I will be the first to admit despite being on the left politically, Christopher Rufo has intrigued me for a while and even appealed to my general sense that identity politics and anti-racism has run amok. Plus Rufo always seemed bohemian to me and intellectually-curious – a different type of “conservative.” But once he linked up with the Manhattan Institute and then Ron DeSantis, things began to change rapidly.

Rufo went into nakedly political territory in 2022 admitting that he had successfully marketed basically anything he didn’t like as “Critical Race Theory.” Then he clearly tied himself to Governor DeSantis and got himself appointed to the board of New College despite living as far from Sarasota as you possibly can in the continental US.

Still I was intrigued enough and think it’s my duty as someone who has an open mind and is concerned about Florida (since he is on the New College board) to read America’s Cultural Revolution, Rufo’s new book.

Since Rufo was back in the news this past week after taking the lead role in ouster of Harvard President Claudine Gay, I figured it’s time for me to write this piece.

Quite frankly while Rufo makes some interesting intellectual arguments about the leftist theories on race, and the efforts of the “New Left” in the 1960’s his remedies and disrespect for the private sector are appalling for a so-called “conservative.” There is no doubt he’s an original thinker which I respect but as I am about to get into, so many of his conclusions are flawed.

Rufo has theories on the Marxist-Leninist (anti-imperialist) view of history yet decries the same defense contractors that counter that view daily as being too woke. He over-intellectualizes why decisions have been made in the private sector and seems to discount the prevailing cultural winds and consumerism as a factor in what happens in this country. In fact, I’d argue STRONGLY that defense contractors have successfully CO-OPTED large elements of the left for decades by doing things to please minority constituencies- I dealt with this directly when I lobbied to have the B-2 bomber program killed in Congress. Some of Northrop-Grumman’s biggest defenders were African-American civil rights activists.

In his book, Rufo talks about Raytheon and diversity training there as if it means the left has overrun the company. I’d argue it’s the opposite. Raytheon and Northrop-Grumman have overrun minority and liberal activists selling them on the value of American imperialism as an exercise in diversity and equality.

Additionally, Rufo tends to imply corporations are more interested in promoting DEI and leftist anti-racism than actual profit margins and growth. This is an absurd notion of the highest order.

But the biggest takeaway I get from reading Rufo’s book and his other works is he sees government run by the likes of DeSantis as the remedy for what he views as the private sector being overrun by leftist radicals. So basically as we’ve seen at New College, Rufo wants to use the power of government crush academic freedom unless it corresponds with his world view. But even more importantly from my standpoint I get the sense he wants to use government to poke into every corporate board room, every HR office and every job training seminar.

It’s often forgotten that the last 25-30 years of the Soviet Union’s existence it became increasingly culturally conservative, and through propaganda they worked to portray the west and liberalism in general as decadent.

What we are seeing with thinkers like Rufo, the new right is in fact, like the old left. Looking to use the levers of government to influence culture and force conformity in corproate america. Copying the left’s methods while decrying them is rich – and it’s even richer to accuse opponents of Marxism when in fact you are the ones using the levers of government to make the private sector bend.