Kevin DeAnna

This week on Western Resistance Radio, Kevin DeAnna discusses Campus Progress in the context of Angelo Codevilla's article, "America's Ruling Class and the Perils of Revolution."  This article is getting a great deal of coverage among the right, analzyed on the Rush Limbaugh Program among other places. 

Kudos to John Anderson and the other YWC activists who attended the Campus Progress conference. 

Obviously, Campus Progress has a level of extremism that conservatives couldn't begin to match. We also all know that there will be no "exposés" of fanatics, or breathless reports of "links" between radical figures and mainstream politicans, or even the most cursory examination of what Campus Progress is really talking about. The one degree of separation between President Obama (a past Campus Progress speaker) and the anarchist National Conference on Organized Resistance (where you learn how to blow up military recruitment centers) will receive no attention. 

That said, even if "Gotha" politics is fun, there's more going on here. In 2008, I attended the Campus Progress conference. I attended under my own name, and, to their credit, Campus Progress let me in. Of course, they also operate under vastly different circumstances than we do, in that they can literally have anyone talk or be associated with anyone and no mainstream media figure will call them on it.

The 2008 conference featured John Edwards as the keynote speaker, before his public disgrace. Insert the obvious jokes here -- and then go read "The Politican" and ponder whether our system of government is really all that great.

Edwards aside though, the conference provided a great deal of food for thought.  I wrote about my experiences for Takimag.com and stated,

It is to Campus Progress that U.S. Congressman Keith Ellison can speak, in his own words, “vanguard to vanguard.” The tendency of attendees to speak of overthrowing the “system” and in the next sentence talking about the upcoming Obama Administration is exactly how activists should think. While participating in Democratic campaigns, Campus Progress and the activists that work with it are building a force independent of partisan efforts—but not irrelevant to it. They understand that the role of activists is to push politicians towards an independently defined agenda rather than serving as cannon fodder.

Hence, a common concern of many activists was how to avoid being “co-opted” by the Democratic establishment—even if that establishment is headed by the most liberal candidate in American history. Similarly, a comment during the civil rights panel about how any movement needs a “militant resistance” was met not with nervous glances but agreement to what all perceived to be an obvious point.

Building on this, the Campus Progress Action Campaign of the Year Award was given to “Students for Environmental & Social Justice” at the University of Montana because of a direct action campaign which included occupying the university president’s office. The presenter gushed that group members “were even arrested,” promoting a huge ovation. Even the spoken word pieces show awareness that culture is the pivot for political movements, not elections.

In contrast, the majority of young CPAC attendees believed the purpose of political action was wearing a suit and preparing for a career. It is the difference between activists and politicos. Many Beltway conservatives are not activists and despise those who engage in protests or think of political alternatives beyond voting for Team Red. A mainstream conservative organization awarding young activists for direct action is simply unconceivable. Conservative organizations systematically funnel them into the dead end of Republican business as usual. Culture is largely ignored. The result is a youth “movement” that is actually less committed and effective than the older conservative grassroots. Campus Progress is building activists and the campus Right is building politicians and politicos.

There was plenty of stuff at this conference most Democrats would not want to be associated with, but it doesn’t matter. It will cost them nothing, because unlike those in what Sam Francis called “the movement that doesn’t move,” establishment liberals will not go out of their way to disown their more radical supporters.

The young Right has more to learn from the upstarts at Campus Progress than the other way around.

While I am more optimistic about the movements of the Right that are forming both among the youth (us, Young Americans for Liberty, Young Americans for Freedom, etc) and in general (the Tea Party, the immigration reform movement), I still think we have more to learn from the Left and vice versa. Read (don't just quote out of context) your Saul Alinsky, study how the New Left grew, and see what we can use for our own cause. 

Youth for Western Civilization is not for people who "want to have a career in politics." Those people are powerless -- they will do what the activists tell them to do. (Also, they tend to be boring and lame.) It's about taking back control of the campus, the culture, and ultimately the country.   

Youth for Western Civilization has grown from a small startup company with no staff and no full time employees to a player within the conservative movement.  We recently had the honor to serve as a "patron" at the Conservative 4th of July Soiree, hosted by my old company the Leadership Institute.  We were ranked among such movement heavyweights as Americans for Prosperity, Campaign for Liberty, the Patrick Henry Center, and many more.  We were able to distribute our material, sign up new members, sell YWC shirts, and promote our group to hundreds of dedicated conservatives in Northern Virginia. 

Much as I miss the good old days working at LI (and having, you know, an actual salary), it was pretty cool to return to something I used to work at as a peon as a patron instead.  YWC is continuing to grow and the conservative movement is turning in our direction.   

For years now, at various conferences and trainings, I've talked about the "Overton Window."  This is a concept developed by Joe Overton to describe social change, as formerly "unthinkable" ideas become policy and once extreme and radical concepts become mainstream.  The Left specializes at this and that is why the political discourse has drifted in the same direction for years, while the Right retreats again and again. 

Now of course, I will never be able to refer to this concept again, because when I talk about the Overton Window, people will assume I stole it from Glenn Beck.  Muh.

On the positive side, this does promote one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets, Rudyard Kipling -- "The Gods of the Copybook Headings."  The title refers to the maxims and proverbs that British students used to have to write at the top of their copybooks, back in the days when schools actually taught things.

Read the poem -- and you'll probably have a better understanding of where YWC is coming from.  It is incredible that this was published in 1919.  I may never watch Beck, but I'll have to read this book and post a review.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

This week on Western Resistance Radio -- the man, the myth, the legend, Dr. Mike Adams.  A columnist for Townhall.com and the scourge of diversity mongers and liberal academics everywhere, Dr. Adams is one of the best columnists and speakers the conservative movement has to offer.  He joined Kevin DeAnna for a conversation on faith, politics, and the state of the modern university. 

Once you've listened, make sure to read his columns on Townhall.com