Great Houses Ep. 4: Cults & Company Towns

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

[Part 3]

This presentation and Q&A is the fourth in a four-part series. Because of the strong reception to the series, we have made this a weekly call, which is recorded for EXIT members.

Modern societies are allergic to cults and company towns.

Partly out of legitimate concern for unaccountable and abusive power — but also because they compete with and make trouble for larger, even-less-accountable institutions.

Cults and company towns are defeated because they arouse the jealousy of the Powers that Be — but that’s always easier to do when they also arouse the resentment and moral outrage of the public.

All parallel institutions have the same problem: they exist to generate interference with the cultural and material enforcement mechanisms of dominant institutions. If you aren’t trying to scare the hoes at least a little bit, you don’t need a parallel institution.

So, if you want to build a robust parallel institution that serves this purpose, there are at least four things to learn from the history of cults and company towns:

• How to achieve meaningful cohesion and group sovereignty (the hardest part)

• How to avoid their real, structural problems

• How to avoid their public-relations problems

• How to gain maximum independence while attracting minimum institutional hostility

In this episode, Greg discusses a model for setting up a network of interrelated “pillar institutions” which create a degree of genuine multipolarity without giving away the cohesion and unity of a strong community.

We discuss various economic and cultural institutions that could serve as the kernel for such a community, and what it will take to get started.

exitgroup.us

EXIT News:

• Weekly Group Calls (Tuesdays 9PM ET/6PM PT)

  • Last week (7/8) we heard from Andrew Isker (Boniface Option) on his exit from Minnesota, planting a church with New Founding in Tennessee, and cooperation between right-wing guys with conflicting religious commitments.

  • This Tuesday (7/15), we will have a book club on The Outlaws by Ernst von Salomon. Many parallels to our situation over the last five years, and some darker possible futures. Don’t miss this!

  • On 7/22, the topic is Pioneers — bring stories of your most excellent ancestors, and we will discuss where the frontiers can be found today..3

• Member-led Calls

  • Drone/EWAR call

  • Great Houses call

  • “EXIT Bar Association” call. For EXIT JDs only — reach out in #legal for an invite. Goal is to build a shared list of highly aligned lawyers in all 50 states, so everyone has someone to call in another state if needed.

• Calls coming soon:

  • Fatherhood/Home Education: family traditions, discipline, education, cultivation, and homeschool.

  • Acquisition Entrepreneurship: Finding, valuing, buying, operating, and improving an existing business.

  • Civic Engagement: Getting involved with your local political and community institutions.

• Member meetups

  • 7/19: Tubing in New Braunfels. Details in #texas channel.

  • 7/21: DFW meetup at the usual spot. Details in #dfw channel.

  • 7/26: Nashville meetup — details TBA. See #tennessee channel.

  • 7/26: Houston meetup — details TBA. See #texas channel.

  • 8/9: Family retreat in Holland, MI. See #midwest channel or contact Andrew for details.

  • 10/17-10/18 — Canyoneering trip at Zion National Park. Descending a slot canyon via rappelling, hiking, swimming, scrambling. Expect a 12-hour day, traversing ~13 miles, mostly downhill. No wives or girlfriends, but sons are welcome if they can keep up. Contact Devin for details.

• RSVP links for Dallas (7/21) and Nashville (7/26) cocktail hours available to subscribers below the paywall. EXIT cocktail hours are a great way to get to know the EXIT guys in your area and see if the group is right for you.