Paleoconservatism

President Ronald Reagan with White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan, one of the pioneers of 21st century paleoconservatism

Paleoconservatism is a term used to refer to strains of conservatism in the United States that stress American nationalism, Christian ethics, traditionalist conservatism, localism and non-interventionism. Paleoconservatism's concerns overlap with those of the Old Right that opposed the New Deal in the 1930s and 1940s ^[1] as well as with paleolibertarianism. ^{[2] [3]} Paleoconservatives press for restrictions on immigration, a rollback of multicultural programs and 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. ^[4]

Etymology

The prefix paleo derives from the Greek root παλαιός (palaiós), meaning "ancient" or "old", in reference 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". ^[5]

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. ^{[6] [7]} 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". ^[8] Francis defined authentic conservatism as "the survival and enhancement of a particular people and its institutionalized cultural expressions". ^{[9] [10]}

History of the term

The term paleoconservative was coined by Paul Gottfried in the 1980s to refer to American conservatives who had opposed the Vietnam War, in contrast to neoconservatives who had supported the war. ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]} Gottfried argues that William F. Buckley Jr.'s intense support for the Vietnam War was the true reason why he ousted non-interventionist conservatives like the John Birch Society from National Review , and that neoconservatives only retroactively accused these non-interventionists of holding racist and antisemitic views that justified their ousting. ^[15]

In the 21st century, the term paleoconservative came to be associated with conservatives who criticize Israel and support the Arab cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ^[16] However, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was originally tangential to the neoconservative–paleoconservative split, and paleoconservatives to this day have varied opinions on the matter. Some, such as Pat Buchanan, Russell Kirk, ^[17] and Tucker Carlson ^{[18] [19]} have tended to criticize Israel, whereas others (including Gottfried himself) have expressed pro-Israel stances. Gottfried in particular views the rise in anti-Zionism following the October 7 attacks as part of a broader movement of anti-white sentiment in Western countries. ^[20]

Ideology

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. ^[21]

Paleoconservatism differs from neoconservatism in opposing free trade and promoting republicanism. Paleoconservatives see neoconservatives as imperialists and themselves as defenders of the republic. ^{[22] [23]}

Paleoconservatives tend to oppose abortion, gay marriage, and LGBTQ rights. ^{[21] [24]}

By the start of the 21st century, the movement had begun to focus more on issues of race. ^{[25] [26]}

Human nature, tradition, and reason

Paleoconservatives believe tradition is a form of reason, rather than a competing force. Mel Bradford wrote that certain questions are settled before serious deliberation concerning a preferred course of conduct begins. This ethic is based on a "culture of families, linked by friendship, common enemies, and common projects", ^[27] so a good conservative keeps "a clear sense of what Southern grandmothers have always meant in admonishing children, 'we don't do that'". ^[28]

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". ^[29]

Southern traditionalism

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. ^[30] According to Hague, Beirich, and Sebesta (2009), the anti-modernism 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, an early 20th century group of poets and writers famous for the literary manifesto I'll Take My Stand, as forebears in this regard. ^[31]

Notable people

Philosophers and scholars

• Russell Kirk (1918–1994) ^[32]
• Mel Bradford (1934–1993) ^[33]
• Paul Gottfried (born 1941) ^[34]
• Clyde N. Wilson (born 1941) ^[35]
• E. Christian Kopff (born 1946) ^[36]
• William S. Lind (born 1947) ^[37]
• Curtis Yarvin (born 1973) ^[38]

Commentators and columnists

• Robert Novak (1931–2009) ^[39]
• Taki Theodoracopulos (born 1936) ^[40]
• Pat Buchanan (born 1938), White House Communications Director (1985–1987), 1992 and 1996 Republican presidential candidate, 2000 Reform Party presidential nominee ^[41]
• John Derbyshire (born 1945) ^{[42] [43]}
• Thomas Fleming (born 1945) ^[44]
• Joseph Sobran (1946–2010) ^[45]
• Peter Brimelow (born 1947) ^[25]
• Samuel T. Francis (1947–2005) ^[46]
• Steve Sailer (born 1958) ^[47]
• Tucker Carlson (born 1969) ^[18]

Donald Trump

Historian George Hawley states that, although influenced by paleoconservatism, Donald Trump is not a paleoconservative, but rather a nationalist and a right-wing populist. ^[48] Hawley also argued in 2017 that paleoconservatism was an exhausted force in American politics, ^[49] but that, for a time, it represented the most serious right-wing threat to the mainstream movement conservatism. ^[49] Regardless of how Trump himself is categorized, others regard the movement known as Trumpism as supported by, ^[50] 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. ^[51]

Notable organizations and outlets

Organizations

Main article: List of paleoconservative organizations

• Abbeville Institute ^[52]
• John Birch Society ^[53]

Periodicals and websites

• The American Conservative ^[54]
• Chronicles (magazine) ^[55]
• Observer & Review
• Intercollegiate Review ^[44]
• Taki's Magazine ^[56]

See also

• Conservatism portal

• Alt-right
• Alt-lite
• American nationalism
• Anti-globalization movement
• Criticism of multiculturalism
• Cultural conservatism
• Fusionism
• Liberal conservatism
• Libertarian conservatism
• National conservatism
• National liberalism
• Neoconservatism
• Old Left
• Old Right (United States)
• Paleolibertarianism
• Radical right (United States)
• Reactionary
• Right-libertarianism
• Right-wing populism
• Social conservatism in the United States
• Traditionalist conservatism in the United States
• Groypers or "neo-paleoconservatism"

References

1. Raimondo 1993.
2. Rockwell, Lew. "The Case for Paleo-libertarianism" (PDF). Liberty (January 1990): 34–38. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 7, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
3. De Coster, Karen (December 2, 2003). "Paleolibertarianism". LewRockwell.com. Archived September 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved January 28, 2020.
4. Foley 2007, p. 318.
5. Lowry, Richard (2005). "Reaganism v. Neo-Reaganism" . The National Interest. No. 79. Center for the National Interest. pp. 35–41. ISSN   1938-1573. JSTOR   42897547 . Retrieved January 27, 2018.
6. Francis 1994.
7. Foer, Franklin (July 22, 2002). "Home Bound". The New Republic. Archived from the original on October 1, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
8. Gottfried & Fleming 1988, p. xv.
9. Francis, Samuel (July 1992). "The Buchanan Revolution" (PDF). Chronicles. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 23, 2004. Retrieved January 27, 2018– via SamFrancis.net.
10. Francis, Samuel (March 2004). "(Con)fusion on the Right". Chronicles. Archived from the original on April 4, 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
11. "Meet the Jewish 'Paleoconservative' Who Coined The Term 'Alternative Right'". The Forward. August 29, 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
12. Gottfried 1993.
13. Gottfried 2006.
14. Scotchie 2017.
15. Gottfried, Paul (April 20, 2020). "How Buckley's Anti-Communism Morphed Into Neoconservatism". Chronicles. Rockford, Illinois: Rockford Institute.
16. Postel, Danny (November 7, 2023). "The Conservative Fault Lines Revealed by Debates Over Israel". New Lines Magazine. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
17. Fuller, Adam (2019). Israel and the Neoconservatives: Zionism and American Interests. Lexington Books. p. 8. ISBN   9781498567343.
18. Continetti, Matthew (June 1, 2019). "Making Sense of the New American Right". National Review .
19. Schorr, Isaac (October 24, 2023). "Tucker Carlson and Douglas Macgregor Suggest Israel Is Committing 'War Crimes' and Mock 'Moral Victories'". Mediaite. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
20. Gottfried, Paul (May 28, 2024). "The Anti-White Sentiment Underlying Left-Wing Anti-Semitism". Chronicles. Rockford, Illinois: Rockford Institute.
21. Matthews, Dillon (April 18, 2016). "The alt-right is more than warmed-over white supremacy. It's that, but way way weirder". Vox. Vox Media Inc. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
22. Larison, Daniel. "How Paleo and Fusionist Conservatism Differ". American Conservative Union Foundation. Archived from the original on February 5, 2004. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
23. Judis, John B. (October 3, 1999). "The Buchanan Doctrine". The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
24. Fleming, Thomas (September 8, 2005). "Ethics 01A.1: Gay Marriage, Democracy". Chronicles. Rockford, Illinois: Rockford Institute. Archived from the original on September 27, 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2006.
25. "'Paleoconservatives' Decry Immigration". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
26. Greenberg, David (December 11, 2016). "An Intellectual History of Trumpism". Politico.
27. Bradford, M. E. (1990). The Reactionary Imperative: Essays Literary and Political. Peru, Illinois: Sherwood Sugden. p. 129. Quoted in Murphy 2001 , p. 233.
28. Bradford, M. E. (1990). The Reactionary Imperative: Essays Literary and Political. Peru, Illinois: Sherwood Sugden. pp. 119, 121. Quoted in Murphy 2001 , p. 233.
29. Pat Buchanan Responds To Lenora Fulani's Resignation – Buchanan Campaign Press Releases – theinternetbrigade – Official Web Site Archived October 5, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
30. Murphy 2001, p. 218.
31. Hague, Euan; Beirich, Heidi; Sebesta, Edward H. (2009). Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. University of Texas Press. pp. 25–27. ISBN   9780292779211 . Retrieved December 3, 2018.
32. Gottfried, Paul (February 1, 2018). "An Old Paleocon Sets the Record Straight". The American Conservative. Retrieved July 13, 2025.
33. Hawley 2017; Newman & Giardina 2011, p. 50.
34. Clark 2016, p. 77; Dueck 2010, p. 258; Hawley 2017; Newman & Giardina 2011, p. 50.
35. Newman & Giardina 2011, p. 50; Wilson 2017.
36. Ans ell 1998, p. 34. sfn error: no target: CITEREFAns_ell1998 (help)
37. Robertson, Derek. "The Canadian Psychologist Beating American Pundits at Their Own Game". Politico. Capitol News Company. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
38. Moldbug, Mencius (August 13, 2009). "UR is on vacation". Unqualified Reservations. And no, I am not a libertarian. I'm a fan of Mill's pal Carlyle. ... The proper term is reactionary, though I'll also answer to paleoconservative. ... No one who had any significant exposure to right-wing thought would call a mainstream National Review conservative like Milloy "far right." "Far right" means either a paleoconservative or reactionary, like me, or an actual neofascist.
39. Frum, David (March 25, 2003). "Unpatriotic Conservatives". National Review.
40. "An intellectual history of Trumpism". Politico. December 12, 2016.
41. Dueck 2010, p. 258.
42. "Re: Paleocons On Immigration". National Review . March 19, 2003.
43. Matthews, Dylan (May 6, 2016). "Paleoconservatism, the movement that explains Donald Trump, explained". Vox. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
44. Clark 2016, p. 77.
45. Nash 2006, p. 568; Newman & Giardina 2011, p. 50.
46. Dueck 2010, p. 258; McDonald 2004, p. 216.
47. "The American Conservative Crackup". Washington Monthly . May 1, 2007.
48. Hawley 2017, p. 129.
49. Hawley 2017, p. 29.
50. Drolet, Jean-Francois; Williams, Michael (2019). "The view from MARS: US paleoconservatism and ideological challenges to the liberal world order". International Journal. 74 (1): 18. doi: 10.1177/0020702019834716 . S2CID   151239862.
51. Morris, Edwin Kent (December 24, 2018). "Inversion, Paradox, and Liberal Disintegration: Towards a Conceptual Framework of Trumpism". New Political Science. 41 (1): 21. doi:10.1080/07393148.2018.1558037. S2CID   149978398.
52. Newman & Giardina 2011, p. 50.
53. Matthews, Dylan (May 6, 2016). "Paleoconservatism, the movement that explains Donald Trump, explained". Vox . Archived from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
54. Schneider 2009, p. 212.
55. Clark 2016, p. 77; Hawley 2017; Schneider 2009, p. 170.
56. "Why I Love Taki's Magazine". Charleston City Paper. May 30, 2008. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.

Bibliography

• Ansell, Amy Elizabeth (1998). Unraveling the Right: The New Conservatism in American Thought and Politics . Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. ISBN   978-0-8133-3146-1.
• Bradford, M. E. (1994) [1979]. A Better Guide than Reason: Federalists and Anti-Federalists. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN   978-1-4128-1601-4.
• Buchanan, Patrick J. (2006). State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN   978-0-312-37436-5.
• Burke, Edmund (1790). Reflections on the Revolution in France. London: J. Dodlsey. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
• Clark, Barry (2016). Political Economy: A Comparative Approach (3rd ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN   978-1-4408-4326-6.
• Dueck, Colin (2010). Hard Line: The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-14182-4.
• Edwards, Lee (2003). Educating for Liberty: The First Half-Century of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Washington: Regnery Publishing. ISBN   978-0-89526-093-2.
• Francis, Samuel T. (1994). Beautiful Losers: Essays on the Failure of American Conservatism . Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN   9780826209764 . Retrieved January 27, 2018.
• Foley, Michael (2007). American Credo: The Place of Ideas in US Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Gottfried, Paul (1993) [1988]. The Conservative Movement (rev. ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers. ISBN   978-0-8057-9749-7.
•  ———  (1999). After Liberalism: Mass Democracy in the Managerial State . Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press (published 2001). ISBN   978-1-4008-2289-8.
•  ———  (2006). "Paleoconservatism". In Frohnen, Bruce; Beer, Jeremy; Nelson, Jeffrey O. (eds.). American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books. pp. 651–652. ISBN   978-1-61017-103-8.
• Gottfried, Paul; Fleming, Thomas (1988). The Conservative Movement . Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers. ISBN   978-0-8057-9723-7.
• Hawley, George (2017). Making Sense of the Alt-Right. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN   978-0-231-54600-3.
• Hitchens, Peter (1999). The Abolition of Britain: From Lady Chatterley to Tony Blair. London: Quartet Books.
• Kirk, Russell (1986). The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot (7th ed.). Washington: Regnery Publishing (published 2001). pp. 8–9. ISBN   978-0-89526-171-7.
•  ———  (2014) [1972]. Eliot and His Age: T. S. Eliot's Moral Imagination in the Twentieth Century. Open Road Integrated Media. ISBN   978-1-4976-3573-9.
• Kopff, E. Christopher (2006). "Buchanan, Patrick J. (1938–)". In Frohnen, Bruce; Beer, Jeremy; Nelson, Jeffrey O. (eds.). American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books. pp. 96–97. ISBN   978-1-61017-103-8.
• Machnik, Barbara (2015). "Paleoconservatism and the Issue of Immigration and Multiculturalism". Ad Americam. 16: 29–40. doi: 10.12797/AdAmericam.16.2014.16.03 . ISSN   1896-9461. S2CID   151348946.
• McDonald, W. Wesley (1999). "Russell Kirk and the Prospects for Conservatism" (PDF). Humanitas. 12 (1): 56–76. doi:10.5840/humanitas19991214. ISSN   1066-7210. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
•  ———  (2004). Russell Kirk and the Age of Ideology. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN   978-0-8262-6258-5.
• Murphy, Paul V. (2001). The Rebuke of History: The Southern Agrarians and American Conservative Thought. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   978-0-8078-4960-6.
• Nash, George H. (2006). The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books. ISBN   978-1-933859-12-5.
• Newman, Joshua I.; Giardina, Michael D. (2011). Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation: Consumption and the Cultural Politics of Neoliberalism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/9780230338081. ISBN   978-0-230-33808-1.
• Raimondo, Justin (1993). Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement. Burlingame, California: Center for Libertarian Studies. ISBN   978-1-883959-00-5.
• Röpke, Wilhelm (1998). A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market. Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books.
• Russello, Gerald J. (2004). "Russell Kirk and Territorial Democracy". Publius. 34 (4): 109–124. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.pubjof.a005044. ISSN   1747-7107. JSTOR   20184928.
• Ryn, Claes G. (1998). "Defining Historicism" . Humanitas. 11 (2): 86–101. doi:10.5840/humanitas199811216. ISSN   1066-7210. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
• Schneider, Gregory L. (2009). The Conservative Century: From Reaction to Revolution. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-0-7425-4285-3.
• Scotchie, Joseph (2004) [2002]. Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for an Authentic Conservatism. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. ISBN   978-1-4128-3324-0.
•  ———  (2017) [1999]. "Introduction: Paleoconservatism as the Opposition Party". In Scotchie, Joseph (ed.). The Paleoconservatives: New Voices of the Old Right. London: Routledge. pp. 1–15. ISBN   978-1-351-47773-4.
• Watson, George (1985). The Idea of Liberalism: Studies for a New Map of Politics. London: Macmillan. ISBN   978-0-333-38754-2.
• Williamson, Chilton (2004). The Conservative Bookshelf: Essential Works That Impact Today's Conservative Thinkers . Citadel Press. ISBN   9780806525372.
• Wilson, Clyde (2017) [1999]. "Restoring the Republic". In Scotchie, Joseph (ed.). The Paleoconservatives: New Voices of the Old Right. London: Routledge. pp. 179–188. ISBN   978-1-351-47773-4.
• Woltermann, Chris (1993). "What Is Paleoconservatism?". Telos . 1993 (97): 9–20. doi:10.3817/0993097009. ISSN   1940-459X. S2CID   147206456.

External links

• Paleoconservatism at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Media related to Paleoconservatism at Wikimedia Commons