Daniel Pipes has written an excellent article, “The Demon in Liberalism.” I wish commentators would use the term "leftism" or something equivalent in place of "liberalism," which is an inaccurate term, but otherwise Pipes's analysis is spot on.
The problem is that, like Legutko, whose work Pipes discusses, Pipes doesn't offer convincing remedies. The left has a tradition of sophisticated activism, which includes Alinsky and his many apostles, including Hillary and Barack, along with a host of others who have thought carefully about how to organize unions, take control of the media, take control of higher education, and take control of Web-search technology.
Perhaps due to the Buckley-Kirk-Burke tradition, conservatives have often eschewed ideology or purpose, yet without an agenda or ideology action is impossible. They have viewed conservatism as moderating change rather than achieving a liberal society governed by the rule of law and freedom. The absence of an ideology is a recipe for repeated and long-term failure.
Without a vision and a set of specific tactics, conservatives have for the past 60 years brought a typewriter to a gun fight. I would like to see leading conservative thinkers begin to think about methods and tactics that will overturn the recent trend as well as to more specifically consider concerted action strategies to counteract the left’s monolithic strategy, which has integrated academics, tech employees, journalists, and violent students.
