VIEWSrnWinning the Culture WarrnThe American Causernby Samuel FrancisrnThe first thing we have to learn about fighting and winningrna cultural war is that we are not fighting to “conserve”rnsomething; we are fighting to overthrow something. Obviously,rnwe do want to conserve something—our culture, our way of life,rnthe set of institutions and beliefs that distinguish us as Americans.rnBut we must understand clearly and firmlv that therndominant authorities in the United States—in the federalrngovernment and often in state and local government as well, inrnthe two major political parties, the major foundations, thernmedia, the schools, the universities, big business, and most ofrnthe system of organized culture, including the arts and entertainmentrn—not only do nothing to conserve what most of us regardrnas our traditional way of life but actually seek its destructionrnor are indifferent to its survival. If our culture is going tornbe conserved, then, we need to dethrone the dominant authoritiesrnthat threaten it.rnGranted, we still have a democratic political system in whichrnopposition and dissent remain in principle legal, but we allrnknow the difficulty encountered by those who try to use theirrnpolitical and civil liberties to challenge the dominant authorities.rnGenuine dissent from the egalitarian, feminist, homophile,rnmulticulturalist, and socialist agendas is seldom permittedrnin establishment media and is often punished,rnintimidated, or terrorized.rnNevertheless, there remain sufficient loopholes in the apparatusrnof power to permit the organization of effective resistancernby democratic and legal means, if we have the will andrnSamuel Francis is a nationally syndicated columnist for thernWashington Times. Mr. Francis delivered this paper at thernMay conference on “Winning the Culture War,” organized byrnPat Buchanan’s American Cause Foundation.rnthe wit to use them. When I call for the overthrow of the dominantrnauthorities that threaten our culture, then, I am not advocatingrnillegal or undemocratic processes, but the war for thernculture is nonetheless a radical or even a revolutionary conflictrnbecause it involves an almost total redistribution of power inrnAmerican society—the displacement of the incumbent governingrnand cultural elites, the dismantlement of their apparatusrnof domination, the delegitimation of their political formulasrnand ideologies, and the radical decentralization of powerrnand shift in control of cultural norms from the hands of the presentrnelite to those of the Americans who remain loyal to theirrntraditional cultural and national identity.rnUnderstanding that the main strategic goal of cultural traditionalistsrnis the overthrow of the dominant authorities in thernUnited States leads us into a somewhat anomalous position.rnEver since its formal appearance in the late 18th century, conservatismrnhas generally been associated with the defense of existingrnauthorities, and its ideas as well as its rhetoric and its basicrnpsvchology have historically been designed to conserve,rnnot to challenge or overthrow. Hence, while we will find muchrnin the conservative tradition to teach us about the nature ofrnwhat we want to conserve and why we should want to conservernit, we will find little in conservative theory to instruct us in thernstrategy and tactics of challenging dominant authorities. Instead,rnwe need to look to the left to understand how a politicallyrnsubordinated and culturally dispossessed majority of Americansrncan recover its rightful position as the dominant and creativerncore of American society.rnBy far the most relevant figure on the left in the 20th centuryrnfor this purpose is the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci,rnwhose idea of “cultural hegemony” has facilitated the culturalrnrevolution that the enemies of American civilization havern12/CHRONICLESrnrnrn