Monday, March 29, 2010

Lawrence Auster of "View From the Right" Discusses Secession

I find myself reading "View From the Right" almost daily now.  I've had my disagreements with Lawrence Auster in the past, but he seems to have moderated his stance against other conservatives.  In any case, his site is filled with very intellectual discussions on the events of the day and provides great food for thought.

Lately Auster has noted that America is bitterly divided between conservatives and progressives, and it is obvious that we cannot abide progressives, and they can't abide us.  He sees two possibilities, one is a civil war where one side invades the other, bringing death and destruction to much of America.  The other is the division of the country into two different sections where each side can govern itself as it sees fit.  The problem with that possibility is that there is no clear delineation between the red states and the blue states; the reds and the blues intermix quite a bit throughout the country.  Auster theorizes that, if the political argument becomes too extreme, the two sides may voluntarily segregate themselves from each other, with conservatives moving to red states and liberals to blue states.  Then a division of the country might be feasible.

However, I doubt that would work very well either.  Progressivism needs productive citizens to milk, and if the productive go South and the nonproductive go North, the South would prosper while the North would stagnate economically.  Parasites need a host.

Alas, there is no clear and simple solution to our dilemma.  Auster believes the best hope is that the Democrats will be so badly defeated in the 2010 and 2012 elections, that the conservatives will gain sufficient control of the country to thwart progessive goals.  I hope he's right.

However, as Auster points out, the solution will not be found in electoral victories alone.  The liberal culture is so embedded in this country that elections alone will not solve the problem of creeping socialism.

So what's the answer?  Beats the hell out of me.  We need more discussion and a search for solutions.

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