What an absurd and inverted thread. Since 1920-40s you have state repression of, let's say, the vitality of Mussolini's and associated movements. Whenever that sphere of views isn't censored or repressed it has quick success (because it's true). https://twitter.com/DouthatNYT/status/1337389920931999744

Is point of doctrine among intelleckshual conservatives also to call all manifestations of Nietzschean vitalism in politics "nihilism." But it is the left and the liberals (including mainstream conservatives) who reduce existence to satisfaction of base appetites.

(The nihilism of even supposedly "trad" mainstream conservatives is hidden behind a religious garb, sometimes a garb of talk about Human Dignity. But all this is a thin tattered rag that barely covers shame of old prostie. They wonder people look elsewhere when they can...)

I haven't read Lomez articool yet, but Ross dabbles in a school of thought that believes what drives public life is a set of "stories," "myths" or "salutary fictions." This assumes the handlers of such fictions are smarter than the people, which, however, is almost never the case

What "salutary fictions" doctrine results in today isn't Plato or ancient Thebes, but what "Madison Avenue Mindset," which isn't as sophisticated as its makers think, and which average people can easily see through

Truth, on the other hand, has a certain ring to it

Intelleckshual conservatives make the mistake of assuming themselves on a footing with Plato or ancient legislator, but reality is they're a standard deviation or two even below Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile; are less well-read and understand The Femael not nearly as well...