About Sidestreet Papers

Sidestreet Papers defends liberal democracy against nihilism. Its principles are clarity of expression, a commitment to facts, and the aspiration to justice for all, however imperfect. It is motivated by the existential threat that one side of the political spectrum — that of reactionary, impulse-driven narcissism masquerading as “conservatism” — poses to a functioning civil society. 

At the core of its advocacy is the conviction that it’s all personal. The world comprises two types: the reasonable person and the sociopath. Only the first accepts reality, diverging views on important public matters, and — aware that there are no easy solutions to complex issues — the need for compromise in the calibration of individual versus broader societal interests, particularly with respect to the exercise of political power.

Reactionary nihilism has been seeping into the bloodstream of the body politic since at least 1980. Since 2000 it has been gushing. It now holds countries hostage. Its demand for power subverts the institutions that made the post-1945 Western world the success that it has been. But success induced the expectation that democracy, once in place, was perpetual, rather than something that needs constant attention and reaffirmation.

To give liberal democracy a chance to survive demands relentless opposition to the reactionaries. This starts with causing reasonable but politically passive people to recognize the danger and to give up their enduring belief that political disputes are good-natured competition between two competing views on how to achieve the same result. Otherwise, the assumption that nihilists operate on the same principles and values will prove fatal to a way of life.

About the Author

GKJames is an international business attorney whose worldview — liberal democracy and the post-1945 world order — and belief in progress have taken a beating from reactionary nihilists whose values are the antithesis of his. Daunting as it is to see those values swamped by fraudsters posing as champions of liberty, he sees defiance of these cretins at every turn the duty of all civilized persons … however modest the impact of his works may be.