‘Civil Rights’ And Totalitarianism

From Rod Dreher at The American Conservative:

Rauch is not wrong in his description of the most controversial part of Caldwell’s book. Caldwell really does see the Civil Rights regime as where things went badly wrong. But Rauch, in my view, doesn’t take on Caldwell’s actual argument, but only asserts that these conflicts “can be worked through.” Boy, is that ever whistling past the graveyard. However, I have to admit that I never would have read a book that claimed the Civil Rights movement went wrong had it not been written by someone I respect as much as I do Christopher Caldwell. I read the book last week, and I’m glad I did, though I doubt I will read a more unsettling book all year.

Why? Because I can’t see where Caldwell’s reasoning is wrong, and with the Democrats and other progressives sacralizing left-wing identity politics by vesting them in the sacred mantle of the Civil Rights movement — kryptonite in US politics — I see no way out of this. Rauch is right: civil rights laws will not be repealed. They are being used now to dispossess anyone and everyone who stands in the way of the progressive juggernaut. (Read more.)