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With J. D. Vance as Trump’s pick for VP, how are the masterminds of the New Right set to shape American politics? Policy strategist and founder of American Compass, Oren Cass, speaks to UnHerd’s Freddie Sayers.
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SubscribeIt’s fascinating to see a socially conservative/religious movement emerge that’s intentionally protective of workers’ rights. This may truly be a ground shifting moment in modern history and an exciting moment. Whether it’s really the end of Enlightenment, as J Peterson argues, is probably still to be seen, and Oren himself doesn’t seem very decided on the topic of secularism either.
In my view, the backdrop to this is the second Iraq War (which was handled very badly) and the following 2008 crisis, the key point being USA is no longer the pre-eminent military power in the world without challenge. A Russia-China axis eventually emerged and now threaten Pax-Americana. “I give you papers, you give me products” system of exchange works as long as it’s clear who the boss is, and in this scenario free trade is always good. If the trade is between equals, then strategic industries, materials, and technologies matter. Seems like we have a mandarin class who can’t get their heads around this changed world sticking instead to neoliberal utopia.
It’s odd to claim Google’s innovation hasn’t been good though. Android phones today dominate the world – it wasn’t always like this, we originally had (Finnish) Nokia and (Canadian) Blackberry, and Microsoft actually tried and failed at it. Today LLM/GenAI was also originally created by Google which remains powerful in this despite OpenAI taking the flag.
Regarding social media companies, I suspect some of their anger is due to big-tech complicity in helping impose Left-wing authoritarianism, and who can blame them. But it’s worth noting, they are not really social any longer but are entertainment/AI companies who make money through getting very good at predicting which freelancer content, products and services will be consumed by a given person, there are already many of them competing (Facebook/Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, Twitter, …)
To me it looks like it will be once again the Americans that will save Europe from its tyrants. After saving America from its own tyrants this time. May take a few months, though. MAGA -> MEGA !
This is the first time I have heard Freddy conduct an interview where he seems to have little grasp of the underlying subject matter…in this case, Economics. I recommend the article linked below by Oren Case, which is on the website of American Compass, the organization he heads:
https://americancompass.org/searching-for-capitalism-in-the-wreckage-of-globalization/
Also, the term “Christian Nationalism” seems mainly intended to scare people into imagining a religious regime (perhaps run by the Pope!?). Actually, it simply means a more conscious application of the Judeo/Christian values that, a la Tom Holland, underlie western civilization, in particular the irreplaceable foundations of robust families and communities, and our shared obligations to each other.
Using economic policy to promote human flourishing is another way to put it.
Another view of Cass’s National Conservatism:
https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/suresh-naidu-oren-cass/?utm_source=Boston+Review+Email+Subscribers&utm_campaign=785589f010-reading_list_7_21_2024&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2cb428c5ad-785589f010-41282778&mc_cid=785589f010&mc_eid=d811afc9b1