The term “Woke Right” came into circulation around a year or two back, and it has recently seen a spike in use.
The term describes the Dissident Right. It was coined by Classical Liberals who noticed that the Dissident Right had begun using methods of arguing similar to those found in the Woke Left (aka, the Progressive Left). Namely: Both groups were appealing to Marxian analysis. (More on this below.)
Here is one way to think about the difference between the Woke Left and the Woke Right:
The Woke Left movement downplays actual crimes, either celebrating them or dismissing them as unimportant vices, thereby removing personal responsibility.
When there are injustices, the Woke Left movement appeals to narratives about oppressed identity groups, and it proposes giving godlike powers to the State.
By contrast, the Woke Right see actual vices and try to relabel them as crimes. They aim to use the State as “God’s agent” to enforce and teach morality, thereby removing personal responsibility.
And when there are injustices, the Woke Right imitate their Woke brothers:
They appeal to narratives about oppressed identity groups, and they also propose giving godlike powers to the State.
I oppose the Woke Left and the Woke Right.
I embrace the principle of personal responsibility.
I know the terrible consequences that come when mere men are given the power to play God via the apparatus of the State (especially men like those who lead the woke movements today.)
Q: How would you define Woke Right?
A: They are the “illiberal conservatives.”
They call themselves “Right Wing” or “Traditionalists” or “Conservatives.”
A top contender for a name for them is the Dissident Right. They are authoritarian, neo-reactionary traditionalists.
The Woke Right includes the Alt-Right, New Right, Monarchists, Theonomists, Neo-Integralists, Christian Nationalists, and other Postliberals. (These categories have a lot of overlap.)
Q: Why are they “woke”?
A: Woke means being sympathetic to Marxist analysis.
Here is one definition from James Lindsay: “Woke means critical consciousness. Critical consciousness means denouncing Western Civilization through Marxist analysis of social, cultural, and environmental issues.”
Members of the Woke Right typically agree with ideas from Critical Theory to some degree, but they advocate a traditionalist or pre-American approach to social organization and to politics and laws.
They are defined by being authoritarian and “illiberal”(meaning they reject Classical Liberalism) while also being opposed to many of the values of the Democrats and the Progressive Left.
To some degree, the Woke Right movement rejects Americanism (minarchism, limited government, strict constitutionalism, free markets, laissez-faire capitalism, etc) and it embraces wide government intervention in the economy and in the morals of society.
Thus, they are paternalistic and radically anti-liberty.
Q: Who Is Woke Right?
A: Key “Woke Right” personalities include Yoram Hazony, Patrick Deneen, RR Reno, Stephen Wolfe, Doug Wilson, Tucker Carlson, Jack Posobiec, and many people presently associated with @AmReformer, @theblaze, and other alternative media conservatives.
Q: What actual vices would you say the Woke Right tries to relabel as crimes?
A: Vices that this group would want to turn into crimes would include the typical list of evils that social conservatives are rightly concerned about:
Drug use, porn, gambling, divorce, skipping church, and teaching against Christian theology (depending on who you are asking).
Christians should oppose all those things. They should consider them all to be vices, but not necessarily crimes (depending on the details).
What we are debating is the details of application and the rationale—the principles at the foundation.
Q: How do the views of For The New Christian Intellectual differ from those of the Woke Right?
A: At FTNCI, we are concerned about many of the same issues as most conservatives, but our main political focus is on individual liberty.
Simple examples include:
While we would urge a man not to smoke, we do not believe that it is the role of the government to outlaw cigarettes.
While we urge men to bring their families to church, we do not see it as the role of the government to force a man to go to church.
At FTNCI, we believe that the role of the government is to prevent one man from using unjust force against another. We believe that it is a man’s right to live his life in the way that he so chooses, as long as he is not committing acts of force, fraud, or coercion against other individuals. (That is what makes something a crime, rather than a mere vice.)
We also believe that businesses and charities should be run by consent or not at all, so we urge the separation between business and government. We also argue that all charity should be made by private, voluntary transactions, contrary to government welfare and Social Security.
We see this philosophy as being backed by Scripture and by reason.
To learn more about this perspective, check out our other articles and see our political philosophy playlist on YouTube.
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