Mike Solana

I've been watching the proliferation of white identity with increasing horror. First, Richard Spencer debating skeptics and libertarians on YouTube (half a million views), and now Arthur Jones, running for Congress.

In each debate, the white nationalist is disturbing, but the ineffectual liberal counterpoints are chilling. "You sound like a white nationalist" is met with "well yeah." END OF DEBATE. Culturally, intellectually, we have no antibodies to this stuff.

To stop white nationalism, we're going to have to grapple with white nationalist ideas and build compelling counterarguments. In order to do this, we'll have to target the root idea, not the concept of "white identity" but the collectivist concept of group identity itself.

We cannot argue against something like "cultural appropriation," for example, without implicitly endorsing the notion certain races own certain ideas, arts, technologies, tragedies, an idea which extends naturally, necessarily, to concepts of superiority and inferiority.

The viable counterargument to "white identity" will never be "black identity" or "trans identity" or diversity (of group identities), but individuality.

It's therefore here — the individual — where our defense of liberal government and culture must be staged. An early, rough strategy might look like:

1) Brush up on the philosophical underpinnings of individualism, and redevelop strong moral arguments in its favor. Then 2) build strong, pragmatic arguments in favor of the individual's accomplishments (i.e. the "great man theory" of civilization)