Conservatives against the reeducation of societies
“We don’t want to see another effort at reeducating our societies along the lines of progressive ideas promoting an endless cycle of >>liberation<<. This has been attempted several times here in this region. We remember well. And we suffered from it direly” – said Miklós Szánthó, director of the Budapest-based Center for Fundamental Rights (Alapjogokért Központ), during his speech at CPAC Hungary.
Dear CPAC Hungary,
There’s no stopping, the show must go on – I’m thrilled and proud to have the honor of welcoming you for the second time at CPAC Hungary here, in this beautiful country.
A century ago, the communists sung of erasing the past for good. A couple of decades ago, liberals wrote of the end of history and as we speak, progressives are on a quest to exit history. Nonetheless, here we are; Hungary, the shining city on a hill, here in the heart of Europe!
When I talk about the heart of Europe, I don’t only mean the geometric center of the continent. It also implies – and let me express some bias here – that having seen better days, the heart of the West is now beating here in Central Europe and in Hungary in particular. Because there exists a country here that, despite its great share of hardship and ordeal over the past thousand years, has not forgotten that it lies under the power of the Creator not only on account of its inception, but also due to its history and way of thinking. Hungary is no country for woke men.
God, Homeland, Family. Yes, we recognize the role of the Judeo-Christian tradition and culture in preserving the nation. We are well aware that family and nation are the most important framework of our coexistence, and that loyalty, faith, and love are the fundamental values underpinning our togetherness. We believe that children have the right to proper physical, mental, and moral development – that’s why we protect children’s right to self-identity according to their sex at birth.
Of course, we Hungarians have a strange habit: although we quarrel a lot in day-to-day life, when we feel that our country and way of life are under attack, we join arms and unite to successfully overcome seemingly unfathomable conflicts. (Then, of course, in times of peace, two Hungarians split into three again.)
But when the pressure is on, we defiantly stand up as one for common sense and the natural truths of life, while seeking allies to avert the liberal plot against our future. And because the exigencies of life bind us together, we are successful at doing so. After all, we share the conviction that work is the basis of community strength and the honor of all people. That a mother is a woman and a father is a man. And also, that there’s a limit to everything – in moral, sexual, and geographical terms alike.
We’re conservatives, we are the Right, we are populists, and nationalists. Let’s not be afraid to describe ourselves as such! Yes, we are proud of our ancestors who fought for the survival, freedom, and independence of our countries. That’s why instead of throwing our history books away, we keep republishing them, and discover the magnificent example set by our national heroes again and again. We don’t pull down the statues of our founding fathers – we reinforce their pedestals. We don’t rewrite the epic stories of our nation; we rather pass them on to our children just as we heard them from our grandparents. Let me add that the reason we could sit next to our parents and grandparents, and the reason we’re able to tell our children stories today, is because like us, they believed that human life is sacred and deserving of protection – right from conception.
Put succinctly: united we stand. We protect our way of life together. That’s what CPAC Hungary is all about. CPAC Hungary is a no woke zone.
Indeed, we don’t want to see another effort at reeducating our societies along the lines of progressive ideas promoting an endless cycle of “liberation”. This has been attempted several times here in this region. We remember well. And we suffered from it direly.
We also remember clearly that while implementing their terror, national and international socialists were busy convincing the whole world that the system they invented was “the best of all possible worlds”. Today, progressives are trying to persuade us that their virtue signaling ideology – whether we happen to call it wokeness, CRT, liberalism, or green dogma – is the only acceptable standard. That there is no alternative.
Do you know where the sole acceptability of one single path, ideology, and methods stiffens into a doctrine? You’re right – in totalitarian regimes. Hungarians and Central Europeans smell the stench of dictatorship when we hear that only “liberal democracy” is true democracy; decades ago, the same was said – by almost the same people – of “people’s socialist democracy”. Come to think of it, old and new Marxists are on the same page: they remove crucifixes from walls, daydream about the “Internationale” or the “global village” and think that the state is better suited to raise children than the parent.
On the surface, of course, they now use soft techniques and under-the-radar brainwashing instead of direct coercion: “social justice” instead of truncheoning, corporate transgender policies and rainbow advertising instead of state propaganda, and political correctness as code of conduct instead of official censorship.
However, I have bad news for them; their essential intentions have already been laid bare. Although the specific methods may change from time to time, their ultimate goals are always the same: robbing us of the unshackled experience of our national identity, community purposelessness, breaking up traditional culture and families, together with stifling freedom of speech and thought.
Against the backdrop of a war, they have now cooked up a plan to pit us against one another. Fancying themselves in the role of a jury, they think they have the right to say who is on the right and who is on the wrong side of history. They are doing this because they see that the international conservative alliance is gathering strength – and yes, they are scared and frustrated by our successes. The alarm bells have gone off in their heads and they fear that our triumphs could crush their hegemony of power and comfortably plush elite positions.
We conservatives are, of course, diverse. And since conservatism is not a universal ideology but a respect for locality and an appreciation of local characteristics, this diversity is all the more logical. Our sets of arguments could well differ when it comes tax policy, social security, or even geopolitics. At the same time, there is far more that unites us than the little standing in between us. It’s not my place to talk about this in detail, but being realists, you too know that sooner or later, in one way or another, the war will come to an end. However, the issues I expanded on so far will remain with us and the answers given to them will have a much greater impact on the long-term political reality. I could say: make kids, not war.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!
With decades of communist oppression behind our backs, we are unfortunately well-versed in what happens when the international Left takes control of our lives.
For this very reason, our receptors are sensitive and we’re not sufficiently susceptible to liberal-socialist insidiousness still operating with soft instead of hard methods. Moreover, we feel that it is our explicit mission to warn our allies against succumbing to the logic of those seeking to destroy our culture and civilization – whether it comes from the West in the form of brainwashing, woke “social justice” campaigns or arrives on tanks from the East.
I know that we’re living in hard times. But in periods of distress, only cooperation can help. And this alliance must consist of strong people. As I look around this room, I see strong people and strong leaders – and I know that there is such a leader overseas too. For the time being, he is not the occupant of the White House. Not yet.
Put plainly: we must not allow them to divide us. Not only should we refrain from speaking badly about our political neighbors [“Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican”], but we should also refuse to believe our opponents when they spread fake news about our neighbors.
The task we’re facing is by no means a minor one. We must make sovereignty our reality while building global cooperation. This is the exact purpose of CPAC Hungary: to make the liberals’ nightmare – the international cooperation of pro-nation forces – happen. Hungary’s message to you is loud and clear: Keep Right!
May there be peace, freedom, and accord!
God bless you; God bless Hungary; God bless the patriots!