Thread by @restoreorderusa

The Post-Liberals

A cadre of conservative intellectuals who advocate for the "common good" have gained influence in recent years.

But since they’ve argued for vax mandates, fed infiltration of “conspiracy groups,” open borders, and "anti-racism," we should be wary of them.

🧵 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Let’s start with Harvard Law professor Adrian Vermeule.

Vermeule converted to Catholicism in 2016 and is a leading proponent of integralism, which seeks to integrate church and state. But his politics differ greatly from the reactionary Catholicism some on the right adhere to.

In September 2021, Adrian Vermeule penned an article for Bari Weiss (lol) in which he explicitly stated his support for Biden’s vaccine mandate.

Why? Because it served the “common good.”

Right...

thefp.com/p/vaccine-mand…

Adrian Vermeule exhibits extreme contempt for salt of the earth white Americans.

He believes what they represent must be “eliminated” – an extreme position, and an odd one given that these people, whom he despises, in many ways are the backbone of America and certainly the GOP.

What’s worse, Vermeule supports mass immigration and world government.

In a 2019 article, he argued for third world immigration from Catholic countries (not Western ones). Any opposition to this in his view is evidence of “racism” or “classism.”

mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustic…

But it gets weirder.

Prior to his tradcath conversion, Vermeule coauthored a paper on conspiracy theories with none other than Obama regulatory czar Cass Sunstein.

Needless to say, their treatment of the subject was entirely questionable.

chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewconten…

In a 2008 paper titled Conspiracy Theories, the two defined them as “an effort to explain some event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role.”

Vermeule and Sunstein concede that some conspiracy theories are true and reassure us that they are only concerned with those deemed “false” or harmful,” which they want the federal government to undermine.

Not very reassuring.

And how would the government undermine such conspiracy theories?

Vermeule and Sunstein propose banning them altogether, fining people who promote them, and “cognitive infiltration of groups that produce conspiracy theories.” (!)

Extremely suspicious, to say the least.

Would criticism of the Great Replacement, which holds that elite-orchestrated mass immigration is altering Western demographics, be subject to such penalties?

It’s deemed a conspiracy theory, despite the fact that Democrats have admitted that it’s happening – and cheered it on.

The obvious objection here – who determines which conspiracy theories are false? And harmful to whom?

Given that they advocate for government intervention, we can conclude that it would be the globalist regime responsible for cracking down on such theories. I'll pass on that.

Enough of Vermeule. Let’s move on to Sohrab Ahmari, founder and editor of Compact Mag.

Sohrab is a Catholic convert, first generation immigrant, and “former” leftist, who on podcast appearances has distanced himself with the term “right-wing." Alright then.

Sohrab emphasizes class analysis, refers to himself as a “New Deal Republican,” and has a weird obsession with @bronzeagemantis and the dissident right.

Recently, he’s been complaining that the right doesn’t advocate for social democracy. Lol.

Sohrab believes that

-There’s a big “white nationalist” problem in America
-The original American founding was “hispano-Catholic”
-”Virulent nativism” is a big problem

These are anti-American, anti-white talking points we typically hear from the left.

commentary.org/articles/sohra…

In August 2019, multiple news outlets ran stories about a Trump DOJ contractor including a VDare article in a daily news briefing to immigration court employees.

VDare is a sensible immigration restriction website. But Sohrab found this "unacceptable."

theguardian.com/us-news/2019/a…

So here we have a first generation immigrant who has established himself as a gatekeeper in conservatism.

Compact does publish decent stuff every so often, but it’s obvious that its goal is to redirect populist energy away from “nativism” toward social democracy. Bad news.

Another post-liberal is Patrick Deneen, author of Why Liberalism Failed and professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Deneen believes that racism “was and is” a big problem in America. This is a liberal talking point. Nothing “post-liberal” about it.

zeit.de/wirtschaft/202…

In the Zeit interview linked above, Deneen echoes Sohrab’s support for class-based politics. Don’t talk about race! Unless, uh, you’re talking about how big of a problem racism is in 2023 America. Got it.

Also – Obama loved his book. Really challenging the status quo there!

Responding to Douglas Murray, Deneen mocks the idea that Western civ. was primarily the creation of whites, putting the very word “whites” in quotations marks.

Unfortunately for him, a basic look at historical Western demographics proves Murray correct.

revolver.news/2022/07/identi…

Deneen is deeply concerned about racism. He thinks blacks and hispanics are victims, despite both groups benefitting from woke policies.

He throws a bone to the white working class, but the reality is that anti-white animus is *the* driving force for the left, not classism.

Deneen is an avowed adversary of the dissident right. He complained when @L0m3z wrote an entirely reasonable article on the longhouse concept for First Things.

Note how he pleads to the left to tone it down so that a real right doesn’t emerge. Don't hold your breath, professor!

There’s plenty more to say about these “common good” conservatives. However, this thread contains their most egregious statements. If I missed something, let me know and I’ll append the thread.

But first, some thoughts on the implications of their political project.

A note on political philosophy – the notion of the common good isn’t inherently bad. Using the state to enforce moral norms is perfectly in line with rightism. The left gets this and so do most conservatives. Only David French types don't. It isn't a radical proposal.

What matters is which moral norms are enforced – and by whom. While the post-liberals are opposed to elements of wokeness, and occasionally say alright stuff, with them in charge, Western decline would still continue. Mass immigration, vax mandates, racial justice...come on.

That's all for now. Be sure to retweet the first tweet in the thread if you haven't already!