How can anyone believe that Kamala Harris is popular, that price controls would solve inflation, or that open borders are ultimately good for the economy? How could an entire country founded on liberty allow their churches, schools, and businesses to be shuttered for years because of a nasty flu?
00:04:01.400The modern obsession with individual freedom has also broken down institutions of family and community
00:04:07.420which are critical to grounding the culture.
00:04:10.220Young people are encouraged to leave their community in search of education and employment opportunities,
00:04:16.300abandoning the social networks which perpetuate their way of life.
00:04:19.900Marriage and parenthood are coded as low status and individuals are instead encouraged to engage in a series of disposable relationships that allow them to focus on their empty careers as corporate widgets.
00:04:33.240Young couples are priced out of the housing market and, separated from the assistance of extended family,
00:04:39.120rely on expensive childcare while both parents work to make ends meet.
00:04:44.320For most, the professional and personal cost of family make it a goal that is increasingly both unfashionable and out of reach.
00:04:52.460Fraternities, church groups, bowling leagues, civic associations, and other voluntary social organizations that used to define American life have fallen away as families shrink
00:05:04.800and irreligious, rootless cosmopolitans retreat to their apartments.
00:05:09.120Online dating, Netflix, and grocery delivery make it possible to live a thoroughly modern life without any organic social contact.
00:05:19.660Becoming middle class no longer means the independence of property and the posterity of family,
00:05:25.860but access to a wider range of subscription services to be enjoyed in isolation.
00:05:30.300The fact that this lifestyle helped to facilitate lockdowns across the population during the pandemic isn't an accident.
00:05:40.200When the individual is separated from religious truth, cultural folkways, family, and even the most basic daily social interactions,
00:05:52.180Common sense is not some inborn grasp of truth, but an inherited store of knowledge and wisdom that makes the navigation of complex scenarios seem obvious.
00:06:05.020Without these organic social connections, the individual becomes untethered and highly susceptible to propaganda and suggestion.
00:06:13.960The relentless tide of information flowing through television and digital media
00:06:18.860combined with the curated algorithmic delivery of social media can rapidly and radically alter how an isolated actor sees the world.
00:06:28.700With the continuity of tradition and the organic ground of community stripped away,
00:06:34.240the individual becomes reliant on the authority of institutions as the basis for truth.
00:06:39.820This can work for a time, but if those institutions themselves become separated from their founding duties
00:06:45.760and the people that they were meant to serve, organizations that were meant to stand as pillars of truth
00:06:55.140Public health experts, scientists, journalists, academics, and even military leaders have proven
00:07:01.020that they're willing to sacrifice credibility to conform to political power.
00:07:05.600With this shattered epistemology, truth loses all ground and media manipulation becomes the engine through which the elites maintain power.
00:07:15.760If conservatives wish to see the end of rule by media and the return to common sense,
00:07:21.920they must first recreate the social fabric which enables it.
00:07:26.460Individuals can only become resistant to media narratives if they have regular contact with reality
00:07:33.460and a higher tradition against which to measure new information.
00:07:37.320A man locked in his home, watching streaming entertainment, and having food delivered to his door
00:07:43.580can be fooled into thinking a pandemic is ravaging the world outside.
00:07:48.140A man who is regularly attending church, meeting with friends, and bringing his wife and children to the park
00:07:53.360can easily observe that the media is spouting nonsense.
00:07:57.320The solutions being offered by progressive politicians like Kamala Harris are absurd.
00:08:03.580They stand in opposition to the moral truth, economic reality, and social custom that once seemed obvious to us all.
00:08:12.740But as the shared social fabric which once bound our communities together has worn away,
00:08:18.560common sense has lost its foundation, and isolated individuals have become highly susceptible to manipulative media and corrupt institutions.
00:08:29.480If conservatives would like to see a return to common sense,
00:08:33.200they must first revive the traditions and communities that once informed all that we held in common.
00:08:48.560If you'd like to get these broadcasts as podcasts, make sure to subscribe to The Oren McIntyre Show on your favorite podcast platform,
00:08:58.000and if you do, leaving a rating or review really helps with the algorithm magic.
00:09:02.840If you'd like to pick up my book, The Total State, you can do that on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million,