It is not enough for us to be against woke, or DEI, or social justice, or whatever new term our lizard overlords have decided to foist upon us. We must be hostile to all such verbal iterations, of course, but we must fight, as Chesterton put it, not simply because we hate what is in front of us, but rather because we love what is behind us. And that requires a positive vision for a Christian social order.
This book, Against the Waves, is a truly responsible contribution to that most necessary discussion. He sets the stage by showing how Christian nationalism needs to be far more than a simple political slogan—it depends on Christians actually walking with God, and loving their neighbors. In other words, Christ is present in his discussion, and in a way that is frequently missed in other regions of the hard right. At the same time, this is not piety substituted for politics. He gets into the politics of the thing—for example, he takes the idea of “proposition nation” to the woodshed, and also critiques secular conservatism as unsustainable.
To get one obvious question out of the way, when the recent fault lines on the conservative Christian right became obvious over the last couple years, Harris and I happened to be standing on opposite sides of that divide. But since that time, he has acquitted himself very well in opposing the various examples of toxicity on the right that have rightly concerned all sensible people. He is willing to say, “that, my friends, is not it.”
Harris is a thoughtful conservative, and not a simple reactionary. This comes out in the men he cites—Roger Scruton, Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Russell Kirk, various Founders, et al. Harris is obviously very well-read, and he is well-read in the locations of the library where I am right glad that somebody is reading. I have a different take here and there on some of the things he argues, but nothing fundamental.
And even for those who differ substantively, as I am sure some of you will, Harris is a responsible voice, and well worth engaging. The book is recommended.