Paleoconservatism

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Conservatism US Paleoconservatism is a political philosophy and a strain of conservatism in the United States stressing American nationalism, Christian ethics, regionalism, traditionalist conservatism, and non-interventionism. Paleoconservatism's concerns overlap with those of the Old Right that opposed the New Deal in the 1930s and 1940sTemplate:Sfn as well as with paleolibertarianism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>De Coster, Karen (December 2, 2003). "Paleolibertarianism". LewRockwell.com. Template:Webarchive. Retrieved January 28, 2020.</ref> By the start of the 21st century, the movement had begun to focus more on issues of race.<ref name="SPL" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The terms neoconservative and paleoconservative were coined by Paul Gottfried in the 1980s,Template:Cn originally relating to the divide in American conservatism over the Vietnam War. Those supporting the war became known as the neoconservatives (interventionists), as they made a decisive split from traditional conservatism (nationalist isolationism), which then became known as paleoconservatism.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Paleoconservatives press for restrictions on immigration, a rollback of multicultural programs and perceived large-scale demographic change, the decentralization of federal policy, the restoration of controls upon free trade, a greater emphasis upon economic nationalism, and non-intervention in the politics of foreign nations.Template:Sfn

Historian George Hawley states that although influenced by paleoconservatism, Donald Trump is not a paleoconservative, but rather a nationalist and a right-wing populist.Template:Sfn Hawley also argued in 2017 that paleoconservatism was an exhausted force in American politicsTemplate:Sfn but that for a time it represented the most serious right-wing threat to the mainstream conservative movement.Template:Sfn Regardless of how Trump himself is categorized, others regard the movement known as Trumpism as supported by,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> if not a rebranding of, paleoconservatism. From this view, the followers of the Old Right did not fade away so easily and continue to have significant influence in the Republican Party and the entire country.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

TerminologyEdit

The prefix paleo derives from the Greek root παλαιός (palaiós), meaning "ancient" or "old". It is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and refers to the paleoconservatives' claim to represent a more historic, authentic conservative tradition than that found in neoconservatism. Adherents of paleoconservatism often describe themselves simply as "paleo". Rich Lowry of National Review claims the prefix "is designed to obscure the fact that it is a recent ideological creation of post-Cold War politics".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Samuel T. Francis, Thomas Fleming, and some other paleoconservatives deemphasize the conservative part of the paleoconservative label, claiming they do not want the status quo preserved.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Fleming and Paul Gottfried called such thinking "stupid tenacity" and described it as "a series of trenches dug in defense of last year's revolution".Template:Sfn Francis defined authentic conservatism as "the survival and enhancement of a particular people and its institutionalized cultural expressions".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="(Con)fusion on the Right">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

IdeologyEdit

Paleoconservatives support restrictions on immigration, decentralization, trade tariffs and protectionism, economic nationalism, isolationism, and a return to traditional conservative ideals relating to gender, race, sexuality, culture, and society.<ref name="Define">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Paleoconservatism differs from neoconservatism in opposing free trade and promoting republicanism. Paleoconservatives see neoconservatives as imperialists and themselves as defenders of the republic.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Paleoconservatives tend to oppose abortion, gay marriage, and LGBTQ rights.<ref name="Define"/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Human nature, tradition, and reasonEdit

Paleoconservatives believe that tradition is a form of reason, rather than a competing force. Mel Bradford wrote that certain questions are settled before any serious deliberation concerning a preferred course of conduct may begin. This ethic is based in a "culture of families, linked by friendship, common enemies, and common projects",<ref>Template:Cite book Quoted in Template:Harvnb.</ref> so a good conservative keeps "a clear sense of what Southern grandmothers have always meant in admonishing children, 'we don't do that'".<ref>Template:Cite book Quoted in Template:Harvnb.</ref>

Pat Buchanan argues that a good politician must "defend the moral order rooted in the Old and New Testament and Natural Law"—and that "the deepest problems in our society are not economic or political, but moral".<ref name="pma-00-0621-fulani.html">Pat Buchanan Responds To Lenora Fulani's Resignation – Buchanan Campaign Press Releases – theinternetbrigade – Official Web Site Template:Webarchive</ref>

Southern traditionalismEdit

According to historian Paul V. Murphy, paleoconservatives developed a focus on localism and states' rights. From the mid-1980s onward, Chronicles promoted a Southern traditionalist worldview focused on national identity, regional particularity, and skepticism of abstract theory and centralized power.Template:Sfn According to Hague, Beirich, and Sebesta (2009), the antimodernism of the paleoconservative movement defined the neo-Confederate movement of the 1980s and 1990s. During this time, notable paleoconservatives argued that desegregation, welfare, tolerance of gay rights, and church-state separation had been damaging to local communities, and that these issues had been imposed by federal legislation and think tanks. Paleoconservatives also claimed the Southern Agrarians as forebears in this regard.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Opposition to IsraelEdit

Paleoconservatives are generally critics of Israel and supporters of the Arab cause in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; they have argued that supporting the country damages foreign relations with the Islamic world and American interests abroad.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Buchanan has asserted that "Capitol Hill is Israeli occupied territory". Russell Kirk argued that "Not seldom has it seemed... as if some eminent Neoconservatives mistook Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> During the Israel-Gaza War, paleoconservative Tucker Carlson<ref name=":1" /> argued Israel was guilty of war crimes, and that President Joe Biden's support of the country risked American complicitness in the actions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Notable peopleEdit

Philosophers and scholarsEdit

Mel Bradford (1934–1993)Template:Sfnm
Paul Gottfried (born 1941)Template:Sfnm
E. Christian Kopff (born 1946)Template:Sfn
William S. Lind (born 1947)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Clyde N. Wilson (born 1941)Template:Sfnm

Commentators and columnistsEdit

Pat Buchanan (born 1938), White House Communications Director (1985–1987), 1992 and 1996 Republican presidential candidate, 2000 Reform Party presidential nomineeTemplate:Sfn
Peter Brimelow (born 1947)<ref name="SPL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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