Weaponized: The Left's Seizure of State Power

THE ELITES LOATHE THE IDEA THAT THE U.S. CONSTITUTION RESTS POWER IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE.

It has become a common observation that a pernicious agenda-sometimes called Progressive, "woke," or "equity based"-has spread throughout American society. Every aspect of life and culture-from schooling, to television, to the workplace, and to sports-is now suffused with this program.

The agenda has multiple overt aims, including the rectification of historical racial injustice by deconstructing legacy notions of merit and the value of work, now redefined as the values of white privilege. It seeks to undo segregated residential patterns by altering the political geography of the country, concentrating the population in dense urban areas, reversing "white flight" by eliminating the suburbs that have caused so much harm. It plans to undermine the traditional family structure by cultivating confusion about gender norms and sexuality among American children. It aims to end the system of punishment for violating the law by redefining crime and "reimagining" the function of the police in order to turn them into enforcement agents for socio-political standards rather than protectors of people and property. And it seeks to end the meaning of "America" as a nation by dissolving the difference between citizen and foreigner.

These are all familiar tendencies in modern life-we hear people complain generally about them on social media or cable news all the time-even if we don't necessarily connect them or see them as part of a unified, revolutionary effort to change America. Seth Barron's WEAPONIZED proves exactly how the Left is waging war on the American people by attacking specific institutions of the American way of life, essentially sucking all power up the chain, away from the people and into the hands of a managerial, administrative class that has its own vision for the future of the country.

This elite class wants control over everything. It is intolerable for them that any corner of American life is being run contrary in any way to the totalizing, even totalitarian, vision they have of our society.

The elites loathe the idea that the U.S. Constitution rests power in the hands of the people, and that states and localities are reserved certain key rights. Our historical system enshrines self-rule-the principle that communities comprised of self-regulating subjects can govern themselves best-while the Left believes that the people who don't live somewhere are the best equipped to set the rules there.

This is a war against the sovereignty of the American people, and the hour is late.

Table of Contents to WEAPONIZED: The Left's Capture and Destruction of America's Sacred Institutions by Seth Barron

Land Acknowledgment

Author’s Note

Introduction

ONE Citizenship: Coming to America . . . to Shoot Sea Lions

TWO Public Safety: All Causes Are One Cause

THREE Housing: Racist Roads

FOUR Education: Pay Your Dues

Conclusion

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

About the Author

SETH BARRON (NEW YORK, NEW YORK) is a New York City-based reporter and editor who has covered local politics closely for more than ten years. Barron is the Managing Editor of The American Mindon Fox News to discuss New York City issues. He frequently appears on a range of local and national television and radio programs as a commentator.

The author lives & works in New York City.

https://www.city-journal.org/contributor/seth--barron_849

https://www.manhattan-institute.org/expert/seth-barron

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/authors/seth_barron/

https://www.foxnews.com/person/b/seth-barron

https://muckrack.com/seth-barron/articles

https://nypost.com/author/seth-barron/

"In WEAPONIZED, Seth Barron argues provocatively and effectively that the Left has burrowed far deeper into the infrastructure of American life than is commonly understood. I’ve heard few arguments as eye-opening as Barron’s connection between suburban upzoning and open borders. WEAPONIZED should be read by anyone concerned about the direction of the country and understanding how we arrived here.

—Tom Fitton, president, Judicial Watch

"In WEAPONIZED, Seth Barron deftly examines the infiltration of major institutions of American life by radical ideologues who seek to transform the national order. Barron offers fresh insights about citizenship, race relations, and education and housing policies to reach surprising conclusions. His lively style and amusing references make for an engaging, enjoyable read. This is essential reading for enlightened citizens alarmed at the current crisis of American constitutionalism."

—Ryan Williams, president, The Claremont Institute, and Publisher of The Claremont Review of Books

"WEAPONIZED presents, in emphatic but well-reasoned detail, how the new progressivism is undermining society — in race relations, housing, the economy, and education. It provides a superb wake-up call that is sorely needed to combat the  outbreak of insanity that threatens us all. It is essential reading not just for conservatives, but perhaps even more so for independents and remaining rational Democrats."

—Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow in Urban Futures, Chapman University, and author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism

"Seth Barron’s new book WEAPONIZED is a trenchant, lively examination of the liberal 'long march through the institutions' of American life. I don’t often read a book that combines policy analysis with deft wit but Seth pulls it off. He traces the anticarceral Third Worldism of Zohran Mamdani to its philosophical origins and unveils Angela Davis as the secret sharer of the contemporary left. WEAPONIZED is a must-read for anyone who hungers to comprehend the extent to which contemporary progressivism has upended the world. 

—JOHN TIERNEY, author of The Power of Bad

"Does America have a 'housing crisis,' outweighing existing residents’ right to have some say over what their neighborhoods look like? Is America a “nation of immigrants,” meaning that any questioning of an open border is xenophobic? Are highways “racist”? Are police departments the legacy of our “original sin” of slavery? In Weaponized, Seth Barron carefully and incisively reasons his way through the seemingly unimpeachable shibboleths by which the left would govern us."

—NICOLE GELINAS, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute and author of Movement: New York's Long War to Take Back Its Streets from the Car

"Many of us feel that we’ve been living through an era of rapid and disorienting change. Institutions we once relied on to maintain the social order have become instruments of instability. Seth Barron explains the disturbing strategies behind this “weaponization” of American institutions. He does so with wit and an unerring touch for the illustrative detail. An essential chronicle of social conditions and public administration in 2020s America."

—STEPHEN EIDE, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute, and author of Homelessness in America: The History and Tragedy of an Intractable Social Problem