Christopher Rufo named it “Critical Race Theory” then went after it. By Mary Harrington.
The left did their usual trick of not naming their anti-white racist theories including charges of systemic racism, that only one race is inherently evil, “white guilt”, dividing people by race, re-segregation, etc. etc. By not naming it, the left make it harder for critics to even talk about it. So first Christopher Rufo named it “critical race theory” and made the name stick, then went after it. The left of course play word games, insisting there is no such thing as “critical race theory”, and denying it all. But voters aren’t buying it — they are increasingly finding out what is being taught to their children.
Unlike those speakers who merely pointed at cultural changes they dislike and said ‘cultural Marxism’ repeatedly, [Christopher] Rufo focused on outlining ‘a proportionate, effective strategy for resisting it’ …
In his view, the aim should be ‘to protect the American people against a hostile, nihilistic elite that is seeking to impose their values onto the working and middle classes’. And resistance means mobilising ‘a populist majority in a revolt against the elites’.
Perhaps Rufo’s only lurch out of straightforwardly Marxian territory into a more familiar American free-market kind was his argument that parents should have ‘a fundamental right to exit the public school system’ and ‘take their education dollars with them’. Otherwise, (though he doesn’t use the language) the striking feature of Rufo’s approach was his heavy borrowing from the Leninist idea of ‘vanguardism’: the idea that an elite whose consciousness has already attained greater revolutionary heights should lead and mobilise the masses in transforming the world for the better.
Rufo characterised the role of elite conservatives like him, as ‘providing intellectual guidance, a new vocabulary of subversion, and a narrative that can direct the emotions and energy of the public against the right targets’.
He outlined how he approached this in his own campaign: first exposing CRT through investigation, providing new language to capture phenomena people dislike but can’t put words to; then riding the ensuing wave of popular outrage all the way to new legislation. …
Strikingly, Rufo’s analysis of how power actually works focused mainly on areas other than electoral politics, as did his proposals. He described the ‘cultural revolution’ he opposes as ‘a creature of the state, totally subsidised by the public’: incubated in universities, propagated by schools and state institutions. …
It worked:
Rufo’s campaign has been surprisingly effective to date, with his ‘vanguardism’ triggering a rash of hostile articles describing him as the man who ‘single-handedly invented the moral panic over critical race theory’. Be that as it may, I was sat next to him at dinner last night, and the whole room erupted when the news came in that Youngkin had won Virginia. Everyone credited Rufo for it, and I think it’s probably true.
Take note, conservatives. This is how you defeat the bureaucratic left.
