“Central to Neo-Reactionary thought is Curtis Yarvin’s concept of ‘The Cathedral,’ a term he uses to describe what he perceives as an informal alliance between academia, the media and government. According to Yarvin, these institutions work together to advance progressive ideologies while suppressing dissenting views. Yarvin’s critique extends beyond accusations of institutional bias, positioning The Cathedral as a powerful ideological machine that maintains its influence by perpetuating a self-reinforcing ‘progressive orthodoxy.’ By framing democracy as an inherently coercive force that stifles intellectual and social freedom, Yarvin challenges the legitimacy of democratic institutions altogether. He posits that these institutions exist not to serve the public good, as they claim, but to indoctrinate and control, perpetuating what he views as a hypocritical adherence to principles of equality and representation that ultimately undermine genuine freedom. This view seeks to erode public trust in democratic structures, paving the way for a model of governance centered on authoritarian control, with loyalty, submission and efficiency prioritized over collective decision-making and accountability.
“The NRx alternative is to, first, ‘Retire All Government Employees’ (RAGE) in order to ‘reboot’ the economy (Musk’s new DOGE seems to be partially modelled on this), and, second, replace democratic institutions with a CEO (or even a Monarch). The resulting ‘GovCorp’ – a society run as a business – can then be regulated not via the ‘voice’ of its citizenry – there will be no democracy – but via their ability to ‘exit’ as consumers in a free market for governance.
“The corporate structures of GovCorps are to be embedded within Yarvin’s Patchwork model, which envisions the world divided into small, autonomous territories or ‘patches,’ each governed independently as a quasi-sovereign city-state. Under this system, each patch operates as a self-contained entity with its own policies, laws and societal norms. Governance within each patch is offered as a service, with citizens acting more as customers than as members of a community. Yarvin argues that this model creates a form of competition among patches, where territories vie to attract residents by providing desirable policies or services. Rather than engaging in the democratic process to influence governance, individuals express their preferences through a consumer-like choice: they can ‘exit’ a patch if they disagree with its policies and seek a more compatible governance model elsewhere. This transactional approach to governance reduces the citizen-government relationship to one of mere loyalty, devoid of democratic accountability. In Yarvin’s view, democracy is supplanted by a form of corporate-style authoritarianism that diminishes the role of public participation.”
Rober Burrows, NRx: A Brief Guide for the Perplexed
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