The Fall of Membership Clubs

At my grandfather’s funeral, they did military burial rites. Everyone from the VFW, save for one, was in their 70’s or 80’s. At calling hour, there was a Freemason who recited, impressively from memory, comments about life and death. My grandpa was part of the WWII generation. Every small town had a VFW, Masons, Elks, Moose, and a bunch of other membership clubs. It got men out of the house. They weren’t getting wasted or sports gambling.

Beginning in the 70’s or 80’s, men began needing permission to go out. Maybe someone knows why this came to pass. Husband and wife sat alone at home, and had to do everything together. Maybe he was allowed a “man cave” for himself.

They’d work, go home, maybe drink beer at the house or watch television, and never expand their horizons. Men became impossibly boring. And any man over 40 has seen what happens next.

Divorce rates skyrocketed. It’s not healthy to live this way. It’s also unhealthy to go to the bar or spend all day golfing and getting drunk, which is the modern way of “socializing” for far too many men.

Our culture is ruled by the worst expressions of the masculine and feminine energy. Adult men with the emotional maturity of teenagers and women who believe she controls another adult’s freedom of movement. Meanwhile if a woman wants to leave the house in lingerie for a “girl’s night,” her “besties” will claim any man who objects is abusive and oppressive.

There is not much about the secular world that has me pining for lost youth. It’s gross out there.

Even though I’m anti-social, I have organized dozens (maybe over 100 by now) social events. This is for two reasons.

Becoming a shut-in makes you weird, and not in the eccentric and quirky way. You need to force yourself out of your patterns to stay sharp. It’s also healthy, and this is especially true if you’re rich or successful, to spend time outside the usual suspects of staff and sycophant.

Second, the psyop is to create atomization. Keep everyone at home isolated. During Covid you could leave the house to buy weed vapes and hard liquor. Stay home, get wasted. Churches were closed.

We’ve held massive events. From an election night party in 2016 to the Deploraball, A Night for Freedom, and regular cigar nights.

These events are an inside joke with my wife, because I hate leaving the house. Most writers do. My writing stays fresh because I step outside of my own head.

I was at the BIGGS Chicago. This was pre-Covid, so you could walk through the entire house. I always wanted to have a hang-out spot to host events.

What I’ve learned, especially with men, is you need to give them a reason to leave the house. Even the ones who aren't under the thumbs of toxic relationships are hard to herd out of the house.

Starting the club, which is closed to the public and does not do any retail, has been one of my better ideas. This past weekend we had a catered cigar night, and brought in a cigar maker to explain his blend and tobacco making generally. Even though most of us don’t drink much (or at all), we’ve had a wine makers dinner.

We opened enrollment to the club two years ago. I was surprised by the response, and ended up hitting the quota and then some. The only current way to join the club is to know a member. It’s an accountability system. This isn’t a place to get drunk or rowdy. If a member brings in a bad member, then both are out.

We are going to re-open the member’s roll to Substack subscribers soon.

I’ll be candid. This isn’t a car lot. Some people tried to do some “power trip” where they really wanted me to “sell them” on the club. That's part of the reason I closed the inquiry sheet. I can’t imagine calling someone and wasting his or her time, to make myself feel important. Total loser and creep behavior.

You either get the concept or you don’t. I won’t follow-up or use sales tactics. I don’t pay myself from the club. It’s a business that I don’t want to lose money on, not a source of income.

More details on that soon.

Regardless, you need to leave the house. Go to church or temple more. Find a cigar or supper club. Sometimes you need to get out of your own way.