(187) Modrá obloha

TE Lawrence and General Patton do not represent right-wing figures as such—you could hardly call them “conservative”; and the same goes, to an extent, for Eisenhower—a man who could have stood for either American party and felt no particular allegiance to either. It is men like Lawrence, Patton, and Eisenhower who actually make nations and civilisations; and they are not “conservative”. They are on the right in some generalised way, you couldn’t say they were left-wing figures—broadly, they are heroes. The hero transcends political divides, even if he is involved with politics.

The Western right is dominated by the suburban dad type—the conservative. The country’s backbone, yet also someone who derives a peculiar pleasure from “taking it” and effortful control as the wife and kids go crazy—but never flinched, so they won (perhaps it’s rationalised with reference to Christ on the cross). This type may be essential to the nation, but they live to lose—stoically, manfully, miserably. In ideal circumstances, they would maintain a vigorous civilisation—in decayed conditions they effectively facilitate the decline.

Hence Western renewal has to come from outside “right-wing politics”, it has to be achieved through broadly apolitical figures, somewhat like Trump, who would still be categorised as on the right in the broadest sense and yet quite possibly would reject that label themselves. In other words, men like Lawrence, Eisenhower, and Patton—basically, men who do things (notably, though it was partly luck, Eisenhower’s presidency is a gold standard for “vigorous America”). It’s an insurgency that’s needed, really—an insurgency led by people far, far outside mainstream political discourse but not captured by “ideas” (nationalism, neo-fascism, traditional Christianity). Lawrence, Patton, and Eisenhower were characterised by their lack of ideas, lack of preconceptions. So that’s what you need to sweep in, under the black flag, as an insurgent group—not necessarily with a mass following or working within any pre-established political structure; and not even recognisable to the most marginal right-wing political positions.