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I am sorry that I forgot to get back to you last night...On the question: neoconservatives were intellectuals, Democratic Party activists, and anti- communist socialists who decided to throw their support to Reagan due to their alarm over the drift of American foreign policy in the post- Vietnam era. Many of them refused the label, which had been stuck on them by leftists, and some returned to the Democratic Party, but most became more conservative as time went on, and eventually became Republicans, like me. I was recently out of college when I first voted for Reagan, but I feel closest to this group. By now, most of us are pretty conventional conservatives, with as many differences among ourselves as with other conservative factions. However, I still retain the label to indicate something about the milieu out of which I came, and also to clearly differentiate myself from those who support Pat Buchanan, who has, in my opinion, ceased to be a conservative, and has instead embraced right- wing populism:socially conservative, somewhat anti- capitalist, somewhat nativist, and isolationist...The paleoconservatives are those who resented the intrusion of the neocons, especially their ability to obtain places in Republican administration and conservative think tanks. I am sorry to define it merely in this way, but people like Buckley would surely qualify as paleoconservative if it had any deeper meaning. Instead, Buckley welcomed the neocons into conservative circles, and now some accuse him of being a neocon. To the extent that it has a deeper meaning, it consists of people who identify with the Anti- Federalists over the Federalists, the secessionists over the Unionists, and those who resisted the New Deal. However, there are those who are pro- Federalist and pro- Union who identify with the faction, and there are those who are anti- New Deal who are roughly lumped with the neocons. People who support Buchanan are definitely paleos, although there are paleos who despise his drift into populist economics. Some libertarians consider themselves paleos, and some are completely alienated from any kind of conservatism, especially if it would align them with social conservatives. In sum, then, the labels are more a product of recent historical trends and disputes than of rational categorization. When someone like Charles Hennesey seeks to discuss it with me, I take it in the most rational terms that I can,i.e., regarding paleos as being of the anti- Unionist ilk... |
