The Official Organ of a Party That Distrusts Official Organs

TheCarlinist

Question Everything Est. 1937

Stop Press  ·  Nothing Has Happened  — details, such as they are, inside
From the Founding Desk

We Are Pleased to
Announce Nothing.

An anti-political party for people who have read the fine print and would like to file a complaint about the fine print.

The Carlinist Party was founded on a single unshakable conviction, which we will now shake. Every party that has ever asked for your allegiance has offered, in exchange, a story about the future. We offer no such story. We find the future is best left unpromised, on the grounds that it keeps arriving anyway, entirely without our help.

We are not the left. We are not the right. We are the small, alert feeling you get in the back of your neck when someone in a good suit says the word "obviously." We organize that feeling. We do not lead it — leading it would require us to know where it's going, and we have made a policy of not.

What we ask of a Carlinist is nothing you weren't already doing in private: doubt the pitch, read the receipt, notice who benefits, and reserve the right to change your mind out loud. That's the whole platform. Everything below is commentary, and should be treated accordingly — that is, skeptically, including by us.

If any of this moves you, be careful. Being moved is exactly the condition under which people sign things.

Sec. 02

The Platform

Five planks. Each one is available for immediate cross-examination — a courtesy no other party extends. Press Question this and the plank will argue against itself, because a plank that can't survive that isn't worth standing on.

Plank I

We make no promises, so that we may keep every one of them.

The Party, cross-examined

A party that promises nothing is, technically, still asking for your vote — and doing it while looking clever, which is the oldest promise of all. Notice that. We did, eventually.

Plank II

Membership is free. Leaving is free. These are our two best-funded programs.

The Party, cross-examined

"Free" is a price, and someone is paying it — usually with attention, which is the only currency that never gets refunded. If leaving is truly free, ask yourself why we built a door you have to read about.

Plank III

We support your right to disagree with this platform — including this sentence, retroactively.

The Party, cross-examined

Granting you a right you already had is the cheapest generosity in politics. We didn't give you permission to disagree. You'll notice we're not in a position to.

Plank IV

The Party opposes all clubs — especially the one it has just started.

The Party, cross-examined

It's a big club, and the moment you're glad to be in it, you've stopped being useful to it. Founding an anti-club club is still founding a club. We're aware. Awareness is not an exit.

Plank V

We will hold no rallies. Attendance will be mandatory.

The Party, cross-examined

A rally you can't attend is still a rally you're thinking about. We got you into the tent by telling you there was no tent. Please locate the nearest exit, which is the same as the entrance, which is your own judgment.

Sec. 03

The Pledge

Recite If You Must Then Reconsider
The Carlinist Oath
"I solemnly swear to question everything — up to and including this pledge, the person who handed it to me, and my own reasons for agreeing to it."
— Effective the moment you doubt it
Sec. 04

Corrections & Clarifications

The Carlinist regrets the following

In our previous issue — which does not exist, and never did — we stated several things with confidence. We regret the confidence.

An earlier draft of Plank II described leaving the Party as "hard." It is not. It is the easiest thing we offer. The word was changed; the ease was not.

We referred to ourselves throughout as "we." There is no we. There is only a masthead and a lot of people who agreed to stop taking things at face value. The masthead regrets implying otherwise, and takes full responsibility, whatever that turns out to mean.

Corrections to these corrections may be filed at any time, with anyone, including yourself, in the mirror, quietly.

There Is Nothing to Join.

Which is precisely how you'll know it's working. Should you feel the urge to belong to something, that urge is the news. Report it to no one.

No dues · No card · No newsletter you didn't already suspect