The rise of the progressives in capturing the culture led to the subsequent rise in debate-me-bro culture. Many conservatives at the time had a libertarian rationalism and held to theories of free markets and free trade. One slogan that came out of this era was that of Ben Shapiro’s “facts don’t care about your feelings.”
On the surface, there is truth to the words, especially as the Left gave rise to the various sexual degenerate freakshows that arose because of the Alphabet Mafia. They were delusional and the society should not cater to their feelings. Yet politics is more than facts, and elections are neither won by facts nor policies but narrative. Politicians must resonate with how their voters feel, not berate them with facts. Politics is a business of sales. Feelings do, in fact, matter. One feeling that will guarantee a loss is that of indifference.
Enter Ben Shapiro, the face and co-owner of the Daily Wire. Shapiro had a clip go viral this week responding to the housing crisis. On the Triggernometry Podcast, which is hosted by Konstantin Kisin, who is the son of a Jewish expatriate from Russia and purveyor of James Lindsay talking points, Shapiro makes the following statement:
If you’re a young person and you can’t afford to live here, then maybe you should not live here. I mean that is a real thing. I know that we’ve now grown up in a society that says that ‘you deserve to live where you grew up’ but the reality is that the history of America is almost literally the opposite of that. The history of America is that you go to a place where there is opportunity, and if the opportunities are limited here and they’re not changing, then you really should try to think about other places where you have better opportunity.
Factually, this is a gross oversimplification of American history. The people who led the way in westward expansion did so in hopes of striking fortune, not necessarily because they had a lack of opportunity in the east. Often, this expansion required government incentive programs like the Homestead Act of 1862 which allowed Americans to claim upwards of 160 acres provided they agreed to live on it, farm it, and make improvements within five years for as low as $1.25/acre. The government had to create the opportunity. This historically unique opportunity was not without its inherent risks and the land claims were subject to market speculation. Regardless, the population centers of America remained primarily on the East Coast until 1930, where California finally received 22 electoral votes. The movers Shapiro describes as normative were not the typical Americans but were the exceptions.
In 2025, the problems are vastly different. There is no frontier for one to opportunistically claim land. Middle America has been hollowed out of many of its opportunities by globalist free trade agreements, while lacking the financial liquidity of the coasts. The economic opportunities for the young people who “can’t afford to live where they grew up” are on the east and west coasts, where housing prices are most unaffordable, not in Middle America where the land is relatively cheap.
In a sit-down interview with Fox News, JD Vance took what could be a subtle shot at Shapiro when he said:
There’s another component of this, Sean, which to me is maybe the most important because I care so much about our young people being able to afford a good life. A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens. And at the same time, we weren’t building enough new houses to begin with, even for the population that we had. So what we’re doing is trying to make it easier to build houses, trying to make it easier to build factories and things like that so that people have good jobs. We’re also getting all of those illegal aliens out of our country, and you’re already seeing it start to pay some dividends.
Vice President Vance stated that houses by right ought to go to Americans and not immigrants. The implication is not some progressive notion of universal rights, but that of a birthright, that as Americans, the housing should be affordable for Americans. In the greater context, Vance is having to correct the mixed messaging from the Trump administration pertaining to H1B visas and 50-year mortgages.
Historically, Trump’s rhetoric has always been somewhat amicable towards the idea of the H1B, though often conflated with the high-skill O-5 visa, while his policies in the first administration led to a decline in visas, so his policies have been better than his rhetoric. To some extent, Vance is doing damage control amidst rising dissatisfaction on the Right.
Just as Shapiro was rather indifferent on the issue of housing, he was also peddling the false narratives surrounding the “need” for H1B visas, stating that Tech especially requires these “skilled” labor positions or they will outsource their jobs overseas. These are lies, as the H1B is functionally a way to undercut American labor. Moreover, the positions are themselves entry or mid-level positions, meaning these are jobs that ought to be going to American college graduates who are, on average, better skilled than their foreign counterparts.
There is an oversupply of workers who cannot find jobs because corporations would rather higher cheaper H1Bs and because the hiring managers in these companies are often practicing in-group preference towards their fellow third-worlders. This is why the administration is attempting to put a fee on H1B applications and restrict the Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa.
Shapiro does not care about the facts. His attitude is one of apathy. He has a cushy job, so retirement at age 65 seems ridiculous, especially as he will live to be one of few Zionist voices in the GOP by then. These issues do not affect him.
Apathy versus concern is a genuine difference between the Kosher Right and the so-called Dissident Right. The Kosher Right are often dismissive of the plight of young Americans. Rufo told young men to work at Panda Express. Joel Berry blames the H1B on market demands due to declining birthrates. Doug Wilson berates his detractors as angry, fatherless young men who are underachievers envious of a certain group.
This is not to say that there are no flaws common amongst the younger cohort, but the paleoconservatives actually care about their plight. Politics is a business of sales. The Neoconservatives do not care about the American people and they never have. They gladly sold their birthright for foreign interest and shallow GDP gains. America First must mean Americans First. Not corporations. Not foreign interests. America for Americans. And everyone knows what an American is and is not.
One Response
Having been in contributing and leadership roles in a number of top technology companies, which transitioned in to a “Tentmaking” serial entrepreneur both internationally and domestically, I would have to posit there are some salient points, which have not been considered and some rather subtle errors in conclusions drawn. First off a reality check with the H1B visas. Currently there are only 65,000 issued per annum for undergraduate positions and 20,000 issued for foreign students who have obtained a graduate level degree from a US University. The US is a distant third in producing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) graduates per annum at 820,000. This accounts for only 22.3% of all college graduates in the US.
This compared to China’s 3.57 million (40% of all graduates) and the 2.55 million (greater than 40% of all graduates) from India. India is on track to pass China with STEM graduates by 2030. Behind China, India and the US includes, Russia, Indonesia and Iran.
Current demand in the US for STEM graduates outpaces the available STEM graduates from the US, leaving a deficit which is actually greater than the total 85,000 H1B visas for undergraduate and graduate level STEM job seekers. Growth rate in the US (26%) is slated to continue to outpace supply. Demand is being driven by the highly competitive surge in AI, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Software Development, Renewable Energy as well as Biotech and Life Sciences. 70% of all new jobs created in the US will require a competency in STEM and will continue to outpace the US academia’s ability to provide the necessary individuals if the US continues its current trends.
In order to remain competitive, it would be prudent to overcome some of the problems as to why there is not a higher percentage of graduates with STEM degrees. It is not something one can just throw money at and think they are going to resolve the problem. There is a shortage of qualified teachers, STEM programs are typically more expensive than other undergraduate degrees, and like the hey days in Silicon Valley–graduates need to constantly be keeping pace with the ever changing requirements and needs of the industry. Specialization is required, but todays requirements will quickly become tomorrow’s Pong.
However, I would posit one of the root problems the US has goes all the way back to K-12 grades. For example, the US high school graduate competency in math is rated 38th out of 71 countries. The majority of high school graduates are not ready for college level math. The numbers are only a little better than this in the area of the basic of the sciences. Giving a simple example, high school students in China and India at least have pre-calculus and a large number of their students have already completed first year calculus and are RWA to jump right into differential equations and can cruise through college level physics. Because our students are so ill prepared, a four-year degree may very well take five years to complete, this exacerbates the cost for a STEM degree over others.
While I agree we may need to ensure that US STEM graduates are taken care of, but given the current demand for STEM skilled workers, eliminating the H1B visa would need to be done as we increase our supply. I have no idea how to incentivize qualified teachers as the amount of money one would make in the STEM fields typically far outweighs what one would make as a university, college or high school math teacher. And really the education system needs to toss this common core garbage math and get back to teaching algebra, geometry, pre-calculus and higher math to better equip our graduating high school students. Further, it would be prudent to disincentives some of the liberal arts and social science majors, but limiting the number of grants and scholarship programs available for those programs and incentivize the STEM grants, scholarships and special student loan rates.
Regarding the inflated prices for housing, this too was an area where there were some salient facts overlooked. In addition to VP JD Vance’s claim that we let ~30 million illegals in the country and they are taking housing that should be available to US citizens. Let me be clear, that I totally agree we need to take care of US citizens first and foremost. But the missing factor here flows all the way back to the 2008 housing market crash. Unfortunately, investors like Black Rock, Vanguard, Charles Schwab, Fidelity and JP Morgan Chase were busy buying up foreclosed as well as new home mortgages left and right during the crash. Rather than creating a deluge of foreclosed homes available to everyman, these investors took advantage of the situation and bought up many properties. Instead of reselling them, they have been holding onto them, in many cases renting them back to the persons they foreclosed on. This has artificially held the value of housing at a higher level by their creating a false scarcity. Really surprised, no one seems to remember this. I know there is action, which can be taken–but these “Investors” also are pretty big contributors to both sides of the aisle–I have little confidence anyone is going to touch this contributor to the equation.