Persuasion Has Failed

I'm done wasting my breath on commie thugs and MAGA nuts. The sane majority in the middle must organize against the extremists tearing this country apart.

I’ve spent the past decade and the majority of my career focused on bringing the Right and Left together to get good things done for our country. When I first stepped into political commentary, it was after a successful streak of passing big legislation in multiple states and I had done so as an independent. I was convinced, adorably convinced, that the Right and Left weren’t all that far apart—they just lacked a common understanding of the root causes when it came to society’s ills. My show Based was premised on the notion that developing that common understanding would lead to broader coalitions and the ability to organize ourselves to more effectively fight the powers that be. Like most, I entered politics with rose-colored glasses and an optimism about human nature only someone under thirty can possess.

As you can probably tell, I no longer believe this. The Democrat party has been taken over by a bunch of Dolores Umbridges—miserable, authoritarian scolds eager to weaponize the state against anyone who gets in their way—and literal communists. Communism is the most disgusting ideology man has ever dreamed up. It has killed more people than all other ideologies combined and anyone claiming it ought to be given the same treatment we’d give a Nazi. Speaking of Nazis, the Republican party has been taken hostage by actual anti-semites, bigots, and failed losers who thought they were promised success because of the color of their skin. When its leaders aren’t busy fighting an imaginary race war, they’re off implementing the same economic agenda the commies would if they were in power, except with fewer “free” services. Meanwhile, the decent, sane, quality people in this country have been boxed out of the parties. Most left altogether years ago, some hold their nose and vote each cycle as a hail mary to at least get their retirement accounts out as Rome burns. But anyone deeply committed to either of the two major parties at this point is a fool at best, and more likely a walking red flag everyone else should avoid.

I’m no longer interested in working with anyone in these camps to get things done. I’m done wasting my breath trying to win them over. I won’t be playing nice to kill them with kindness. Most of these people are extremely dumb and need to be told so. They only graduated high school because Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policies prevented them from being held back as they should have been. They lack basic reasoning skills, they are functionally illiterate, and most are lazy, entitled dregs. Some people are just low down, seedy, and bad and we were wrong to ever bite our tongues and not label them for what they are. These people are equal threats to the fabric of our society and it is imperative the normal, sane, literate, civil people in this country organize ourselves against them.

The good news is, we outnumber them. Like I mentioned, people with two brain cells to rub together have been fleeing the major parties for years—they’re down to a mere 25 percent (ish) of the population each. If the moderates found a way to organize, they’d dwarf both sides in the polls and be able to pressure lawmakers of any party to do the right things. But we’ve lacked an organizing host due to the numerous laws the two parties put in place to rig elections and block their competition eons ago. A third party is not a realistic vehicle to use in an attempt to combat these people, we know that, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of options.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about this problem. I’ve written about the need to build a movement for the middle in this country (and by “middle” I meant both middle income earners and moderate thinkers). I also covered the growing unrest people in our camp feel and the coming (and deserved) revolt I predict will follow. I’ve profiled interesting thinkers, like Michael W. Green, who’ve been highlighting the economic plight middle America faces, and I’ve watched the reaction to all of this swell. It’s landing. People are tracking with me here. The middle is waking up and ready to fight.

The problem is we’ve been too focused on persuasion. As someone who has studied successful revolutions, I believe in, and have advocated for, theories like MLK Jr.’s Six Principles of Nonviolence and the 3.5% Theory of Change. I’ve been a principled activist committed to civil discourse, treating people with dignity, and the premise that everyone is reachable and can be brought over to a similar mindset.

But the reality is not everyone is gettable. Many people are violent thugs who want to hurt us and take our things. I’m done rolling over. I refuse to extend these people goodwill. It’s time to put our thinking caps on and be strategic. You can’t argue with people who lack fundamental critical thinking skills. You can’t convince simps desperate for a strongman to be free. No amount of dialogue will persuade a low IQ goon to course correct. Moderates (and particularly the libertarian sect I come out of) have had a Pollyanna tint to their political advocacy that I now disavow. Some of the population is quite frankly not at the same point evolutionarily and it’s time we acknowledge that and stop wasting our breath on them.

Efforts to persuade commie collectivist vipers and MAGA looney tunes (who are also collectivists) have been a waste of time. They’re lost causes. So are many of the mechanisms people have spent money and time building to fight back: third parties, ranked choice voting initiatives, the vast majority of the nonprofit space, and even the strategy of backing “good candidates” in elections. These have failed to combat the collectivists on both sides and will continue to.

Here’s why. The two parties have ensured there can be no real competition in our elections, and in order to fix that a whole host of laws would have to be undone….by the very people who enacted them to begin with. It won’t happen. Most nonprofits accomplish nothing. They spend millions of dollars each year to hold conferences where they talk amongst themselves, then overpay to produce content no one consumes. There are maybe thirty effective ones and I genuinely don’t know why the rest exist. The industry is a giant circle jerk. And the problem with backing people for elections is that once they’re in office the backers have zero ability to hold them accountable. All of the incentives are for politicians to fall in line with party leadership, which is corrupt. If you’re a donor, it’s time to recognize you’ve been played. Your money is being squandered.

These may be tough pills to swallow, but we need to take our medicine and get better. It’s time to refocus our efforts on winning, and I believe I have come up with a strategy to do so. For now, I’m keeping this as insider baseball. My paid subscribers are an elite, highly intelligent, and very successful sort. I want your feedback on this plan before I go public with it. I believe it to be legally sound, politically feasible, and pragmatic. If you agree, I’ve laid out next steps for implementation.