Gramsci was a commie in the early years who had a falling out with Lenin over strategy and tactics. Lenin wanted to seize power directly, right this minute, which he successfully did in certain backwater places. I mean hats off to him and all — he created quite a nuisance, and enslaved a good chunk of the world for the better part of a century. But Gramsci preferred what he called “the long march through the institutions,” an approach which has been far more successful throughout the West, and looks to be with us far longer than the Cold War was.
One of the most influential radicals in recent American history was named Saul Alinsky, a man very much in the mold of Gramsci. The fact that two of his downstream disciples are currently President of the United States and the Secretary of State is a testimony to his tactical genius. His Rules for Radicals is, as the subtitle declares, a “pragmatic primer” for “realistic radicals,” emphases mine.
In common with all forms of unbelief, Alinsky is incoherent when it comes to an explanation of basic worldview motivations. He wants to be relativistic, anti-dogmatic, and practical, but his unsupported dogmatic commitments poke out everywhere. Why he is doing what he is doing, he hasn’t a clue.
But he was a brilliant tactician. He knew how people worked, he knew how they could be moved, and he knew how to motivate those who would move them. He knew how to position the radicals.
So here is the difference between the American left and conservatism in America. Both sides have their shavers and accommodators, their temporizers and opportunists. That is part of what happens when you are marching through the institutions — some people get distracted. And both sides have their radicals. But the left keeps their radicals at the center, and the right exiles its radicals to the periphery. Kick the Democratic Party, and you are going to hop away holding your shin. Underneath all the rhetoric of caring and empathy is a big hunk of mordor-basalt. Kick the Republican Party, and your foot goes clean through.
Radical
does not mean bomb-thrower, although some who throw bombs have appropriated the name. Radical comes from the Latin radix, meaning root. Those who really get it, who understand what is going on, who grasp what the mission is or ought to be, are the true radicals. From their vantage, Gramsci understood, as Alinsky understood, that you position your radicals to begin the long trek through the institutions. One time Alinsky was speaking to some of his disciples, fresh graduates of a Catholic seminary, who wanted to know how they could “keep the radical faith.” He said, “When you go out that door, just make your own personal decision about whether you want to be a bishop or a priest, and everything else will follow” (p. 13). In other endeavors, this is what is known as keeping your eye on the ball.
Not so with the Republicans. They have decided, as a matter of firm principle, to have no solid center. Because the breeze is blowing slightly to the right, they have tied the helium balloon of their core principles to whatever the Democrats are currently saying, and waft gently (to the right) as they dream of the next election.