Fusionists on the Road

Applause as the curtains rise, someone stands, the others follow suit. Another standing ovation. The hall is much smaller than usual, a few dozen people gathered at the last minute and rushed in on a Sunday night to hear an Italian speak of reforms to the American educational system. The more I think about it, the more unbelievable it seems. I lower my head smiling under the mustache that I do not have and return to my seat. No stage this time, no podium under the lights on professional TV cameras. Ultimately, it’s fine like this too.

We find ourselves in the retro atmosphere of a barbecue joint in Mesquite, Texas. Tea parties are born in such places, in gatherings as extemporaneous as they are vibrant. The beating heart of the American right is still here, up on its feet, ready to fight the upcoming battles. More than five years have gone by and the colorful galaxy of the tea parties does not want to hear anything of calling it quits. When I think of all the articles announcing their departure, those who are willing have a good laugh. Middle aged and getting older, the sprightly liberty fighters are still pugnacious. But this is not how it is everywhere. In Alabama, for example, often the event organizers were young mothers who were worried about their children’s futures. For them the battle is personal and they seem prepared for anything. With the institutional glass ceiling and decade-long GOP feuds, the tea party movement is the only one prepared to help in this difficult battle against the powerful and well-financed pro-Common Core alliance.

Last night’s intervention has put an end to these two tumultuous weeks, which were tiring but really extraordinary. Thousands and thousands of kilometers on anonymous interstates, on little roads that lead to idyllic small towns in the middle of nowhere, between crowded airports and palaces of power. From Florida to Alabama, from Georgia to the Union’s locomotive, this much less monolithic Texas than most might think, a truly extraordinary trip in an area that the liberal radical chic mockingly define as “flyover country.” The poor dolts, they don’t know what they’re missing.

It is honestly impossible to sum up in just a few lines the thousands of encounters, the many surprises, the incredible availability of so many volunteers, the passion and preparedness of my fellow travelers, the small and big halls, the hotel rooms, the tidy houses full of veterans’ flags who welcomed us each time. There would be enough to fill up a whole book that would probably never see the light of day. Already, because as I am standing here waiting for my friend Scott to return home and take me to the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, a new tour is being discussed, maybe soon after the November midterms. The requests are not lacking, the topic is very hot and parent mobilization is growing day after day.

Looking back, everything seems even more absurd. Instead of going on vacation, I went on a painful self-imposed tour of 12 cities in 15 days, paying out of pocket in order to provide a message that was certainly neither reassuring nor positive. If you don’t want to end up like Europe, by now deprived of any identity and at the mercy of this or that progressive trend, stand up and fight against whomever wants to transform “the shining city on a hill” into the umpteenth collectivist incubator.

I am certainly neither the first nor last European to have landed here with his prophecies of mishap. This time, the public seems more receptive — maybe because my words only add urgency to a shared sentiment. Libertarian conservatives on the other side of the ocean can do nothing more than look on dismayed as the systemic work of the demolishing of their own country unfolds, carried forward by whoever, Democrat or Republican, seems prepared to sacrifice the ideal turned nation for personal gain or pure position of power.

The patience for confrontations of those on the inside of the Republican party searching for centrist solutions under the banner of “compassionate conservatism” and of tax-and-spend is through by now. The masters of business as usual find that it’s almost more difficult to justify their positions confronted with that large section of the electorate that expects clear positions and few compromises. The clash is already underway and many in the grassroots universe do not hide their contempt for the party establishment, which has however changed guise significantly. For now, those calling for secession are in the minority, but many are “on the fence” and are waiting for the outcomes of the midterm elections in battleground states. Should the results not be the ones promised, the break will probably be inevitable.

For sure the problems will not be lacking, especially when they will be dealing with finding an agreement between the two third parties already in existence, the Libertarian and Constitutional Party. The new “big tent” will certainly not be any less contentious than the current one: a brilliant and promising leader of the GOP in Alabama who is making miracles happen in the rebuilding of relations with minorities, without hesitating, told me that for him the libertarians are almost worse than the liberals.

However, there are no other solutions. The apparatus consolidated around the historical names of the party, with their foundations, well-financed PACs by friendly industries and supporting cultural organizations, keeps thinking that the libertarians and constitutionalists (99 percent of the galaxy of tea partiers) are too hard to control, voluble and unpredictable in their battles to be trusted as partners at the head of a complicated country like the United States.

The “friendly fire” in the confrontations of the candidates led to success by evangelicals and tea partiers is obvious to everyone by now. Obviously the Democrats keep themselves far from intervening, anticipating easy victories instead of the real objective — the relay in the White House from the ever more disappointing Obama to the little enthusing Hillary. This is not very important. What really counts is maintaining control over the reins of power and undismayed continuing the work of “normalization” in the U.S. anomaly.

No one really knows how this clash of the ages will wind up, this fight for the soul of the U.S. On one side, the same state “payees,” who are as popular in America as in Europe, pour considerable sums in support of their own projects and the army of “paid operatives” that never sleeps. On the other side, the grassroots galaxy does its best to find technological solutions to increase the impact on the next elections and take advantage of the availability of the volunteers for the best. It is a very fluid landscape, certainly full of surprises, with the international situation ready to shuffle the cards suddenly. The next few months will certainly be crucial for the future of the last superpower remaining and the geopolitical global balance.

We will talk about them on Right Nation, perhaps in a less incoherent way. For now, goodbye America. It has been emotional.