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PALEOCONSERVATISM – The Ideology of Isolation and Tradition

Paleoconservatism is one of the six quasi-democratic or “fringe” political ideologies on the Map My Politics ideology chart, occupying the area on the top right above the populist, neoconservative and paleolibertarian zones and to the right of the fascist zone. Paleoconservatives consider themselves “traditional” conservatives who embrace capitalism, advocate isolationist and anti-immigrant policies, and favor making Judeo-Christian values part of the legal framework. To achieve those goals, paleoconservatives are willing to restrict certain personal and political freedoms that typify a liberal democracy. Because this essentially places paleoconservatives outside the norms of democratic governance, we consider paleoconservatism on the fringe of the more mainstream political ideologies.

Paleoconservatism is an economically conservative and capitalist-leaning ideology and therefore occupies the right side the x-axis of economic liberty. Some paleoconservatives don’t believe in the same extreme free market policies as neoliberals, such as unrestricted trade, and often support the sort of restrictions on immigrant labor that true laissez faire ideologies like libertarianism reject. As such, paleoconservatism is more in line with fascism and extreme populism in its focus on social order and traditional values. For a paleoconservative, private ownership and capitalism certainly constitute traditional values, and for this reason it is economically “right-wing” in orientation. But as we shall see, paleoconservatives are primarily concerned with matters of personal morality and social cohesion, so they will never be mistaken for paleolibertarians or neoliberals. It’s probably enough to say that, in economic terms, paleoconservatives are basically pro-business conservatives and leave it at that.

What truly identifies paleoconservatism as a conservative ideology is its place on the y-axis of social liberty. Paleoconservatives embrace traditional Christian values to such a degree that they willingly place their conception of morality above individual civil liberties. For American paleoconservatives in particular, calls for advancing a multicultural society with constitutional protections on speech, religion and personal freedom are rebuked as contrary to how things were at the nation’s founding and therefore improper. For example, paleoconservatives view same-sex marriage as immoral and unprotected by the law, and consider legalized abortion not as a woman’s constitutional right but as murder of an unborn child. It’s almost a given that paleoconservatives support the death penalty and even advocate for expanding the list of capital crimes. Paleoconservatism is readily distinguishable from neoconservatism for the latter’s emphasis on military intervention overseas as needed to make the world “safe for democratic values.” Paleoconservatives are essentially isolationist and have no desire to nation-build or otherwise project their values abroad. Rather, they wish to defend their nation at home, which means zealously guarding against perceived moral corruption. If that means a more authoritarian approach to civil liberties, says the paleoconservative, so be it.

Paleoconservatism as an ideology has its philosophical roots in the same conservatism of Edmund Burke, but it is a modern offshoot that traces its origins to the late 1960s when the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement were hot-button issues that divided conservatives. If paleoconservatism has an ideological “father” it might be Mel Bradford, an American literary scholar who supported George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, when he ran for president, and argued against military intervention in Southeast Asia. Like right-wing populism, paleoconservatism is essentially a reactionary ideology, similarly anti-establishment, anti-immigrant, anti-interventionist and anti-globalist in outlook. As Bradford wrote in his book, The Reactionary Imperative, “reaction is a necessary term in the intellectual context we inhabit in the twentieth century because merely to conserve is sometimes to perpetuate what is outrageous.” Other paleoconservative scholars include Paul Gottfried and Christian Kopff.

The United States is – for the most part – a two-party system, and in recent times paleoconservatives typically associate with the more conservative GOP. Previously, Southern paleoconservatives might be found in the Democratic Party and paleoconservatives also identify with third parties, such as the American Independent Party, or as independents. Regardless how a paleoconservative chooses to engage politically, however, an overriding feature of their participation will be a focus on the traditional values of God, country and family. As we stress repeatedly on the Map My Politics site, politics at its most fundamental level is about ideology.

Paleoconservatism has been a presence in American politics in modern times at the periphery, more in shaping policy than in electing avowed paleoconservative politicians. The Ohioan Robert Taft was an “Old Right” paleocon before the term was invented and he was a persuasive influence on the post-war Republican Party, as was the John Birch Society. Perhaps the most prominent paleoconservative politician in America has been Pat Buchanan, a former staff member in the Nixon and Reagan administrations who ran for president both as a Republican and as a Reform Party candidate. Buchanan has also been a successful political news commentator and writer. Other paleoconservative writers include Sam Francis, Steve Sailer and John Derbyshire. Many credit these and other paleocons with the more reactionary, populist tilt of the Republican Party under Donald Trump.

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PALEOCONSERVATISM – The Ideology of Isolation and Tradition

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