Paleoconservatives call themselves such because they adhere to the notions of the Older Right. There are many variants of paleoconservatism, but one thing we must all acknowledge is that the Constitution of the America’s founders is no longer in effect, except for the parts that still seem important to our current government. The 9th and 10th Amendment are almost completely dead; they only live on paper. The Feds control the States, and it is now assumed that the States are bound by the Federal Constitution and that the Supreme Court is a definitive lawmaker and lawgiver. The U.S. federal government is a centralized welfare state, a state which is not completely socialized (the free market is very much a part of the system, although perhaps secondary in importance to the Feds), but a state which still has its roots more in the New Deal than in the events of 1776 through 1787. The neocons like the centralized welfare state. The ability to control large sums of cash and to make war is a powerful thing indeed.  Paleoconservatives are completely different then modern american conservatives (NeoCons).  

The neocons talk a lot about limiting the federal government, but they are all for the "advances" of the New Deal. They like the centralized welfare state. So any time you hear them talk about lowering taxes, they don’t have a paleoconservative reason for this. Their theory is that lower taxes will allow the federal government to take in more revenue. That was Reagan’s plan, the plan that Rush Limbaugh extols. After all, it's what central planners want: more cash for the government to play with, which gives them more power. Paleoconservatives, on the other hand, want to lower taxes as much as possible to limit the federal government’s ability to centrally plan as much as possible. This is a key difference. Paleoconservatives would abolish federal departments and agencies. Neocons create federal departments and agencies (for example, see the Department of Homeland Security).

Worst of all, neocons also think that their version of "democracy" should be exported throughout the world. You'll recall that I said that they were and are anti-communist. In the '70s and '80s they spent their energy fighting the Soviets. When the USSR disbanded, the neocons lost their avowed enemy. They therefore thought that their system of government had triumphed, and that it should be exported throughout the world. This desire to export “liberal democracy” is just a continuation of the U.S.'s policy of containment against the Soviets, in which the U.S. influenced two-thirds of the world by diplomacy or force.

So neocons want to reshape cultures and if necessary fight wars in the name of freedom, equality, and democracy. This is why we are in the boondoogle in Iraq. September 11th was their opportunity to sell their theories of global democratic conquest to the American people.

The problem is that neoconservatives are not conservatives in the historical sense at all. Like I said, they usurped the mid-20th century form of conservatism, but they also go against the main influences of historical conservatism: the views of Edmund Burke, of most of the Founding Fathers, and of classical learning and Biblical morality. The neocons have more in common with French Jacobins, who were responsible for the bloody French Revolution, than with Burke, the so-called father of conservatism. Burke hated the Jacobins because they were atheists who tore apart a Catholic country, but even more so because the Jacobins completely destroyed their culture and tried to build a whole new French government on the sole basis of an “abstract” ideology.

You’ll recall the French revolutionary slogan: liberty, equality, fraternity. That also is the neocon mantra. The neocons have no problem with conquering foreign countries and attempting to change Arab and Asian cultures into consumer-oriented, liberal-democratic states, changes which are radical departures from the already existing cultural and social orientations of those peoples. The neocons, therefore, are much like French Jacobins. The cruise missile is their guillotine.

How they are going to convert a heavily-Islamic country to Western liberal democracy I do not know. I do know that Burke would have had a fit about this.

My Views On The Morally Bankrupt Left And Famous Liberal Lies:

Liberal Lie #1: "This Country was founded on individual liberty."

The question that begs to be asked is; what makes a person fit to enjoy individual liberties? Liberals, in their half-truths, ignore the reason why. Our founding fathers gave us personal liberty because this Country had an abundance of people who loved God, Christianity, virtue and religion. The abundance of quotations from our founding fathers makes it clear that they knew how important these four assets were. For a country being able to prosper in a government based on individual liberty, the people must have a love for God, Christianity, virtue and religion or our rights and privileges as a free people would never be secure.

George Washington

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. . . And let us indulge with caution the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle." Taken from his Farewell Speech on September 19, 1796

"We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of Order and Right, which Heaven itself ordained. . ." Taken from Washington's Inaugural Address to both Houses of Congress, April 30, 1789.

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor. . . ." Washington's National Day of Thanksgiving Proclamation on October 3, 1789.

"The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his apostles. . . .This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitution and government." Taken from "History of the United States" 1832.

"No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people." Found in the preface to his "American Dictionary of English Language" 1828

"Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and all combinations of human society." Letter to Benjamin Rush, Auguest 28, 1811.

James Madison

"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man. . ." Letter to Frederick Beasley 1825

"Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe." Taken from Religious Freedom, A Memorial and Remonstrance

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? I tremble for my Country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever." Notes on the State of Virginia

"A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. . .If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security. Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. . ..The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of heaven, let us become a virtuous people." Letter to James Warren February 12, 1779

"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure and which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."

"The only foundation for. . .a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue, there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of republican governments." "Thoughts upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic" published in Early American Imprints

"Whether this [new government] will prove a blessing or a curse will depend upon the use our people make of the blessing which a gracious God hath bestowed on us." Taken from handwritten notes on the back of his copy of the Stamp Act resolutions, made public after his death.

These are just a few, of many quotations from our founding fathers which show us what protects America and allows individual liberty to flourish for all of us: God, Christianity, Virtue and Religion. So why do Liberals support homosexuals, porn, condoms in the classroom and taking out God from the classrooms? Must be they did not study their history very well.

Liberal Lie #2: "There is a separation of church and state"

Thanks to the liberal revisionists, we are taught more about what was not written, than what was written. Today's well known phrase "separation of church and state" appears in no part of the Constitution. Furthermore, the discussion of the ninety founding fathers who framed the First Amendment are recorded in the Congressional Journal from June 7 to September 25, 1789. Funny, but not once during that time did one of the founders ever mention that phrase. Doesn't it seem logical that if they had intended today's doctrine of "separation of church and state" that at least one of those ninety would have mentioned it? The statement of "separation of church and state" comes from Thomas Jefferson. The letter promised the Danbury Baptists to whom Jefferson wrote this letter) that the government's hands were tied from interfering with or in any way controlling, the affairs or decisions of the churches in America. Jefferson did not sign the Constitution, nor was he present at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Neither was he present when the First Amendment and religious freedom were debated in the first session of Congress in 1789. Jefferson was out of the country as the U.S. minister of France. This rendered his letter to the Danbury Baptists which was written 13 years after the First Amendment) ineligible to be considered a "first-hand" reflection of the intent of the Constitutional delegates.

Mr. Badger of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as part of a Congressional investigation in 1853, stated, correctly, what the First Amendment means, "The [First Amendment] clause speaks of 'an establishment of religion' What is meant by that expression? It referred, without doubt, to that establishment which existed in the mother-country. . .endowment at the public expense, peculiar privileges to its members, or disadvantages or penalties upon those who should reject its doctrines or belong to other communions, such law would be a "law respecting an establishment of religion"

Mr. Meacham of the House Committee on the Judiciary in 1854 adds some more insightful commentary on the First Amendment. "At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not any one sect [denomination]. Any attempt to level and discard all religion would have been viewed with universal indignation. The object was not to substitute Judaism or Mohammedanism, or infidelity, but to prevent rivalry among the [Christian] sects to the exclusion of others. . . .There is a great and very prevalent error on this subject in the opinion that those who organized this Government did not legislate on religion.

It is sad to say, thanks to the morally bankrupt liberals who despise our culture and hate our history, "there is a great and very prevalent error on this subject" in America today.

Liberal Lie #3: "This country was not founded by Christians or on Christian principles."

Again, Liberals must have missed this day in American history class.

John Adams stated that, "The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . .the general principles of Christianity." Letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813.

John Quincy Adams said, "The highest glory of the America Revolution was this; it connected, in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." Taken from "The Pulpit of American Revolution 1860" by John Wingate Thornton

John Jay, the First Chief Justice of the Supreme court said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rules." Taken from the "Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay" By Henry P. Johnston, ed., (NY: Burt Franklin, 1970), Vol. IV. p. 393

"Now to the triune of God, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honor and dominion, forevermore Amen." Gunning Bedford, Singer of the Constitution, taken from the Funeral oration Upon the Death of General Washington.

"You have instructed from your childhood in the knowledge of your lost state by nature the absolute necessity of a change of heart, and an entire enovation of soul to the image of Jesus Christ of salvation thro' His meritorious righteousness only and the indispensable necessity of personal holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." Elias Boudinot, Revolutionary Officer and President of the Continental Congress. Taken from "The Life, and Letters of Elias Boudinot, President of Continental Congress (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., 1896), Vol. I, pp. 260-262.

George Washington said, "You do well to learn. .above all the religion of Jesus Christ." Taken from "George Washington," James C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932), Vol. XV, p. 55 to the Delaware Indian Chiefs on May 12, 1779.

"Don't forget I'm a Christian," said Jacob Broom, Signer of the Constitution. Taken from a Letter to his son James 1794.

Thomas Jefferson said, "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ." Jefferson to Charles Thomson on January 9, 1816.

The problem with America today is we have too much tolerance. Fulton Sheen, correctly, answers this Liberal Lie. He said, "America it is said is to be suffering from intolerance. It is not. It is suffering from tolerance, tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and Chaos, Our country is not nearly so over run with the bigoted, as it is over run with the broadminded. Later, Sheen tells us what tolerance really is, "What is tolerance? Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience towards evil. . .a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. Tolerance applies only to the persons. . .never to truth. Tolerance applies to erring, intolerance to the error. . ..Architects are as intolerant about sand as foundation for skyscrapers as doctors are intolerant about germs in the laboratories. [so too must we be intolerant to those who use false ideas to build or tear down American society.]

Abstinence prevents sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy, and guess what? It works every time it is tried!! Another form of the "safe sex lie" the morally bankrupt left uses is "protected and responsible sex." Would you have sex with someone you know had HIV and trust a condom to protect you? The destruction of self-esteem by premarital sex among teenage girls, opens the entryway to a whole new set of problems. Ask anyone who has studied this. Since the sexual revolution, we have seen sexual disease run wild in the country, when we start telling people that the only safe sex is in a marriage and that sex before marriage is morally wrong, we can start to cut back on STD's.

If this were true, the during the depression we would have seen the highest wave of crime in American history. We know this to be false. Crime today is way higher than it was during the depression. The root cause of crime is the lack of individual responsibility and the high lack of morals we see in society today.

By Mr. Rush Limbaugh

1. Thou shalt have no other god except thyself; after all, it's thy self-esteem that counts. If thou doth not love thyself, who will?

2. Thou shalt not make any graven image out of any substances which cannot be recycled.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of liberals in criticism, including feminists, racial minorities, or any person who thinks he is a victim of America.

4. Remember the anniversaries or Roe vs Wade and Anita Hill's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and keep them holy.

5. Honor thy mother. If she is dysfunctional, it is thy father's fault.

6. Thou shalt not kill. With these exceptions: life forms under the second trimester, and those opting for medically assisted suicides.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Unless thou aspirest to high political office, useth a condom or cannot help it.

8. Thou shalt not steal. Unless thou art disadvantaged or upset with a jury verdict.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Unless thou art discussing the history of the 1980's, art campaigning, or can afford good legal counsel in the event that thou art discovered.

10. Thou shalt not covet. Unless thou art the victim of gender-related oppression or institutional racism, or art still angry with Reagan's tax cuts.

11. Always hide the real truth about thyself.

12. Never admit who or what thou really art when campaigning for office.

13. Always blame someone else for what thou dost-even so far as to blame the entire society.

14. Thou shalt oppose all punishment-except when conservative Republicans or religious right people criticize thee.

I'm just putting my really favorites in here, I'm not listing all of Mr. Feder's.

1. You think sexual harassment is rampant, date rape pervasive, domestic violence common and Paula Jones is lying.

2. You hate Hillary jokes. You pale at the execution of child killers, but defend the killing of the unborn children as an expression of choice.

3. You think trees have feelings, animals can conceptualize and the fetus is a blob of protoplasm.

4. You are convinced that Frank Capra films and Norman Rockwell paintings are lies and distortions but "Platoon," "Dances with Wolves" and "Thelma and Louise" are realistic.

5. You think a moment of silent prayer at the beginning of school day constitutes government indoctrination and an intrusion on parental authority, while sex education, condom distribution and multiculturalism are values-neutral.

6. You agonize over threats to the natural environment (acid rain, toxic waste) but are oblivious to threats to the social environment (pornography, promiscuity and family dissolution).

7. You believe marriage is obsolete--except for homosexuals.

8. You believe homosexuality is genetically determined, but fascism and spouse abuse aren't. You think AIDS is spread by insufficient funding.

9. You consider the Catholic bishops noble and idealistic when they oppose capital punishment and welfare cuts but dangerous fanatics trying to legislate their theology when they defend the right to life.

10. You are convinced that proponents of welfare reform hate the poor and opponents of affirmative action hate minorities, but AIDS activists who bash the pope and People for the American Way types who go psycho over Protestant "fundamentalists" are guardians of democracy.

11. You attribute every minority problem to entrenched, institutional racism and the legacies of slavery and segregation.

12. You view race riots as justifiable expressions of rage over injustice and fail to see the similarities between a black mob burning a Korean store and a white mob in the Jim Crow era lynching a black man.

13. You marched against the American involvement in Vietnam, thought the Gulf War was unnecessary but believe 25,000 U.S. troops in Bosnia are vital to our national interests.

14. You see no correlation between welfare and the rise of illegitimacy, judicial leniency and surging crime rates, or addiction and an entertainment industry that glorifies drug abuse. But you believe Richard Nixon is responsible for everything horrible that's happened in the past quarter-century.

15 You think those child-abusing religious fanatics at Waco had it coming but the illegal immigrants roughed up by California deputies--after leading them on a high speed chase--are the victims of the decade.

Shawn James Haff, E-Mail at haffs@river.it.gvsu.edu

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