What is Paleoconservative?
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Contrary to what the idiot 'Realpolitik' added, Paleoconservatives or 'old conservatives' are not white supremacists or white anything-ists. Paleocons are simply Constitutional conservatives who believe in small government, low spending, national sovereignty, and maximum personal freedom. A neoconservative, by contrast, is simply a liberal Republican. In order to properly illustrate what paleoconservativism is, we must draw parallels between paleoconservatives and neoconservatives (aka "the Republican base").
A paleoconservative believes foremost in the Constitution as the highest law of the land. Any law or measure that rejects, misinterprets or by-passes the Constitution is unacceptable. Neocons, on the other hand, can frequently be heard making statements like "The Constitution isn't a suicide note" to justify unconstitutional or Constitution-bending actions. Mind, this only applies in the neocon mind if the actions are undertaken by a Republican president or congress.
A paleoconservative is a firm believer in the Jeffersonian view of smaller, less powerful government. Neocons claim to believe in smaller government, but frequently overlook that in 8 years, a Republican president and congress doubled the size and cost of government. The main difference between a neocon and a paleocon is that the neocons will give you a pass on this behavior as long as you have an '(R)' beside your name, where paleocons will not. Most paleocons are in favor of repealing the Income Tax as a good incentive for our government to spend less and reward achievement rather than punish it. The neocon has given very little thought how to curb government spending or why it's important - they just like when someone promises to, preferably in between clever digs at Democratic senators.
A paleoconservative believes in hard currency and a balanced budget. The framers of the Constitution called for United States currency to be based on precious metals to avoid a devalued currency and inflation such as we have today. Paleocons would also like to balance the budget before we borrow more money from China than our grandchildren's grandchildren could ever possibly repay. Neocons assume that this is a non-issue because of the Bush tax cuts. The budget is already balanced and we have 0 national debt because a Republican president would certainly demand that it be so. And even if said President did not, "it's not that big of a deal". And even if it was a big deal, not wanting China to own this country is something only liberals worry about. It is of little importance to the neocon that pork-barrel spending also doubled under their president, because fiscal responsibility takes a backseat to party politics in in the mind of the neocon.
A paleoconservative takes a somewhat more liberal stance on social issues. Most paleocons frown on the War on Drugs, it being mainly a hole to pour taxpayer money down. The Constitution is a check on government power, not individual liberty. Neocons see the Constitution as being inadequate since there's nothing in there damning drugs or homosexuals, and they don't like that the only thing the Constitution says about a national religion is that having one is forbidden.
A paleoconservative believes that good fences make good neighbors. It is interpreted, primarily by liberals, as racism that paleocons want a border fence, but the truth is that we just want to know who is here, why they came, and what they're doing. We also like the idea of being able to turn off the proverbial faucet if we want. Here again, we differ from the neocons. Being that a 2-term president, even under massive pressure to do so, did not fence the border nor take any meaningful immigration action, neocons conclude that that's all right because the president is a Republican. If the United States suffered another terrorist attack, and the perpetrators turned out to be aliens who entered the country illegally after 9/11, your average neocon would immediately begin searching for ways to blame former President Clinton. You can sum up the overall neocon political philosophy with "Republicans good, Democrats bad."
Paleoconservatives believe that our military should be powerful, but should only be used when the United States is threatened. Our forefathers warned us against foreign entanglements, but their advice is lost on the neocon. The neocons are pro-Iraq War, pro-Iran War, pro-North Korea War, and pro-Syria War, even though these four nations combined would have little hope against a United States attack. A paleocon believes that if the United States would simply control its borders and immigration, we would have little to fear from terrorists. Neocons live in fear of being branded 'anti-American', and will get behind any meaningless conflict to prove they're not.
A paleoconservative believes that the Republican party has semi-failed socially, and failed titanically fiscally, and usually votes third party. A neocon would rather see their grandchildren starve to death before voting Libertarian or Constitution Party. After all, a vote for third party is a vote for a Democrat, and remember, "Republicans good, Democrats bad" is the only acceptable political stance.
The paleoconservative believes in a diet rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. The neocon subsists almost entirely on talk radio, particularly Rush Limbaugh which is where they get their "anti-war = anti-American" 'ideas'.
Finally, a paleoconservative is very wary of foreign allies, treaties and allegiances as they can breed serious conflicts of interest, and possible erosion of national sovereignty. Neocons are with us on this point, for the most part, as we would both like to see the United States out of the UN, but here again, neocons will happily look the other way when a Republican goes astray. In 2005, our President signed a treaty under the guise of 'fair trade' that will eventually merge the United States with Mexico and Canada creating a "North American Union". Your average paleocon wants America to be self-existing and self-governing, but that is of secondary importance to the neocon. As long as you blame former President Clinton for the War of 1812, America can burn.
The bottom line is that neocons love the Republican party more than they love America. They might talk the talk, but when it comes to it, they will happily wait outside in a blizzard for 3 hours to vote for a Republican with no party platform. Party first, country second. I won't tell you how to vote, but I suggest you at least check to see if there are any paleoconservative candidates on your state's ballot.
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