Paleoconservative

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Paleoconservative is a term that describes an academic or scholarly conservative who emphasizes religious heritage, national identity and sovereignty, opposition to illegal immigration, criticism of entitlement programs, the importance of demographics, and an anti-interventionist policy of Robert Taft.

Etymology

The term paleoconservative was first used by either Thomas Fleming or Paul Gottfried originally as a joke, with the "paleo" prefix meaning "old" in opposition to the "neo", or "new", conservatives. opposite of neo meaning new. Even though the term was used by the paleoconservatives' enemies because they saw it as unflattering, it is now routinely used by both its proponents and its detractors.

Gottfried wrote in his entry to American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia: "Paleoconservative" becomes a conceptual and political counterpoint to "neoconservative" in "The Conservative Movement" by Thomas Fleming and Paul Gottfried (1988). Here the term no longer refers merely to conservative traditionalists of the 1950s and 1960s, e.g., Southern Agrarians, Catholic anticommunists associated with "National Review", and Taft Republicans who rallied to the Cold War. Instead, the term is now applied to embattled conservatives who opposed the growing influence of anticommunist New Deal Democrats on the Reagan presidency and on the conservative movement on the 1980s."

Philosophy

Paleoconservatism "is distinguished by certain philosophical presumptions that differ markedly from the presumptions of neocons and most modern conservatives." Unlike most conservatives today, paleoconservatives are against the Iraq War. They are highly critical of the Bush administration and the mainstream conservative movement. Paleoconservatism vocally distinguishes itself in its opposition to neoconservatism. However, what really sets them apart from other conservatives is much deeper than just policy: they generally reject the Enlightenment in whole or in part; they reject Lockean "contract theory" and the concept of "natural rights" outright. Dr. Donald Livingston, Professor of Philosophy at Emory University, has argued that natural rights are a "philosophical superstition," and that "Whatever they might be, natural rights are universal and apply to all men. Further, they are known by reason, independent of any inherited moral tradition... It follows, therefore, that the doctrine of natural rights must be in a condition of permanent hostility to all inherited moral traditions. Any such tradition, no matter how noble the goods of excellence cultivated in it, can always be seen as violating someone's natural rights under some interpretation or another."

The leading publications of the paleoconservatives includes The American Conservative and Chronicles (magazine). Perhaps the most well known paleoconservative is Patrick J. Buchanan. Other paleoconservatives include Peter Brimelow, Thomas Fleming, the late Samuel Francis, Peter Hitchens, William S. Lind, Scott McConnell, Charley Reese, Paul Craig Roberts, Steve Sailer, and Clyde Wilson. The term has also been applied to the three key intellectuals in post-war conservatism: Russell Kirk, Richard Weaver, and Robert Nisbet.