They Won't Let Us Walk Away Peacefully
Secession is in the news; is it possible?
Marjorie Taylor Green made bad people mad today when she endorsed secessionary efforts:
Many critics of talks of secession on the right argue that it is futile because the Left won’t ever let people escape its universal agenda. This is true. It is in the nature of the Left to pursue the universal implementation of its cosmic vision. Leftism is characterized by the inability to let the existence of static political orders continue on; all must eventually be transformed in accordance with the visions of revolutionaries.
But here’s the other truth that conservatives never mention: it is Capital, Big Business, and the elements of the Administrative State dominated by Republican interests that would also fight tooth and nail against people and communities living outside their reach.
The Economic State that capitalism has morphed into is relentlessly demanding, communities and localities are not allowed to resist the ruthless enforcement of efficiency, technological development, or the mass consumerist anticulture. The cultural left requires allegiance, but so does Managerialism.
I do think there is much to be said about the observation that in our world of total politicalization, secession may not be possible. We may have to participate in the contest for total power, presuming it is even possible to maintain a consistency between our traditional view of the world and the maintenance of this type of power. Therein lies a sort of black pill, among many others: what is needed to crush the Left is precisely what will continue to undermine our way of life.
Nevertheless secession is worth talking about because it confronts commitments to American ideological permanence. True, the Regime won’t let us leave, but having these discussions helps to delegitimize the enemy class. There’s a certain sort of political optimist that absolutely will not tolerate discussions of breakup. Mike Cernovich comes to mind. What they need to understand is that the same Regime that will not allow a breakup will also not allow the weak strategy of reformism. It will not allow insurgents to “work within the system.”
The idea that we should avoid discussions of breakup and instead focus on reforming it is delusional; it presumes we live in some sort of liberal system with equal opportunity given to all political factions. People who believe this may not understand the political situation; or more probably: they are True Believers in the basic goodness of a liberal democracy.
They argue that “national divorce, while appealing, will never happen.” This may be true, I wouldn’t dispute it. But this is equally true: reforming it from the inside, while appealing, will never happen.
The point is that conversations of national divorce are good because they delegitimatize. Delegitimizing the Regime has nothing to do with whether it will “let us walk away.”