Who Has Really Lost the Real Culture War?

by Dr. Gerard Emershaw

Bill Scher has recently published a piece “How Republicans Lost the Culture War” on Politico. Scher claims that Republicans surrendered in the Culture War following “several capitulations and recalibrations by Republicans on other social issues.” Scher cites abortion, birth control, and gay marriage as the battles that Republicans lost which culminated in their alleged defeat in the Culture War.

Evidence that Scher is confused about the true scope and nature of the Culture War is found where he accepts Patrick J. Buchanan’s definition of the Culture War from his famous speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention:

When Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, Republicans lost the opening battle in the culture war, at least as defined by Buchanan in the summer of 1992: “In that struggle for the soul of America, Clinton & Clinton are on the other side, and George Bush is on our side.”

The Real Culture War did not begin in 1992. It had been raging long before Bill Clinton hit the political scene. In fact, the Real Culture War has been raging since perhaps the beginning of civilization. In my new book The Real Culture War: Individualism vs. Collectivism & How Bill O’Reilly Got It All Wrong, I explain that the Real Culture War is not a recently begun American battle between conservatives and liberals on a handful of social issues. The Real Culture War is an ancient and ongoing struggle between Individualism and Collectivism. Individualism is the view that the most basic unit of metaphysical analysis is the individual human being whereas Collectivism is the view that the most basic unit is collective society. Individualism stands for the proposition that all human beings possess inalienable natural rights to life, liberty, and property whereas Collectivism holds that rights are created and bestowed by government. Neither the political right nor the left in American politics holds a monopoly on Collectivism. Collectivist views have been espoused all over the political spectrum by those who worship state power and believe that human beings only have value as part of the state, society, etc. Collectivism has included a wide array of political ideologies— communism, fascism/Nazism, progressivism, environmentalism, neoconservatism, racism, religionism, corporatism, labor unionism, etc.

Issues such as gay marriage, abortion, and contraception were merely minor skirmishes in the Real Culture War. Republicans have “won” the majority of the battles in the Real Culture War. Oddly, so have the Democrats. This is because both mainstream American political parties are Collectivist, and Collectivism has been winning the most recent battles in this ancient universal struggle. The neoconservative philosophy which dominates the Republican Party and the neo-progressive philosophy which dominates the Democratic Party are both extreme forms of Collectivism with great similarities to communism and fascism.

Collectivists believe in despotic police states, and both the neoconservatives and neo-progressives have supported the PATRIOT Act, the NSA domestic spying dragnet, the NDAA, the War on Drugs, etc. Collectivists also believe in Orwellian continuous war which allows them to increase the power of the state both internationally and domestically. The War on Terror has spread its tentacles to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, and Syria. Leno Panetta has recently stated in regards to the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria that Americans should prepare themselves for 30 years of war. The United States has already been at war for 13 years, and there is no end in sight. Even more alarmingly, the Constitution no longer seems to apply. Congress no longer declares war. Instead, the Imperial President unilaterally wages war like a Caesar. Collectivists also believe in central control of the economy, and the American economy is increasingly regulated by government. Both Republicans and Democrats believe in corporatism. It’s simply a matter of each party having a slightly different roster of corporate cronies.

Mainstream Republicans are not losing the Real Culture War. Neither are the Democrats. These two parties are two wings of the same Collectivist warfare/welfare party. It is individual Americans who are losing. But, it is also individual Americans who have it in their power to stand up, fight back, and win the Real Culture War.

(For a much more detailed discussion of Individualism, Collectivism, and the Real Culture War, read my new book The Real Culture War: Individualism vs. Collectivism & How Bill O’Reilly Got It All Wrong. Available now on Amazon in both print and Kindle.)