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John Yoo is away overseas this week, so Steve and Lucretia are joined by Glenn Ellmers, author of the brand new book The Narrow Passage: Plato, Foucault, and the Possibilty of Political Philosophy. Do not be intimidated by the mention of Foucault or anything else in the title, as this crispy-written and very accessible book comes in at a reader-friendly 79 pages (Glenn admits that it began as an essay that grew a little out of control). It sheds a lot of light on our current culture war, which is really a continuation of the ructions in the country from the left that began in the 1960s but fooled us by receding briefly in the shadows for a time when the Cold War ended. More than that, though, the roots of our current contentions trace all the way back to Plato, and from whom we may also find some answers. As as we say, all this in 79 pages!
Steve and Lucretia also dilate the Farce of the Week in Washington, the latest lower court rulings that look like promising attacks on the administrative state, and why the Equal Protection Clause was such a mess at the Supreme Court for 150 years, contra Alan Dershowitz's argument that Earl Warren had it right all along. No sale!
We'll be back next week with John, when we'll subject him to a heroic pummeling over his new co-authored book everyone should get, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Supreme Court. Send in your questions!
Our topical exit music this week is "Nihilist" by a group called The Ancients, which fits our discussion in this episode on both ends.
Steve Hayward
Glenn Ellmers
Discussion (17)
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Hi Lucretia…
I 100% understand your comments about your son and his conversation with friends….my youngest is a philosophy major and he is knee deep in all the critical race theory etc…..he has to take his own path and I support him all the way but my gosh it is hard sometimes to not just unleash….I’m a history/political science major from late 80’s early 90’s and from that perspective I learned where all this leads….Robespierre and Lenin!!
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The microsoft stuff is scary. Sure Lucretia knows, but it's not a software company, it's a surveillance company. You cannot own your operating system past 8. It's now all software as a service. "I'm sorry, your use of "your" computer and our operating system goes against our terms of service, you no longer have access to your computer because you offended someone on your video game"
I hope you guys do another bronze age podcast soon. I think Claremonsters have some useful things to say about it. I'd also like John to read it. His commentary would be funny for sure.
Curious if @Lucretia has any comments regarding feminism being a reaction to the world bugman created because what they really want are pirates lol
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I'm confused - maybe someone can clear it up for me.
Listening to parts of this episode twice to make sure I'm hearing correctly. You see, when I see names like Marini, Ellmers, Kessler, Anton, Erler, West, well I get excited. So I was eager to hear what Ellmers had to say, especially since this essay which I really enjoyed reading.
Instead I feel as if the various voices of the broad group of what is called the New Right, the Dissident Right, the Radical Right - whatever we call the folks spurred on by the likes of Moldbug, Carl Benjamin, Caldwell, Raw Egg Nationalist, BAP, L0mez, Auron MacIntyre, etc. - I feel they were treated dismissively and without any of the charity I would expect from a thinker like Ellmers.
Did I miss something? Was this only about the BAP/REN type of weightlifting, Greek -statues-as-avatar types of folks? If so I guess I can see what Ellmers was saying, even then framing them as against philosophy is pushing it.
But it sounded to me like he was trying to address the wider set of voices on the Right - he said, "the new right, the dissident right" so that sounded like the broader group I pointed towards above. These voices are very intellectual, well-read, interesting, and not just bringing forth new ideas but mostly bringing forward older observations and theories from folks that, yes, some were part of Paleoconservatism, but also Spengler, de Jouvenel, Schmitt, Weaver, Burnham, Plato, etc. and so many other thinkers of the past that quite honestly seem to have gotten a lot right about many things - especially the criticisms of the post WWII Republican Party, and they are definitely not against theory and philosophy! I am so confused as to whom he is speaking of...
In response to @Lucretia question on Leftism, Ellmers responds in part that there are "many cross-currents, may factors at work ... very complicated psychological, philosophical, theoretical intersections here..." but the complexities of the New Right (whatever we want to call it) was instead framed with a few solid strokes and a false choice of focusing on Tradition on one side and Theory/Philosophy on the other - which is so unfair.
It should be obvious that not everyone in a society is made for theory or philosophy and that traditions - specifically Western Tradition - is what binds the majority of the rest. Our tradition is such that it developed to be the very incubator that brought in the treasured Philosophy and Reason, while maintaining the larger cohesion through traditions, religion, culture, and the identity of a people. These folks, like many of us, want BOTH, whereas (like Caldwell, Deneen, etc.) pointed out that the current Uniparty (yeah I'll use it) has drastically watered-down or outright discarded Tradition and the ability for people to support or nourish it.
So what did I miss here?
Oh - great podcast as always - in my top 5 that I listen to. Thanks gang!
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Totally, I've been setting up my systems dual-boot with linux while I work everything out - I'm going to jump from the PC ship soon.
PODCAST ORGANIZATION
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The first chapter of Glenn's book answers your question pretty well I think. If we didn't succeed in conveying it in our too-fast-paced conversation, we are all three in agreement that the young "dissident right" (or whatever you wish to call it) is absolutely justified to be angry and contemptuous of the "old right" at the moment.
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