Culture Wars/Current Controversies

Rich Men North of Richmond

Aug 18, 2023

Oliver Anthony’s Rich Men North of Richmond has become a hit single, a populist protest song that has snipped at even more than Jason Aldean’s Try That in A Small Town. Despite the dissident right having spoken quite a bit about supporting right-wing art, when a popular protest song makes it to the top hit list, many are turning up their noses. Before going forward, let us link the song:

Since the early days of the Alt-Right, there has been a snobbish sneering at the country bumpkins who make up the conservative core of the country. These hicks, as it is, cling to their superstitious belief in The Constitution, individual liberties, and limited government. If only these ignorant fools read Nietzche, Alain de Benoist, or, in the case of the current dissident right, Mencius Moldbug, then they would see the light. Though these online intellectuals recoil like salted snails at the idea that the American right does not look up to them, the core conservative constituency are significantly closer to Tucker Carlson, and Steve Bannon, than they are to anyone on Telegram, or Frog Twitter. Reflecting on the disconnect between the right’s “intellectuals”, and the right, I am reminded of a conversation on the left that was occurring during graduate school. Two Marxist professors of mine, who were leaders of the local Democratic Socialists of America, were particularly distressed how the working class, though sharing some desires with the left, were by and large opposed to Marxism. Can a real revolution be orchestrated by the Professional Managerial Class? Are PMCs establishing a new hierarchy by leading the uneducated to the truths of Marxism? They went on to contribute to journals discussing these matters, and I am not sure how it sorted itself out. I know we are the correct ones, but the left knew this too, and it is hard to not see an absurd resemblance between the two.

At this point I want to include part of my upcoming book, giving you a sneak peek into chapter two. How this relates to our protest song, lies in that political warfare must always proceed from economic warfare, and that this means identifying an economic class upon which we can ride to power. The people who sing along to Rich Men North of Richmond, they are that class.

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