In an almost excellent article at the Weekly Standard, Jeff Bergner tells us that the only way Republicans can govern is if they challenge and change the overarching narrative that drives politics.  I say almost, because he unfortunately does what most political commentators on the right do: They acknowledge the powerful influence shaping characteristics of cultural influence professions , but they imply by neglect that these professions will always favor The Narrative of the left.

In this paragraph early in the piece he obviously gets how powerful the influences of these professions are on the basic beliefs of Americans on the nature of the American experiment:

That The Narrative should move many Republicans as well as Democrats is hardly surprising. It is, after all, pervasive. This is the story presented to children at school by teachers and textbooks all across the nation. And, while the left-leaning American professoriate may think of itself as contrarian or skeptical, it operates in lockstep to offer The Narrative as the official view on virtually every college campus. It is reinforced at every turn by the print and electronic media, in the arts, and in every mainstream avenue of American culture.

Granted the title of the article is “Can Republicans Govern?” but how is it possible to change The Narrative if we don’t address the “pervasive” influence of “every mainstream avenue of American culture”? The answer is, and this should be obvious to any thinking person, it isn’t!  Even though the article is about government policy and Republicans governing, without addressing culture’s vast influence in favor of the left Republicans and conservatives will always be playing on a field whose interpretative paradigm is hostile to their efforts. On this Super Bowl holiday weekend, I’ll use a football analogy: this is like playing defense in the opponents red zone forever!

What exactly is The Narrative?

The Narrative is the official story about America. It is a story composed by the political left, which entered American public life with the progressive movement in the early 20th century and was elaborated in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s and ’40s.

The story runs like this. America was founded on the ideal of equality, though that ideal at first was barely put into practice. The story of America is one of progress toward the fulfillment of the ideal of equality. The end of slavery and the achievement of women’s suffrage are landmarks in this story. All fair enough. So is—less plausibly—the federal income tax, originally established to fund the government but later used to redistribute wealth and tax advantages among Americans. Then came the many programs of direct payments to individuals, the so-called entitlements, beginning with Social Security and extending to Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, aid to dependent children, farm subsidies, and myriad others. And today the health care reform bill before Congress takes its place in America’s advance toward equality. Each and every policy that aims to level distinctions between Americans has found its place within The Narrative.

At times the progression is described as more or less inevitable. It is dressed up in rhetorical finery (befitting the progressives’ debt to Hegel) as the “march of history.” At other times its proponents stress the role of will, exalting the labors of progressive heroes to bring about change. But always they are certain of the single direction in which progress moves.

The Narrative holds genuine power. It permits the easy assignment of virtue and vice. Virtue belongs to those who advocate the fulfillment of equality; they are on the “right side of history,” moving the country “forward.” In opposition are those who seek to take the country “backward,” often identified as “special interests” who favor their own well-being over the equality of all.

Of course the federal government is the agent to bring about this “progress.” Also essential to The Narrative is that there is nothing special about America; the phrase “American Exceptionalism” to these people is an oxymoron. America is fundamentally flawed and in effect must be saved and improved by our progressive betters.

Mr. Bergner uses a very important word here: Story. Stories are not the stuff of politics, and as he implies, the story drives the policies. So how is it that we can expect to fundamentally change policy without addressing the story? In fact we can’t, or if we do it is only on the edges. Even during the Reagan administration government grew, and continues to do so but now on Obama steroids.

That is why almost 60 years of conservative political and intellectual activism has not slowed, let alone stopped Leviathan.  Americans are more dependent on government and transfers of wealth than ever before. The right needs to wake up and challenge The Narrative at its source, where it has its most powerful influence.  Until there are more conservatives, libertarians and classical liberals who are writing textbooks for schools and colleges, or teaching in schools, or writing fiction, or making movies, art and comedy, or writing the news Americans consume, or working in TV, etc., The Narrative will not change.

Yet most on the right seem to think we are helpless to change the cultural influence professions. They seem incapable or uninterested in thinking strategically about how we might influence the influence professions. As long as this is the case liberty and personal responsibility in America will suffer.