The right today is facing many different challenges. The world is advancing and the left has been transforming. The current right, the new right, must be able to confront these new progressive attacks and must differentiate itself from what in some countries is known as the "cowardly right." In this week's podcast, we talk about how this new right should be configured and the main challenges it must face. Our guest is Francisco Contreras, professor of legal philosophy. He is a former Vox congressman in Spain, and has written various books such as "A Defense of Conservative Liberalism" and "The Fragility of Freedom."
Recently, Contreras had an essay published as a chapter in the book "Reflections on a New Right." The essay, titled "13 Theses on the New Right," gives a general look at the challenges facing the current right. It examines various topics of profound importance, such as the demographic winter, the threat of transnational powers, the error of those on the right that praise Putin, and the rise of identity politics.
When asked about the advance of identity politics, Contreras states that "we are replacing meritocracy with diversocracy." In the search for employees for certain positions, instead of looking for excellence, diversity is sought above all. The growing trend at the moment is governments, institutions and companies that are "racially and sexually diverse, instead of having excellent organizations. Instead of looking for the best, we are looking for the most diverse." This, in addition to creating resentment, warns Contreras, is affecting the quality of all these institutions that prefer diversity over quality.
Regarding what is happening in the United States with the advance of the woke ideology, Contreras expresses his concern about universities in this country, recalling that it is in American classrooms where critical race theory, gender ideology, and the new radical feminism were first formed. However, he assures that at the same time that while this "disease" makes it out of the United States, the "medicine" often escapes as well.
"Some of the best intellectuals and activists and think tanks are in the United States ... which is why conservatives around the world have to be very aware of what is being argued in North American political scene," he says.
In this podcast, we also discuss international politics. Contreras highlights that it is necessary to protect sovereignty and confront transnational powers, but he makes several warnings. "The so-called ‘red-browns’ want Spain to break with the Atlantic axis and are fascinated with Putin's Russia (in which political opponents and journalists are murdered)." The professor makes it clear that Russia and China are not a viable alternative and that the new right should not flirt with these regimes.
Finally, he warns: “Let us not fall into sovereign fetishism. The recovery of sovereignty does not solve the problems by itself. Is the U.K. less woke after Brexit? Sovereignty, yes... but to do what?"
