I've been "outed" as an unreconstructed Old-Right conservative. I've never felt the need to put a prefix on my conservative leanings (neo-, paleo-, compassionate-, etc.). Just conservative will do. After all, conservatives I've admired--Russell Kirk, M. Stanton Evans, Ron Paul--have always been, to me, just that: conservatives. Why should I yield the term to some Republican cheerleader whose idea of heavy reading is the back page of The Weekly Standard? But, I guess, if the shoe fits--wear it. Maybe I am Old Right.
In an article on the widely read LewRockwell.com, Daniel McCarthy praises me as one of the "Young Men of the Old Right." He writes: "Consider the emerging cohort of brilliant--nothing short of that will do--and principled young conservative journalists who have written critically about the Iraq War and related issues." A few paragraphs later he devotes considerable space to previewing my forthcoming book, Intellectual Morons. I don't know about "brilliant," but I did oppose the Iraq war when it wasn't fashionable to do so on the Right. Now, thankfully, I'm crowded in that view.
What I like most about the article is that it highlights numerous individuals I've had the opportunity to influence or interact with. The author of the piece, Daniel McCarthy, I remember as a student in Missouri when I was executive director of Accuracy in Academia. He passed through our programs, and I was later glad to see him in attendance at a talk I gave at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Marcus Epstein, labeled an "especially insightful student of the history of the Old Right" in the piece, worked as an intern for me when I ran AIA. He's a graduate of AIA's Conservative University, and at 21, he's someone you'll hear from more as the years pass. Reginald Jones's "popularity with college conservatives is hard to overestimate," the piece reports. I second that. I met Reggie at Young America's Foundation. I spent a day in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium with the Bronx-bred Jones. He later electrified students at numerous Accuracy in Academia conferences. Reggie is a tremendous orator, mainly because he knows his stuff and can communicate in a language that non-nerds can understand. They all came to conservative ideas through different paths, but I'm glad that my path intersected with theirs along the way.
If "Old Right" means preserving economic liberty, traditional morality, and a Washingtonian foreign policy, then count me in. Trading big government, at home and abroad, for Republican ballot-box success is not my idea of a fair deal. I'd rather not be a part of something that is so wedded to the electoral prospects of Republican Party hacks, which, unfortunately, phony conservatism (neo-, compassionate-, and otherwise) has become. I'm a conservative. Let the others employ prefixes and modifiers to describe their conservatism.
Don't let deconstructionists warp the term conservative Dan, keep fighting the good fight and call yourself a "conservative."
