In their alienation from reality and other conservatives, the extremism of the far right is now reaching comic proportions. I knew some people had come off the rails when someone over at Takimag.com called the founding fathers “neoconservatives.” Now the paleoconservative flagship publication, Chronicles, is publishing in Spanish as some kind of outreach measure.
I was attracted to paleoconservatism around 1992 because of the small government, nationalist campaign of Pat Buchanan against George H. W. Bush. Buchanan emphasized national independence, limited government, preserving our historical identity, a more restrained foreign policy, cultural and race realism, and an economic approach that empahsized preserving our strategic position and the good of the country as a whole, including our working class. His thinking was devoid of the shallow idealistic formulae of conventional conservatives and libertartarians, and it remains so.
Now, out of frustration with the Iraq War, too many on the far right are losing their marbles, disdaining the coalition-building that they must participate in to achieve anything practical along with disdaining the other requirements of realism in matters political, such as some respect for the necessity of a measured pace. I may have to change my blog’s subtitle lest I be confused with these crazy, unpatriotic losers.
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Mr. Roach, what a disappointing post.
For one, you assume, without any shred of proof, that Chronicles outreach is a sign of the acceptance of Hispanization. Why would this be the case? Are there not hundreds of millions of Spanish-speakers in the world? Are Spanish-speakers (especially outside the US) not worthy of our attention? Even if you reguard every Spanish-speaker as your personal enemy, is communicating with one’s enemies out of bounds?
If they have accepted Hispanization, one might think they might have mentioned it at some point. I have been a subscriber to the magazine for about a year and read the online addition daily, but I have yet to see any waining in their dedication to immigration-reduction or to preserving American culture.
Secondly, you make a literally libelous attack on the people at Chronicles. You call into question these mens’ patriotism and sanity, based only (apparently) on the fact they have dared to critize modern American culture and re-published articles in Spanish.
These are serious charges you are making, and though you may be right that the people at Chronicles are less amenicable to coalition-building and a temperate views, I fail to see how you insulting them and trying to discredit them will strenghten conservatism in any way.
When Tom Fleming had words of kindness for the L.A. Rioters, suggesting they were American nativist fobbing of Korean oppressors, I realized I was living in a different reality than them. Sure, they occasionally say interesting things, but the lack of normal feelings of fellow-feeling with their countrymen and their contempt for all of its institutions of authority since a time long before their lifetimes suggests to me that a great number of them are out to lunch and not particularly worth listening to.
Spanish outreach to Latin America? Give me a break.
Even though I agree with much of what Pat Buchanan and his clique have to say about race in America, the term “paleoconservative” brings nausea to my throat because of this movement’s history of irresponsible Jew-baiting. This from a guy without one molecule of Jewish blood in his veins. I wish the world would declare a one-year moratorium on the use of the term “Israel Lobby.” For more reflections on this theme, see my article “Why the Racial Right was Wrong about Iraq.”
http://inverted-world.com/index.php/blog/blog/why_the_racial_right_is_wrong_about_iraq/
“I have been pretty aware all my life of how stupid, cowardly, and dishonest Americans have become, but I find I have been far too naive.”
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=686#comments
This is part of his reply(#9) to a commenter in the above link. What a great ally.
I’m not up on Fleming and Chronicles enough to judge whether the Spanish stuff is the meltdown that you and Larry Auster make it out to be.
I wonder, though–is coalition-building so dead? I seem to notice energy coming from a younger set (post-paleos or whatever one calls them) who have a long future if they stay in the game and keep their heads. Alot of them are grouped around Taki’s.
Most importantly, though–who at Taki’s called the founders neoconservative?
“I wish the world would declare a one-year moratorium on the use of the term “Israel Lobby.””
Will that make it go away?
Evan, I can’t remember who. It was a regular commenter. Along with the Truthers, anti-Semites, and other freaks attracted there on a regular basis, it’s worrisome. I’m sure there’s a silent majority of reasonably normal people, but the commenters sap one’s confidence.
I think the younger set has a lot going for it, but it’s too tied up in an unrealistic and ideological view of foreign policy and war–the mirror image of the neoconservatives war and foreign policy fetishes. There’s a time for war, national unity, plain nationalism, and aggressiveness. Granted, that time is not in Somalia or against the Kaiser, but that time exists, not least after 9/11 and against al Qaeda in general. Any conservatism that does not have a clear-headed and stout-hearted view on such matters is finished.
“the lack of normal feelings of fellow-feeling with their countrymen”
Now there may be something to this, but it is not synonymous with a lack of patriotism or an ‘anti-American’ stance. When one’s countrymen are becoming increasingly vulgar and uncivil (and liberal and irreligious etc), one may be less than warm to them, but again, that is not the same as a leftist’s rejection of his country and countrymen.
“their contempt for all of its institutions of authority”
I am not sure exactly what to make of this statement. Mr. Fleming and all his associates at Chronicles are tax-paying, law-abiding citizens. They, like the blogger you cite Mr. Auster, “declare that this government is no longer a constitutional and moral form of government” (Auster’s “traditionalist credo”), but tolerate it. They respect Robert E. Lee more than John McCain, but I fail to see what is wrong with this view.
I still have a problem with you making this rather large assumption, which Mr. Fleming has explicitly denied. I suppose we might adopt the methods of our enemies and rather than rationally discussing ideas and arguing with people on what they say, we might attempt to read minds or psychoanalyze, but I would not recommend this unless we all want to be told about our “subconscious racism” and “white oppressor roles” by lefties.
Whatever your disagreements with Mr. Fleming, I find it revolting that we must stink to the level of disingenuous questioning of sanity and childish name-calling. Perhaps some of the neo-Nazi trolls at Taki’s are indeed mentally unbalanced (or simply evil) but to compare them to the people at Chronicles is absurd and below us.
I could probably be more nuanced in ranking the disagreeableness of my alleged fellow-travellers on the right. But I do think Chronciles symbolic actions are not helpful and remind me of the neoconservative view that “old world” immigrants will revive us from our domestic cultural rot.
Yeah that post was classic coalition building.
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