Paleoconservative
The term paleoconservative (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear) refers to an American branch of conservative Old Right thought that stands against both the mainstream tradition of the National Review magazine and the neoconservatives. The term derives from the greek paleo- meaning ancient, and has a humourous association with the dinosaurs through terms like "paleolithic" and "paleobiology."
Beliefs
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Many paleoconservatives identify themselves as "classical conservatives," and trace their philosophy to the Old Right Republicans of the interwar period who successfully kept America out of the League of Nations, cut down non-European immigration in 1924, and stood opposed to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal proposals.
Some historians, such as Paul V. Murphy and Isaiah Berlin, see the paleoconservatives' intellectual ancestors as those anti-modern writers who defended hierarchy, localism, ultramontanism, monarchy, and aristocracy. European precursors to paleoconservatives include Joseph de Maistre and Pope Pius X. Likewise, the continental conservative Jacques Barzun has a mode of thought and criticism esteemed by paleoconservatives. In America, the Southern Agrarians, Charles Lindbergh, Albert Jay Nock, and Russell Kirk, among others, articulated positions that proved influential among paleoconservatives. The southern conservative thread of paleoconservatism embodying the statesmanship of nineteenth-century figures such as John Randolph of Roanoke, John Taylor of Caroline and John C. Calhoun has influenced many modern paleoconservatives.
Paleoconservatives esteem the principles of subsidiarity and localism in recognizing that one must surely be an Ohioan, Texan or Virginian as they are an American. They embrace federalism within a framework of nationalism and are typically staunch supporters of states' rights. They are also more critical of the welfare state than the neoconservatives tend to be. They tend to be more critical of overreaching national power usurping state and local authority. They are more willing to question free trade, harshly critical of further immigration and tend to embrace an isolationist foreign policy. Paleoconservatives often esteem their America First principles as being commensurate with those of the Founding Fathers as embodied in the Neutrality Act. John Quincy Adams avowed, "America does not go abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Modern Day Presence
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The phraseology "paleoconservative" ("old conservatism") was a rejoinder issued in the 1980s to differentiate itself from "neoconservatism". The rift is often traced back to a dispute over the director of the National Endowment for the Humanities by the incoming Reagan Administration. The preferred candidate was professor Mel Bradford and he was replaced after an effective media and lobbying effort (focusing on his dislike of Abraham Lincoln) by William Bennett. The trends preceding that pronounced schism go back as far as the 1950s. The paleoconservatives view the neoconservatives as interlopers. Their view of the mainstream conservative movement is that of a self interested movement lacking the self confidence to defend its old ideas.
Many American Paleoconservatives see themselves as iconoclasts, breaking what they regard as liberal taboos. Three particular targets of their ire are the widely popular figures of Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln. However some targets are far more obsecure and less generally admired. The Council of Conservative Citizens attacks the Frankfurt School in particular. Some paleo-conservative figures, especially Samuel Francis, have been accused of having links to allegedly racist groups such as American Renaissance and the journal Occidental Quarterly. Paleoconservatism has recently become the principal operating philosophy of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). In its publications and conferences it often champions pre-WWII ideas, such as isolationism, cultural homogeneity while recognizing the limitations of capitalism.
The best known contemporary paleoconservative is probably the commentator Patrick Buchanan, whose culture war speech is probably the most widely known paleoconservative critique. The main paleoconservative magazine is Chronicles Magazine. There are many followers of Murray Rothbard who embrace paleolibertarianism, and being culturally conservative, they are sympathetic to many of the same themes of paleoconservatives.
Since the end of the Cold War, a rift has developed within the conservative movement between neoconservatives and paleoconservatives. Although the demarcation line is often indistinct and shifting, harsh words have of late been exchanged between David Frum of National Review and Patrick Buchanan of The American Conservative. Frum charged that paleocons, in their sometimes harsh criticism of President George W. Bush and the war on terror, have become unpatriotic supporters of America's enemies and, at times, anti-Semitic. Buchanan and others have retorted that "neocons" run the U.S. government in pursuit of global empire and for the benefit of Israel and corporations with whom they have close ties; in doing so, paleoconservatives charged, they violate conservative principles of sovereignty while creating new enemies and fomenting Anti-Americanism abroad. As a result, in matters of modern foreign policy paleoconservatives actually share much in common with the American left, and have opposed much of the Bush administration's post 9-11 policy, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Though paleoconservatives may often hold views considered to be out of the "mainstream" in terms of conservative thought, a distinction should be drawn between them and right wing extremists. While paleoconservatives remain engaged in political discourse and promote academic and intellectual discussion, the latter group is characterized mostly by their pursuit of isolation and fringe status, as well as a general obsession with race and violence at the expense of broader political concerns. Nevertheless, similarities between paleoconservatives and extremists on issues such as immigration have sometime raised concerns and prompted accusations of paleocon "sympathies" for a more radical agenda.
Prominent Paleoconservatives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virginia Abernethy
John Attarian
Mel Bradford
Peter Brimelow
Pat Buchanan
Allan Carlson
Lee Edwards
Thomas Fleming (author)
Ezola Foster
Samuel Francis
Paul Gottfried
Michael Hill
Russell Kirk
Christian Kopff
Kevin Lamb
John Lukacs
Kevin B. MacDonald
Eric Margolis
Thomas Molnar
Robert Novak
Joseph Pearce
Michael Peroutka
Alfred Regnery
William H. Regnery II
Paul Craig Roberts
Joe Sobran
Chilton Williamson
Clyde Wilson
John Zmirak
Paleoconservative organizations
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John Randolph Club
Rockford Institute
VDARE
External links
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The American Cause
The American Conservative
Chronicles Magazine
CounterRevolution
Modern Age
The Occidental Quarterly
The University Bookman
Council of Conservative Citizens
Life, Liberty, and Property: Paleoconservative/Paleolibertarian News & Commentary
The Southern Nationalist
Beliefs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many paleoconservatives identify themselves as "classical conservatives," and trace their philosophy to the Old Right Republicans of the interwar period who successfully kept America out of the League of Nations, cut down non-European immigration in 1924, and stood opposed to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal proposals.
Some historians, such as Paul V. Murphy and Isaiah Berlin, see the paleoconservatives' intellectual ancestors as those anti-modern writers who defended hierarchy, localism, ultramontanism, monarchy, and aristocracy. European precursors to paleoconservatives include Joseph de Maistre and Pope Pius X. Likewise, the continental conservative Jacques Barzun has a mode of thought and criticism esteemed by paleoconservatives. In America, the Southern Agrarians, Charles Lindbergh, Albert Jay Nock, and Russell Kirk, among others, articulated positions that proved influential among paleoconservatives. The southern conservative thread of paleoconservatism embodying the statesmanship of nineteenth-century figures such as John Randolph of Roanoke, John Taylor of Caroline and John C. Calhoun has influenced many modern paleoconservatives.
Paleoconservatives esteem the principles of subsidiarity and localism in recognizing that one must surely be an Ohioan, Texan or Virginian as they are an American. They embrace federalism within a framework of nationalism and are typically staunch supporters of states' rights. They are also more critical of the welfare state than the neoconservatives tend to be. They tend to be more critical of overreaching national power usurping state and local authority. They are more willing to question free trade, harshly critical of further immigration and tend to embrace an isolationist foreign policy. Paleoconservatives often esteem their America First principles as being commensurate with those of the Founding Fathers as embodied in the Neutrality Act. John Quincy Adams avowed, "America does not go abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own."
Modern Day Presence
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The phraseology "paleoconservative" ("old conservatism") was a rejoinder issued in the 1980s to differentiate itself from "neoconservatism". The rift is often traced back to a dispute over the director of the National Endowment for the Humanities by the incoming Reagan Administration. The preferred candidate was professor Mel Bradford and he was replaced after an effective media and lobbying effort (focusing on his dislike of Abraham Lincoln) by William Bennett. The trends preceding that pronounced schism go back as far as the 1950s. The paleoconservatives view the neoconservatives as interlopers. Their view of the mainstream conservative movement is that of a self interested movement lacking the self confidence to defend its old ideas.
Many American Paleoconservatives see themselves as iconoclasts, breaking what they regard as liberal taboos. Three particular targets of their ire are the widely popular figures of Martin Luther King, Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln. However some targets are far more obsecure and less generally admired. The Council of Conservative Citizens attacks the Frankfurt School in particular. Some paleo-conservative figures, especially Samuel Francis, have been accused of having links to allegedly racist groups such as American Renaissance and the journal Occidental Quarterly. Paleoconservatism has recently become the principal operating philosophy of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). In its publications and conferences it often champions pre-WWII ideas, such as isolationism, cultural homogeneity while recognizing the limitations of capitalism.
The best known contemporary paleoconservative is probably the commentator Patrick Buchanan, whose culture war speech is probably the most widely known paleoconservative critique. The main paleoconservative magazine is Chronicles Magazine. There are many followers of Murray Rothbard who embrace paleolibertarianism, and being culturally conservative, they are sympathetic to many of the same themes of paleoconservatives.
Since the end of the Cold War, a rift has developed within the conservative movement between neoconservatives and paleoconservatives. Although the demarcation line is often indistinct and shifting, harsh words have of late been exchanged between David Frum of National Review and Patrick Buchanan of The American Conservative. Frum charged that paleocons, in their sometimes harsh criticism of President George W. Bush and the war on terror, have become unpatriotic supporters of America's enemies and, at times, anti-Semitic. Buchanan and others have retorted that "neocons" run the U.S. government in pursuit of global empire and for the benefit of Israel and corporations with whom they have close ties; in doing so, paleoconservatives charged, they violate conservative principles of sovereignty while creating new enemies and fomenting Anti-Americanism abroad. As a result, in matters of modern foreign policy paleoconservatives actually share much in common with the American left, and have opposed much of the Bush administration's post 9-11 policy, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Though paleoconservatives may often hold views considered to be out of the "mainstream" in terms of conservative thought, a distinction should be drawn between them and right wing extremists. While paleoconservatives remain engaged in political discourse and promote academic and intellectual discussion, the latter group is characterized mostly by their pursuit of isolation and fringe status, as well as a general obsession with race and violence at the expense of broader political concerns. Nevertheless, similarities between paleoconservatives and extremists on issues such as immigration have sometime raised concerns and prompted accusations of paleocon "sympathies" for a more radical agenda.
Prominent Paleoconservatives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Virginia Abernethy
John Attarian
Mel Bradford
Peter Brimelow
Pat Buchanan
Allan Carlson
Lee Edwards
Thomas Fleming (author)
Ezola Foster
Samuel Francis
Paul Gottfried
Michael Hill
Russell Kirk
Christian Kopff
Kevin Lamb
John Lukacs
Kevin B. MacDonald
Eric Margolis
Thomas Molnar
Robert Novak
Joseph Pearce
Michael Peroutka
Alfred Regnery
William H. Regnery II
Paul Craig Roberts
Joe Sobran
Chilton Williamson
Clyde Wilson
John Zmirak
Paleoconservative organizations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Randolph Club
Rockford Institute
VDARE
External links
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American Cause
The American Conservative
Chronicles Magazine
CounterRevolution
Modern Age
The Occidental Quarterly
The University Bookman
Council of Conservative Citizens
Life, Liberty, and Property: Paleoconservative/Paleolibertarian News & Commentary
The Southern Nationalist
