by Dr. Miklos Szantho
You hear a lot about Hungary these days. To be fair, Prime Minister Viktor Orban does upset the delicate sensibilities of the progressive liberals. It is only natural then for Americans to wonder about this distant land that has become a prickling thorn in the side of the globalist Left.
An “age of discovery in reverse” has started, as intellectuals from Tucker Carlson through Jordan Peterson to Micheal Knowles explore for themselves the Hungarian conservative landscape in search of lessons to learn about politics and winning at the polls.
Most recently Dr. Shea Bradley Farrell published her brilliant book Last Warning to the West – Hungary’s Triumph over Communism and the Woke Agenda which takes a deep dive into Hungary’s history and samples our recipe for conservative success.
Hungary’s past is indeed fascinating. Many have dug our graves, but fell into theirs long before us. Our nation was always surrounded – and invaded often enough – by empires, from Byzantium through the Mongol horde to the Soviets. Each of these great powers sought to assimilate us, either by conquest or cultural domination, but all failed.
The Hungarian nation and the state will remain Hungarian no matter what. We will outlast all those who hope to subjugate us – once the Ottoman Empire, later the national and international socialists, now the deep state of the EU. Essentially Reagan’s “we win, they lose.”
We have always taken our borders seriously and controlled them effectively; respected our religious roots and guarded our state sovereignty and constitutional traditions. The family is the cornerstone of our society. We have also recognized that demographics is not just a matter of sovereignty, but a geopolitical challenge as well.
At the intersection of several empires, war between them resulted in us paying the price, as we became a battlefield or a fortified outpost. Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Hungary guarded Christendom against the Islamist menace. The entire budget went to national defense, and our lands were ravaged by one military campaign after another. The 20th century, with its two world wars, was another dark chapter with restless empires hell-bent on imposing their will on each other and us.
Yet every time the guns gave way to trade and diplomacy, Hungary prospered. From an embattled periphery, we were transformed into a central hub at the crossroads of lucrative trade routes. In the High Middle Ages or in the second half of the 19th century, Hungary experienced unrivaled peace and wealth creation. Thus, our interests lie in staying out of wars and maintaining a peaceful and connected world, not in “decoupling” and a new Cold War.
This stance is often misrepresented by the progressive Left. We are absolutely committed to the West, because we are among the architects and stakeholders of our civilization. But we do not want it to become encased in an intolerant, totalitarian ideology and isolated from the world. The progressives rejoice at the prospect of a new Cold War because they hope to impose the most extreme form of their ideology through fear and isolation.
Wokeness may have started with weirdos watching CNN all day, drinking soy lattes, and contemplating changing their gender to pink flamingo, but by now, it has become a monstrous cult with an explicit form of child sacrifice.
It is a very obvious form of Marxism. The Church of Woke is godless and rootless. It attacks historical and cultural traditions; seeks to dismantle state sovereignty; undermines our Judeo-Christian ethics and national identities; subverts the family and brainwashes children. Wokeness ticks every Marxist box.
The “woke man” has no God, no Homeland, doesn’t know if he’s a boy or a girl, and has no moral compass. Wokeness dissolves the primary elements of a person’s identity, leaving a lonely, emotionally and intellectually empty shell that becomes easy prey for the worst totalitarian ideologies.
Wokeness may be a complex, dangerous infection, but there is a simple antidote. The “signature cocktail” of Hungarian politics is just what the doctor ordered. No war, no migration, no gender – and a refusal to play by the liberals’ rules. Neoliberal adventurism must stop. It only weakened the global standing of the West. As we cheerfully experimented with what amounts to a civilizational suicide, our enemies have taken full advantage. No sane society was ever very keen on progressive liberalism, and they will reject wokeness with fury. We should not have to choose between the Woke Imperium and the Western Caliphate. Instead, we must support our families, protect our children, and fortify our borders.
Hungary is the last place – certainly in Europe – where people can speak their minds. A country still led by elected politicians, not ruled by a bureaucratic deep state.
The rest of the continent has sunk into a swamp of harmful self-deception and tragic lies. Obviously, Hungary alone cannot pull our civilization out of the “neoliberal global order’s” swamp of despair. The key is an international alliance of national forces, that should form the basis of the Right’s resilience.
The cooperation of people of good will and common sense from all over the world, but especially in America. Because the US is the undisputed champion of the West. If there is unrest brewing there, the real America we all know and love is best positioned to defeat it.
– – –
Dr. Miklos Szantho is the Director-General of the Center for Fundamental Rights in Budapest, Hungary. He is also the Chairman of CPAC Hungary. He can be found on X @SzanthoMiklos.
Photo “Viktor Orban” by EPP CC2.0.
