A Normie View on Conservative and Right-Wing Politics
The right is rapidly moving away from the normie, who actually represents real conservatism
Previously, I made the case for a 'normie' politics, i.e. a politics where the common sense of common people are firmly centered in the way we judge things. One of the biggest problems with our current political landscape is that activists representing the worst parts of both the left-wing and right-wing echo chambers are way too loud, drowning out more moderate, dare I say normie, political opinions. Extremism has been normalized, and what was previously normal has become hidden out of sight. What is needed is a big dose of moderation by the normie perspective. Here, I will attempt to analyze the current discourse of both left-wing and right-wing politics from the normie perspective. Today is part one, where I will look at the right, and next time in part two I will be looking at the left.
As I said last time, the normie perspective is actually consistent with the Burkean conservative philosophical view in its distrust of abstract ideas, reliance on the experience of real life, and skepticism of radical change. Just like the Burkean conservative, the normie is fearful that radical change could lead to unintended consequences, destruction of tradition, and new forms of tyranny. Even if life as it is is far from perfect, it would still be preferable to taking a radical leap into the unknown, because it would still be safer to stick with the devil you know, metaphorically speaking. I would actually argue that a normie politics is, in fact, the truest manifestation of the Burkean conservative philosophy.
So logically speaking, normies would prefer the 'conservative' side of politics, right? Not necessarily. If the choice was really one between Burkean conservatism and some radical alternative, then the normie would choose conservative every time. However, what is often called 'conservative' politics is nothing like what Burkean conservative philosophy calls for. Indeed, in recent years, more and more people on the right are acknowledging that they are no longer conservatives, but rather radicals of a reactionary kind. In their minds, they are justified because there is nothing much good about this society to conserve anymore. However, the normie wouldn't agree with this. As I said before, our lives might not be perfect right now, but it surely doesn't call for a radical leap into the unknown, especially one led by politicians who are not trustworthy. Better the devil we already know, than risk the prospect of a new tyranny that could prove hard to remove. Moreover, the reason why many reactionary intellectuals think that life is so bad is because they hate things like gay marriage and legal abortion, things that the normie can certainly live with, simply because they are not religious ideologues. The normie doesn't wish to shove their beliefs down other people's throats. They just want to be left alone to live their life.
Ron DeSantis's recent failed presidential campaign demonstrated just how far some on the right have strayed from normie expectations. He and his staff paid outsized attention to the demands of the extremely online right, and they paid a heavy price for that. While the normie might be skeptical of wokeness, and strongly opposed to attempts by the woke to curtail free speech, the way DeSantis sought to fight his 'war on woke' rang too many alarm bells for the normie. From Don't Say Gay, to the takeover of New College, to the War on Disney, to the politicized investigation of covid vaccines, the normie sees it all as a power grab by big government. It also didn't help that those 'intellectuals' in the NatCon movement were far too willing to say what DeSantis himself wouldn't say out loud: that 'woke corporations' are everywhere and they are the enemy, that there is too much focus on individual freedom and 'hedonism', and that America itself needs a 'regime change', and Hungary (of all places) is a good example to learn from. Not to mention the religious authoritarians who are coming after everything from IVF to no-fault divorce (seriously). The normie is rightly scared by the prospect of this kind of people gaining power. Compared to DeSantis and the kind of people he is close to, even Trump looked like the more normal and sane choice. Yes, Trump is indeed one of the less radical choices on the right nowadays. As they say, at least he doesn't want to ban abortion. Hard to imagine it would come to this back in 2016, but that's where we are at right now.
In summary, the right has been moving more and more in a radical authoritarian-reactionary direction in the past few years, and the normie who has been paying attention has certainly noticed this. The normie, who actually represents the position of genuine Burkean conservative philosophy, is rightly alarmed that wannabe authoritarians are increasingly a prominent and normalized part of the right. Looking at the evidence, the normie's fear of radical change and potential tyranny is very well justified indeed. Next time, I will look at the left from a normie perspective. I can confidently say that it is just as worrying.
TaraElla is a singer-songwriter and author, who is the author of the Moral Libertarian Manifesto and the Moral Libertarian book series, which argue that liberalism is still the most moral and effective value system for the West.
She is also the author of The Trans Case Against Queer Theory and The TaraElla Story (her autobiography).