschmidt (D), Paul Patton (D), Ruben Kihuen (D), Alcee Hastings (D), Rick Nelson (D), Stephen Bittel (D), Tom Carper (D).
84 Media, Entertainment, and Other Cultural Players (at the moment): Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Mark Halperin, Leon Wieseltier, Glenn Thrush, Ryan Lizza, Tom Ashbrook, Matt Zimmerman, David Sweeney, Dylan Howard, Michael Oreshes, Harvey Weinstein, Louis C.K., Jon Heely, James Toback, Brett Ratner, Garrison Keillor, Jann Wenner, Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby, Ben Affleck, Roy Price, Larry King, Mario Batali, Gary Goddard, Tyler Grasham, Bryan Singer, Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Joe Alexander, Leonard Lopate, Jonathan Schwartz, Jens Hoffmann, Bruce Weber, Knight Landesman, James Levine, Peter Martins, Justin Huff, Israel Horovitz, John Singleton, Russell Simmons, Terry Richardson, John Lasseter, Oliver Stone, George Takei, Charlie Sheen, Hamilton Fish, Jeremy Piven, Ed Westwick, Andy Dick, Chris Savino, Andy Signore, Rick Najera, Kirt Webster, David Guillod, Adam Venit, Andrew Kreisberg, Stephen Blackwell, Cameron Mitchell, Danny Masterson, Johnny Iuzzini, Benjamin Genocchio, Bob Weinstein, John Besh, John Hockenberry, Lockhart Steele, Larry Brinkin, Eddie Berganza, Richard Dreyfuss, Rick Najera, Steve Jurvetson, Justin Caldbeck, Chris Sacca, Dave McClure, Teddy Davis, Andre Balazs, Jared Fogle, L.A. Reid, R. Kelly, Robert Scoble, Morgan Spurlock, Lorin Stein, Chris Matthews.