Among the Paleos

I had the pleasure to attend and even to address the recent meeting in Washington, DC, of the John Randolph Club(JRC) which was organized by the Rockford Institute which publishes Chronicles magazine. JRC, Rockford and Chronicles are all part of what is known as the Paleoconservative movement. The panel that I shared with with an old friend, Serge Trifkovic focused on the Iraq War and issues related to U.S. foreign policy and the neocon imperial project in the Middle East. It was an intellectual delight to exchange views with so many highly-educated men and women who have contrarian views on domestic and foreign policy issues. Some of the other speakers included Thomas Fleming, Peter Brimelow, Justin Raimondo, and Taki. I just finised reading Fleming's The Morality of Everyday Life: Rediscovering an Ancient Alternative to the Liberal Tradition which is a fantastic read and a great introduction to paleoconservative ideas. Fleming challenges the philosophical foundations of both contemporary liberalism and conservatism and calls for a return to a post-modern tradition that puts an emphasis on family, religion, and local institutions, on the real and concrete as opposed to the abstact. I think that Fleming's thesis is very much relevant to the debate on the consequences of globalization (which I discussed in On roots and wings: The unmaking of Global Hybrids.) Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the last part of the JRC meeting -- a debate on Iraq. But according to Raimondo, who did part in the debate, it was quite exciting.