The Contrarian Strategist: A Conservative's Guide to Effective Arguing with Leftists

Perhaps you've noticed of late that as a Conservative, or even a Classical Liberal or a Moderate, that you have come under frequent scathing verbal and very personal attacks by friends, family, and acquaintances, who lean politically to the left of you. You may have been initially confused by this visceral increase in their ire as, for all your disagreement with them, you never felt the same need to cut off contact, un-friend, or demand that your Leftist friends, family and acquaintances share your opinion on various issues. You have probably been called "a bad person", "deplorable", "a sexist", "not sensitive", "a monster", "a supporter of Nazis", or just have been called "a Nazi", openly by people who have known you for many years, knew that you leaned right, and, you assumed, didn't think such things about you, let alone that they were all untrue.

I expect that this is perhaps because you haven't in the past been very forthright about your beliefs out of concern for causing friction or being on the receiving end of backlash, so instead you chose traditional politeness, and avoided subjects like politics and religion over lunch. However, it is more likely that your friends to the left either did not realize your political affiliation, or even much, much, more likely, that your peer group has been radicalized recently by the Far Left, their identitarian politics, and a virtual non-stop barrage of media messaging that posits "there can be no discussion between the two sides", as radical ideologues are often apt to state.

Conservatives can be seen to generally prize open debate and discussion, simply for the sake of open debate and discussion, and though we can be guilty as anyone else of trying to convert others to our point of view, the culture war we are currently embroiled in was in many ways won long ago by the radical left, who have dictated global and domestic politics and most economic thinking by their control of academia, the news media, and the entertainment industry. 

Saying that, the more control the left gained as they coalesced from the counter-cultural movement of the late 1960's to stepping into running the establishment that they fought against, they at the same time incorporated an increasing tendency toward Marxist ideology that has made them, well, unbearable.

The handy-dandy fifteen point guide that follows has been primarily designed as an aid for the floundering Conservative who finds him or herself caught in a defensive posture (mainly, but not exclusively on Social Media) against Leftist polemic attack, and has not thought out how to fight back effectively or philosophically, or even how to extricate oneself from the melee.

If you are an expert troll what follows may seem very obvious to you, and if you are a dyed-in-the-wool Leftist I encourage you to also feel free to read on, because I expect that some of these points may hit home and serve as a bit of a mirror that might make you re-think your position on several topics. Then again, maybe not.   

So let's begin.

To tangle with the Left you will need...

1. Patience

Liberals, Progressives, and "Social Justice Warriors" want "change", and they want it "now".

They are psychologically caught up in an eternal process of "making things better" within the confines of their image of what is best, for everyone, globally. This extends even to those who state that they neither share their beliefs, nor have any interest in the manner in which they propose to fix the so-called problem they have identified.

They will ignore statistical data, and commentary culled from sources they deem, "fake", which works out pretty well for them, since objectively, statistics can always be claimed to have been manipulated, and commentary can indeed be quite subjective. Thus, they can always refute an ever expanding tide of data and commentary simply by claiming it is fake or manipulated if it continues to undermine their narrative.

So, you must exercise patience, stand back, and let their policies fail.

I am willing to wait, oh, a decade or so, sadly watching Sweden devolve into anarchy, just so I can say, (not in a petty way mind you), "See, we weren't making it all up." to a few friends who would rather wear blinders and buy into a delusion rather than entertain reality. 

So don't hesitate to point out failure, even if it takes years. Leftists are generally slow to acknowledge defeat (mind you this is a wing that started rioting upon losing elections as far back as 1968 - something Conservatives would never do), since as ideologues, they have embraced the notion that their beliefs and policies are superior, both morally and practically, and thus, to go against them means you are the one holding the world back from being "perfect".

Always remember that in their minds they are heroes and they believe they are building an utopia.

2. Humor

Radicalized ideologues are, let's face it, a mirthless lot. This is because their intersectional beliefs encourage them to look at all situations and words spoken or written as potential offenses, micro-aggressions, flat out hate speech, and in violation of the politically correct language policing they themselves propelled to prominence in western culture.

While the left was a great proponent of "free speech" in the counter-cultural revolution of the late 1960's and early 1970's, they also take themselves and their "mission" so seriously that a great number of stand-up comics, most of whom we may safely assume describe themselves as liberals, now choose to not play college venues anymore out of fear that every word they say will be taken too seriously by some random snowflake in the audience.

But their "hurt feelings" are just an entree to grasping onto more power and control, and laughter is uncontrollable.

Since the left believe they are still "fighting the man" and control, but are actually the biggest Statists out there, comedy and laughter are the best methods to undermine their cultural hegemony.

Well, until they find a way to make jokes illegal.  

3. Civility

Never, never, never resort to foul language and personal attacks (as they routinely do), even though, trust me, they will fire first, unless you open with uncalled for harsh words or offensive speech.

However, if you do indeed get pulled into an argument with an abusive Leftist, or group of abusive Leftists (they do so like the pile-on), never slum to the use of profanity or aggression first, because they will invariable attempt to rewrite the sequence of events and say that you veered away from civility first.

As vexing as their hither-dither attempts at impromptu revisionism can be, even in light of the fact that Facebook and Twitter threads have time stamps attached to every comment, it will serve you in the long run to remain calm appearing to the outside world and stand out as the level headed one, regardless of what uncalled for epithets they will choose to throw at you, though, as you know, they do only really prefer one.

4. Perseverance

Stick with the argument, if you have the time.

I know that it can be tiring, and being personally attacked by six people at a time on Social Media can be taxing, but don't relent.

Let them know that there are people who don't share their vision with them.

Even if they dismiss you as "backwards" or whatever fumbling insults they manage to hurl, it will serve to remind them that their cultural hegemony is still being challenged.

And that's a very good thing.

Still, you will also need to...

5. Hold to the Philosophic Argument

I personally believe that the majority of leftists can not properly phrase the parameters of what they actually believe, at least by metrics of terminology and accurate political and philosophic descriptors, but instead merely espouse that they know that "theirs is the best and right way".

This is why they will claim a belief is a Liberal or Democratic party principle, when it is instead a Marxist ideology. They will likewise conflate their own Progressive ideas with those of Marxist and Anarchist revolutionaries of the early twentieth century, as well as the actual historic Progressives (who were Republicans and Social Darwinists), as well as the Eugenic racism of the Democratic party and Planned Parenthood.

Since they often fail at framing their own argument accurately, they will instead rely heavily on emotional arguments, and it is common that such phrases as "it's a human right", "they're killing our kids", and "you are, like, a total Nazi", and things like that, will pop up here an there in their polemic.

The tactic here is to hold them to the point at hand. I know its hard - like keeping a sleepy cat's attention, but it is a sound tactic if you are caught in an engagement with an "eclectic" leftist.

6. Distance Yourself from Neo-Cons, RINO's, Corporatists and War-hawks

Deep State Neo-Conservative Corporatists are the bane of the Republican Party, and share much more in common with Neo-Liberals than they do with real Republicans, Libertarians and Traditional and Religious Conservatives.

One of the more ambitious goals that started with the birth of the Tea Party, Libertarianism, and the patriot movement, was to reform the party get it back to the Classical Liberal ideals of the Enlightenment and the Jeffersonian principles of the Republican and Whig parties of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

These principles value Constitutionalism, citizens rights, and picture a government that is subservient and accountable to the people and is diminished in size and power. Neo-Conservatives and Neo-Liberals do not share this goal, and thus, are effectively the enemies (not in a hateful way) of those from the center to the right, and if I may be so bold, they are the enemy of "the people".

When in an argument with a Liberal feel free to point out where they have deviated from their own Classical Liberal beliefs, and have inserted instead Marxist ideals, or worse, Corporatist, Statist, or Globalist principles.

As an inversion of the oft plied Leftist-Alinskyite tactic of blaming your opponent for something you are guilty of, this tactic instead reminds them of their own past and history, honestly.

So, call them out, and show them that they are working against their own previously held beliefs and are now fighting on the wrong side.

7. Embrace the Grand History of the Republican Party

This is actually very easy to do, and you don't need a masters degree in History or Political Science to do it, as most of the accomplishments which the Left touts as their own were actually promoted and passed by either a Republican President or Republican controlled House and Senate. These include, ending slavery, ending the Jim Crow laws, women's voting rights, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the De-Segregation of schools, the ERA, the Equal Pay Act, Roe vs. Wade, and the list goes on.

I imagine that Democrats / Liberals failed to be successful in pushing through these agendas when they were in control of the state because they were either overtly opposed to them (as in slavery and de-segregation), or preferred, unconsciously or not, to leave the issue to fester, because they have increasingly defined themselves by "the endless struggle" instead of being dedicated to actually solving problems. 

Leftists will openly deny this, (the words they use here are usually "delusional" or "nonsense"), but the proof is in the pudding, as voting and veto records are matters recorded for posterity.

They will also claim, when they don't like the history, that these events occurred, long, long, ago, and so don't matter in the present. Then again, aren't they the ones who want to tear down Confederate statues? Wait, I thought that was a long time ago, and doesn't matter? Oh well, pick and choose, I guess.

Another ploy they rely on is to try to convince you of the "Big Switch", which is a re-write that states that all the racist Southerners switched from being Democrat to Republican (in the late 1960's), even though only four or five of the so-called "Dixiecrats" ever switched party affiliation to Republican, and the South did not even start to shift to Republican voting dominance until Reagan's second term in the mid-late 1980's. Nice try though.

8. Distance Yourself from "Alt-Right" Racists

This is easy to do for the most part, though the supremacist nut-jobs have hijacked the "Right" part in "Alt-Right" from underneath the right's doorstep. I have proposed "New Right" for the post-Tea Party movement in a previous post here on the Gauntlet, but since I'm a small fish, that may never catch on as a viable substitute.

But let's look at the Conservative philosophy for the answer here.

Conservatives are un-apologetically Capitalist, and you should not hesitate from pointing out that Nazism has far more Anti-Capitalist affinities with Socialism, i.e. (Nazi = lit. National Socialist German Workers Party) than anyone on the ACTUALLY on the right could ever be capable of.

Conservatives are Nationalist, make no mistake about it. But they are Civic Nationalists, not Ethnic-Nationalists, as Supremacists are by definition. The Founders didn't give a fig where Americans came from, their race or religion and all that, all long as they shared the philosophy of Civic dedication to the idea of America.

Conservatives are also ardent Constitutionalists. However, to the contrary, racial identitarians, or supremacists, are by definition fascists, as their goal is invariably the eventual removal of impediments so their system may become the singular overriding ideology. Thus, they, like the Communists, are opposed to the Constitution (and therefore, America itself), since our system precludes the removal of the Senate and House, and makes it impossible to establish a true fascist dictatorship in America.

Simply put, America is about individualism. Fascism, in both its Nazi and Communist forms are about Collectivism. Nazism (and other forms of radical race politics) and the various forms of Marxism abhor individual accomplishments and wealth, because those serve to enrich the individual and not the collective, or the "community", which detracts from the larger goal of establishing their utopia, and global dominance. 

9. Be Conscious of the Left's Unpredictability

Always remember that those on the Left generally lean to what I like to call "selectivism".

They are selectively emotionalist, selectively literalist, and selectively didactic, and can switch those gears within the context of an argument as quickly as Caitlin Jenner changes dresses.

So they will site gun violence data for partisan purposes, but if you challenge that data they will talk about the pain of "the children", and then didactically attempt to deconstruct the grammar of the second amendment all within a few responses.

This is generally a trap, so you must be prepared with the hard data to refute their assertions, express suitable sympathy for "the kids", and hold your ground on the meaning and spirit of Constitution.

It can be a little like following a hummingbird, but "Stay on target, Gold Leader". 

10. Let Them Be Themselves

This is pretty self-explanatory but, if you are engaged in a battle royale with an unfocused Leftist who has veered into radical crazy town, let their arguments appear, well, as crazy as they are.

This is kind of an extension of the "Patience" idea, but this is very effective tactic, especially if there are third parties peripheral to your debate involved, and especially if they are people who are on the fence regarding the issue in question.

By remaining the sound, measured and practical one, and allowing your opponent to express radical ideas that go beyond the moderate sensibilities of the majority of citizens, pretty much everywhere, it will serve to alienate others from their message.

Sadly for the Left, resistance emboldens them, and thus they will invariably "double down", and push ahead with even more radical ideas than before, losing even more centrists, and as we have seen in the last couple of years, as the less radical sector of Liberals who "just weren't Liberal enough" have been alienated from their own party.

11. Celebrate Freedom and Wealth

Not to sound too preachy here, but, one should be neither covetous or jealous of other people's success as a general rule, and it is only proper karma to sing the praises of those who suffer for their freedom and their plenty.

Since Marxism is innately collectivist, and promotes such fascist eventualities as "the re-distribution of wealth" in the guise of "equality", and disdains personal gain and property rights, it stands in direct opposition to the foundation that America was built upon.

This can be illustrated no more clearly then by observing a Leftist or Far Leftist Antifa protest, where not one American flag will be seen on display, but instead Cuban, Mexican, Former Soviet, and North Korean flags fly proudly in the air as millennial retro-radicals trod upon the ashes of our nations flag.

One must remember that radical ideologies have little respect for competing philosophies, and this brings them into conflict with the basic Democratic principles of our nation. Notions such as freedom of opinion, speech and discourse, and supporting others wealth, are generally "triggering" to those altruists with other people's money on the Left.

When they condemn those who have gained wealth, as innately "evil", point out how mean-spirited it seems they are being, and inquire if they give all their hard-earned money away, as to not "hoard it".

12. Read Between the Lines

Always remember that underneath all of the intersectional language policing, and class, race and gender warfare arguments lies a vision powered by Marxist Internationalism, now know as "Globalism".

As I stated earlier, Leftists will often conflate ideologies, define them improperly, but the bottom line is that excluding those who are indeed Neo-Liberal Corporatists or Traditional Democrats, the majority of the rest have incorporated varying levels of Marxism into their Democratic beliefs either knowingly or unknowingly.

They prefer the use of the term Marxism, and are fairly comfortable with the term Democratic-Socialism, and sometimes just Socialism, but Leftists do get oh so triggered when you use the "C" word - Communism.

Feel free to remind them that all forms of Marxism they ascribe to, and the distinctions therein were designed by Marx himself, or other Communists as "Communism light", and the ultimate goal of these factions was and is indeed the eventual coalescence of global Communism.

Somehow shortening it just to "Commie" makes it even worse for them, and they will protest vigorously, so use this sparingly, lest you encourage them to the a lack of civility I mentioned above.

13. Let the Left Eat Itself

This is sort of an extension of the "Let Them Be Themselves" principle.

Let the Far Left push it boundaries even further to the Extreme Left, and allow their radical philosophies to alienate Moderate Leftists, Mainline Democrats, Centrists, Independents, Classical Liberals, and obviously, anyone right of center.

This happens not just in the world of Social Media, but in the realm of election voting as well, as virtue-signaling politicians talk a big show to constituencies who they are increasingly divorced from as elite armchair political theorists who have nothing to offer the average citizen of a Republic. 

Rabid dogs eventually turn on one another, as we saw DACA recipients turning on their self-appointed protector, Nancy Pelosi, a few weeks ago. 

14. Argue the Specifics of Intersectionality

This is a big one, so let me give you a couple of examples.

Article One: The Jews

Much like identitarians on the racist fringe, many Leftists are also vexed by the Jews. This is because intersectionality is built upon a hierarchy of oppression and victimization, and Jewish identity causes cognitive dissonance in the Leftist mind.

"Why?" You may ask.

Well, this is why.

Jews possess a long history of oppression in their ancient homeland (not so good)  and wherever they resided in exile (awesome - a minority), yet, because Jews rank lower on the intersectional oppression scale, than say, Palestinian Muslims (they're supposedly "browner", kinda), the left is forced to attack Jews for their financial success (Yuck!), and relative lack of overt discrimination in the last two generations in America. Jews currently rank highest in academics of any "white" demographic, and are solidly middle class bourgeoisie (Oy Vay) - which presents a vexing paradox for Marxist leaning liberals. Thus, like Asians, they are thought of as "not as ethnic" (meaning not fully supportive of their Marxist agenda) as Leftist racists would ideally like them to be.

Ironically, 75% of American Jews sadly still vote Democrat, and many of that number self-identify as Socialists, Progressives, or are involved in some way with Social Justice issues. However, this innate Leftist leaning among Jewish-American voters will not spare them from the Progressive backlash, which I expect will alienate more and more Jewish voters over time and push them into the Conservative camp. This arc is being paralleled by a similar percentage of Latinos swinging right, who currently vote 35% Republican, no matter how hard Spanish language media attempts damage control.

While Alt-right racists accept Jews as who they are, and many support Israel (probably as a means to have more Jews leave their "white" nations), Leftists, being good surrogate Afro-Centrists, ascribe to the "illegitimacy theory", which holds that Israel should never have existed and functions as an extension of European imperialism.

Thus, they choose to ignore the multiple centuries of Muslim imperialism in the Holy Land, which was high-lighted by unregulated migration, massacres of Non-Muslims, and forced conversions, and they instead choose to see the Palestinians as yet another among an endless throng of "poor oppressed indigenous peoples" (i.e. non-white) who just couldn't get by without their advocacy for them.

Leftists and other Globalist types often try to conflate issues here, and particularly like to blur their own western racial issues with Israeli intra-cultural issues and draw parallels where none exist, including extending the illegitimacy issue from the right of Israel to exist (i.e. its okay to hate Israel and Zionism - cuz that's not the same as hating Jews...riiggght) to the very nature of Jewish genetics, revealing the Eugenics streak that has not left the Left since Margaret Sanger conceived of Planned Parenthood as a means to limit the number of Blacks and poor whites born into American society.

Regardless of all evidence to the contrary, including a wide range of genetic studies, physical appearance, blood phenotype, etc., etc., leftists are sooner likely to anoint Africans and people of African descent as the heirs to the people they've read about in "their" bible, even though Ashkenazim have been determined to be the inbred descendants of some 600 Judean refugees who escaped from the Third Roman-Jewish War and genocide of second century C.E.

For them to move forward with this falsehood, they must then ascribed to conspiracy theories that endorse alternate folklore, such as Arthur Koestler's thoroughly disproved "Thirteenth Tribe" theory, which posited a mass Turkic conversion to Judaism by a now extinct Crimean tribe known as the Khazars, with no genetic data ever verifying a single Khazar gene.

I mean, maybe it's just me, but what could be more racist than attempting to rob an ethnic group of its cherished identity, or assisting one group to steal another groups identity? Isn't that at the very least the "cultural appropriation" that the Left so frequently goes on about?

By supporting the diversity, history and reality of Jewish identity, and learning the other side of the narrative wherein Muslims systematically diminished the native Jewish and Samaritan communities of Judea, Samaria, the Galilee, and the plain over the course of some 900 years, as well as standing behind the sovereign right of Israel to exist as a pluralistic democratic challenge to Muslim imperialism and cultural conformity, you are in essence already working totally counter to their intersectional narrative.

On top of that, the real tin-foil hat wearers, when confronted with data that refutes this cock-eyed narrative must then resort to a "worldwide Jewish scientific conspiracy" which must be responsible for falsifying genetic testing the world over.

But, we know of other Socialist political movements in the past that propounded murky international Jewish conspiracies too, don't we?

Article Two: The Blacks

Currently 89% of African-Americans vote Democrat, and are the end product of a process of Democraticazation that began prior to World War Two and was a fait accompli by the late 1960's. One may wonder why Black voters would sidle up to a party that not only supported slavery but was in essence the Confederacy, but even at the latest date, fought against de-segregation and equal rights, and leading party members such as Senator Robert Byrd, touted open KKK leadership roles. Add to it that LBJ's "Great Society" program in essence created the modern Urban Ghetto as a premeditated facsimile of Reconstruction Sharecropping, and worked counter to the advances the Black middle class had made through the 1930's-1960's, it went on to introduce a series of maladies into the Black community that were much less prominent or were previously non-existent.

But as specified previously, the "Big Switch" ruse and the Left's control of media, entertainment, and academia, have worked hard to convince Blacks of this lie. Can you imagine that they were so effective that they were able to convince African-Americans to turn on the party of Lincoln, the party that fought for their freedom and equal rights, while Democrats like Byrd talked a big show of "remorse" for being in the KKK. It almost reads more like ridiculous fiction, if it weren't so devious and misleading.

To address this issue further I think the best commentary on the Liberal-Conservative split comes from Malcolm X, certainly not a "lover" of whites by any stretch, but his observations are still cogent and biting to this day.

"In this deceitful American game of power politics, the Negroes (i.e., the race problem, the integration and civil rights issues) are nothing but tools, used by one group of whites called Liberals against another group of whites called Conservatives, either to get into power or to remain in power. Among whites here in America, the political teams are no longer divided into Democrats and Republicans. The whites who are now struggling for control of the American political throne are divided into "liberal" and "conservative" camps. The white liberals from both parties cross party lines to work together toward the same goal, and white conservatives from both parties do likewise.

The white liberal differs from the white conservative only in one way: the liberal is more deceitful than the conservative. The liberal is more hypocritical than the conservative.

Both want power, but the white liberal is the one who has perfected the art of posing as the Negro's friend and benefactor; and by winning the friendship, allegiance, and support of the Negro, the white liberal is able to use the Negro as a pawn or tool in this political "football game" that is constantly raging between the white liberals and white conservatives.

Politically the American Negro is nothing but a football and the white liberals control this mentally dead ball through tricks of tokenism: false promises of integration and civil rights. In this profitable game of deceiving and exploiting the political politician of the American Negro, those white liberals have the willing cooperation of the Negro civil rights leaders. These "leaders" sell out our people for just a few crumbs of token recognition and token gains. These "leaders" are satisfied with token victories and token progress because they themselves are nothing but token leaders."

Tell that to your Liberal friends.

And lastly, when all else fails...

15. Play Your Cards

Since intersectionality virtually functions on a subjective point system of oppression, you need to have your own set of cards that, if cornered, you can throw down in an argument if need be. Everyone has cards, even if you don't realize that you do.

For example, if an intersectionalist is railing that you can't possibly understand what poor migrants go through, point out your Huguenot or Irish ancestors fleeing from country to country, mention your mentally handicapped niece, what great friends you are with your Muslim tailor, or better yet, if you are a member of one of the "anointed groups" that they give great varying latitude to, such as Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews, Muslims, migrants and illegal aliens, LBGT, etc., etc., mention that fact. Though since it is a pecking order, I must warn you that there is the possibility that you may be trumped by a surprise attack. Thus, if you are a Black man, you can be sure that you might get "put in your place" by a Black woman, and she might then be brow-beaten by a Gay Black Handicapped woman, and...well, you get the picture. So be advised.

This is of course not the most noble of the strategies, but I can't tell you how many volatile "discussions" I've COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN with a well-placed mention of my mom's eighteen uncles and aunt being beaten, gassed, and burnt in ovens in the holocaust. Kinda trumps a lot of other victim narratives, if inserted with verve and in the right context.

So when you are being nailed to the wall by a non-stop attack by triggered Leftists, who are name-calling and enacting all of the pleasant tactics that I have detailed they are apt to do, feel free to "play your cards".

I truly hope this guide will help you in your wanderings through the internet, and at family gatherings, if and when you "get up in it". And who knows, maybe you'll even change some hearts and minds.

Till next time.