Conservative Heritage Times

Lawrence Auster has responded to Paul Gottfried and my earlier post.

First of all, when I suggested that Lawrence Auster has “substantial problems” I was not referring to him personally. I meant his rather eclectic school of thought. Austerism is almost a philosophy unto itself. I assumed it was clear I was referring to his beliefs because I mentioned Lincoln, nationalism, neo-Confederates, and paleoconservatism in the two sentences that directly followed.

Now I admittedly did make a personal criticism of how he deals with people who see things differently because I think it is pertinent. It is not a coincidence that he has both alienated and publicly distanced himself from so many partial allies and by doing so has walled himself into almost a philosophy of one. He reminds me of the Randian Objectivists with their need to publicly disavow and sever ties. (Asking that the link to his site be removed from TakiMag is a perfect example.) Austerism as an eclectic system that few can entirely embrace is, I believe, partially the result of Auster the person.

He says that his detractors attack him personally and refuse to deal with his arguments. Clearly this is one of those “eye of the beholder” things. I think the truth is exactly the opposite. Auster often refuses to deal with his opponents. I presented what I thought was a rather coherent argument on the problems with Lincoln, and he responded by saying something along the lines of “I don’t talk to neo-Confederates. Be done with you.”

I believe unbeknownst to Auster, we had another interaction. I sent him an e-mail under a different name because I knew he wasn’t talking to “Red Phillips” and it quickly degenerated in much the same way after a brief exchange. Essentially, “I’m right, you are wrong, and I chose to no longer discuss this with you.”

Everyone who knows me knows I am not a prickly guy. If anything I am a “pathological” conciliator, often arguing for the various factions within paleodom to get along. Desiring to work together when possible with other factions that are partial allies. For example, look at my exchange with “The Northern Agrarian” when he endorsed Nader. I argued that we have to live with the conspiracy theorists among us. This is par for the course with me. So why did my two exchanges with Auster go down hill so quickly? Was it because I was being unreasonable? Of course, I’m sure Auster thinks they went down hill because I was wrong for refusing to agree with him.

To RonL whose comment appears on the Auster post, Conservative Times generally practices a policy of not censoring posts. I think it is unfortunate that the first Auster post degenerated into attacking Jews (and Christianity). I happen to agree with Auster that obsessing about Jews tends to seriously distort the reality of the obsessed. I just believe I have a different standard for determining when I see a problem. As I said, I think Auster’s detector is overly sensitive.

OK, enough with the personal stuff. Auster says people don’t respond to his criticisms substantively. Well I’m composing a post on the Israel Gaza issue at hand. I hope Auster will grapple with it.

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Lawrence Auster has some good things to say on immigration, but he is not without substantial problems. He is an ideological nationalist and as such gets Lincoln wrong and is an enemy of “neo-Confederates.” (I hate that term but use it here for clarity.) He also bashes paleos and particularly doesn’t like Thomas Fleming. What lies behind much of this is his pathological inability to tolerate differences on certain subjects. And he is very public with his grumpiness. I have my differences with Fleming and some of the other arch-Catholics at Chronicles and in paleodom generally because I think they get theology wrong. But I also recognize that things are what they are and move on. If I had the same disposition as Auster, I would publicly disavow and demonize them and stomp off to an ever smaller phone booth in a huff. Heck I would publicly disavow some of the other bloggers here. But paleodom is already plagued by fractiousness and an inability to play nice together. Auster’s attitude is precisely what we do not need.

Now Auster is at it again. He has called out Taki for his recent article on the Israel vs. Gaza conflict. While I think it is generally unwise to make Hitler and Nazi comparisons, because it is such an emotional subject and the neocons, for whom it is always 1939, do it all the time, Taki is not “comparing” Israel to the Nazis in the way that Auster implies. Taki is making a numeric comparison of the ratio of people killed on both sides.

Auster is an ethnic Jew who converted to Christianity. He is VERY sensitive to perceived anti-Semitism. (Of course, Auster may assume that my mention of the possibly but not necessarily germane subject of his ethnicity is anti-Semitic in and of itself.) Anti-Semitism certainly exists and it exists in abundance in the nationalist and racial realist circles Auster already resides in. But anti-Semitism is not proven by the position one takes regarding Israel or American foreign policy towards Israel. Anymore than racism, a charge Auster should be sensitive to, is proven by opposition to Affirmative Action.

I don’t care what side Auster takes in the Israel/Palestinian conflict, and I don’t see why he so much cares what side Taki takes. The point is America should not be involved one way or the other. We should totally disengage as a nation. It is not our fight. Surely Auster as a nationalist can agree with that.

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Creating Equal? It’s Just Not Possible by Ryan Setliff

I simply don’t believe that anybody is equal period. There is no divine “Thou shall be equal” command, despite how innate and sacrosanct such a postulate is to modern man’s egalitarian intuition. Mel Bradford avows:

Let us have no foolishness indeed. Equality as a moral or political imperative, pursued as an end in itself — Equality, with the capital “E” — is the antonym of every legitimate conservative principle. Contrary to most Liberals, new and old, it is nothing less than sophistry to distinguish between equality of opportunity (equal starts in the “race of life”) and equality of condition (equal results). For only those who are equal can take equal advantage of a given circumstance. And there is no man equal to any other, except perhaps in the special, and politically untranslatable, understanding of the Deity. Not intellectually or physically or economically or even morally. Not equal! Such is, of course, the genuinely self-evident proposition. Its truth finds a verification in our bones and is demonstrated in the unselfconscious acts of our everyday lives: vital proof, regardless of our private political persuasion. Incidental equality, engendered by the pursuit of our other objectives, is, to be sure, another matter. Inside the general history of the West (and especially within the American experience) it can be credited with a number of healthy consequences: strength in the bonds of community, assent to the authority of honorable regimes, faith in the justice of the gods.   Continue Reading »

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To me, the country comes before the economy; and the economy exists for the people. I believe in free markets, but I do not worship them. In the proper hierarchy of things, it is the market that must be harnessed to work for man - and not the other way around. ~ Patrick J. Buchanan

Regarding Red’s sensible post, I must say that  free trade does not exist, nor will it ever. Only globalists are so naive to think free trade does or should exist. And, by and large, only do American ideologues promote such lunacy, for “free trade” is not an economic policy, but an ideology.

I ask: what other countries practice free trade? Almost all European and Asian countries protect key industries. Not only do they throw up tariffs to protect these sectors, but they subsidize them with tax dollars. Wall Street neoconservatives and neoliberals who preach the virtues of free trade are essentially asking Americans to show up to a gun fight with clubs. (N.B. Our current annual trade deficit is $3,998,265,072.) As Pat Buchanan recently wrote, discussing this peculiar religion of Toyota Republicans:   Continue Reading »

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Trade is one of the most contentious issues in paleodom. I think it is commonly assumed that almost all paleos are anti-free trade because that is one of the things that supposedly sets paleos apart, but my experience is that that isn’t necessarily true. I have met and know of a lot of paleos who are essentially free trade. This is especially true if you lump in the Ron Paul coalition and paleolibertarians.

Here is what I think we all agree on. We should get out of sovereignty sacrificing trade deals such as NAFTA and GATT. An across the board revenue tariff would be preferable to and should replace the income tax and other direct taxation. Funding a radically smaller Constitutional sized government, of course. Non-libertarians should reject at the philosophical and moral level economic reductionism, economic man thinking, and efficiency as the highest good.

Beyond that, it gets messy. Here is my question. What policies would our fair traders or protectionists propose? This has never been clear to me. Assuming it is something in addition to an across the board revenue tariff.

Do you want to selectively use tariff policy to “protect” certain industries as the term protectionism implies. Would you prohibit outsourcing? Tax it? What about mirror trade which is what Duncan Hunter advocated, matching our tariff to the tariff of the country of origin. What about using the tariff to equalize the costs of production in the country of origin with our own. (This is what is in the Constitution Party platform, but Chuck Baldwin did not endorse that when asked.) You get the point. Flesh out for me what policies you would advocate.

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Well, not really, but you can vote for one and/or send a comment.

Go here to ChooseYourChairman(dot)com.

I didn’t vote for any of them, but I did send the following comment.

The new Chairman needs to be friendly to Ron Paul and his supporters. Specifically he need to be friendly to non-interventionist foreign policy, strict Constitutionlism, anti-Fed and pro-gold sentiment, etc. Support of amnesty or the bank bailout should be disqualifying.

Anuzis, Dawson and Steele (that I know of) all have records of hostility to Paul and his supporters.

I will elaborate on the anti-Paul pasts of these three when I have more time.

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And it is a good ‘un.

There is a malaise at the very core of this country’s foreign-policymaking, on both sides of the dominant duopoly in Washington. At its poles there may be differences over tactics and means, but the alleged necessity of America’s continued, open-ended “engagement” in faraway lands is never questioned – and it will not be questioned under the new regime.

Ain’t that the truth?

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Here is a funny but sadly accurate article from our friend Jack Hunter, the Southern Avenger, on why 2009 will be no different from 2008 since the two party duopoly is still in charge.

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blog more, comment less, and write at least one article per week. And oh yeah, lose weight.

There is a lot of utility in commenting, and I have managed to build something of a name for myself by frequently commenting at various sites, but I have decided that my time would probably be better spent with original blog posts and articles. I find myself many times getting caught up in the commenting, and sometimes the comments are long enough to be stand alone blog entries or articles. But they have a limited audience of those who are following the thread and even then a lot of comments don’t get read. I think that original posts and articles are more enduring (for lack of a better word) and have the potential to reach more people.

I also believe my net computer time will actually decrease which should make the wife happy.

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According to the Israel-First, pro-war, any-war crowd, if you so much as question the Israeli Army’s use of American WMDs against the civilians in Gaza, you’re a goose-stepping Nazi who wants to exterminate all Jews. And the only moral, rational choice for the Israelis is to kill all Palestinians. Think I’m exaggerating? See for yourself.

Let’s not forget that all this is taking place in occupied Gaza, which is Egyptian territory illegally seized by Israel in the Six-Day War. UN demands that Israel return the captured territory are effectively blocked by the DC empire. So much for the myth of DC’s support for the “integrity” of UN resolutions.

This mindless support for a DC crony and blind malevolence against any who resist American hegemony can only be described as sado-patriotism. How else to describe rants like this: Continue Reading »

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I watched Valkyrie over Christmas weekend I thought it was  good movie, but I was wishing for more. Particularly a little more context into why Von Stauffenberg turned against the Nazis more so than was let on in the film. Although Von Stauffenberg’s Catholic background was hinted at, his turn against Hitler and that of the other plotters had more of the “we’re losing, let’s fire the head coach!” mentality one’s finds in American football fans.  To turn against Hitler required a deeper motive than just the sense of Germany impending defeat. Certainly the angle of the approaching Red Army and the hopes the plotters had of an armistance with Allies preventing a Communist takeover could have been better pursued as well.

Despite, it was still good film and I recommend seeing it.

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Justin Raimondo on the politics of the Gaza massacre.

Glenn Greenwald writes about the depravity of Marty Peretz and dictatorial control of the Israeli lobby.

An article on Lew Rockwell.com talks about efforts to have the Vendee Massacre declared a genocide.

Also on LRC.com, Venetian as a seperate language.

Austin Bramwell at Takimag talks about Bush II’s pathetic history reclamation project.

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Angered by the ongoing invasion of their nation, and the threat to their traditional culture, “nativist” trouble-makers resort to “separatism” — what the nativists call “self-determination.” For their opposition to government-sponsored colonization by an alien and aggressive culture, the police have detained many of these nativist agitators.

Texas? Alabama? North Carolina? No, this government crackdown took place in Tibet, where Han Chinese are colonizing traditional Tibetan homelands:

The police have detained 59 people in Tibet on charges that they sought to foment unrest by spreading ethnic hatred and by downloading and selling banned songs from the Internet, Chinese state media reported Thursday. …

Although news reports did not say whether the detainees were formally arrested and charged, they are accused of threatening national security by advocating for an independent Tibet and by expressing disdain for the ethnic Han migrants who now dominate commerce in Lhasa and other Tibetan cities.

Interesting how reading the Communist Chinese version of events in Tibet sounds just like the Open Borders crowd here in the US. The echoes of SPLC ideology are clear and chilling.

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and happy Hanukkah to Ron L.

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Well the White Nats have done it. Because of their obsessive thread hijacking, comments are no longer allowed at TakiMag. I don’t know for certain that is the reason, but it almost certainly is.

This is unfortunate. TakiMag had become the hottest site for paleocons. Without comments, site views will drop. Hopefully they will re-allow comments at a future time after they have figured out how to weed out the White Nats.

I don’t think White Nats should be censored based on the content of their thought. We don’t do that here. But they definitely were violating the rule against hobby horse ridding. They would hijack every thread regardless of the subject, and turn it into a diatribe on why White Nationalism is superior to paleoconservatism. It just got very old.

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The Web and the economy have not been good to magazines.

There is even a website dedicated to chronicling their demise.

What is likely to be hurt the most are the extreme niche magazines and there will be consolidation among magazines with broader appeal. What does this mean for magazines like The American Conservative and Chronicles that many of us paleos like reading? Such magazines have never broken even and have always relied on patronage from benefactors. So I guess it will depend on whether the donations continue to roll in.

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Here are a few must-read pieces recently published at VDare:

Immigration And The Pro-Life Movement

H-1b And Citigroup Collapse

Blagojevich And The Minority Mortgage Meltdown

Bill Richardson: “Obama is an Immigrant”

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Just as Paul Belein of Vlaams Belang writes about The War on Christmas in the Low Countries, the Belgium government on the verge of collapse once again.

One can see how the economic crisis could lead to the eventual (and well deserved) break-up of Beligum but will a new Flanders be a Christian oasis in a Muslim/Secular Europe? Otherwise what’s the point? Secession needs to have a broader meaning for it to be successful.

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Maine author and head of the True Main Militia Carolyn Chute has her first book out in a decade. She’s beenprofiled in Chronicles and lauded by Bill Kauffman.

J.J. Jackson’s latest submission “The Night Before Liberal Christmas”

An organized camapaign is pushing the book The Founder’s Second Amendment by Stephen Halbrook up the Amazon.com best seller lists. Here’s a link to it.

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I caught a radio ad promoting Diversity the other day on the Dennis Miller show. Here’s a partial transcript:

Obviously White young girl: “Gee, you work with lots of people who don’t look like you at all!”

White mother: “What do you mean?”

Girl: “Well, there are Asian people, African-American people, Latino people–”

Mother: “We all work together as a team.”

Girl: “Aren’t they different from you?”

Mother: “In a way, yes. But those differences are good. They mean different ways of seeing things, different ways of thinking things, different ways of doing things.”

Girl: “But if those differences are so good where you work, why does everyone where we’re living look just like us?”

Wise Announcer: “Diversity shouldn’t be left behind at work each day. Prepare your children for the coming global life that lies ahead. Your family doesn’t live in a 9-to-5 world. Why should Diversity?”

The ad is sponsored by the National Fair Housing Alliance, which proudly proclaims that it is “dedicated to the creation and sustenance of diverse communities throughout the nation.” We can be assured their vision for us is good, because its members include such enlightened entities as Wachovia, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, which, now that I think about it, are some of the chief proponents of the diversity-at-any-cost policies that gave us the ongoing Diversity Recession.

But I quibble. Let’s take the ad’s message at face value. The first thing it’s telling us is that thinking, seeing, and behaving are determined by race — an idea that I thought was considered eeeevil. Guess I’m behind the times.

And if that assumption is true, then the radio ad raises a question: Since Magic happens when people of different races work together, why aren’t all the Nobel prizes swept up every year by people in racially diverse areas, such as Brazil and south Los Angeles? And here’s an interesting implication: If a homogeneous community is fatally hobbled by its dull uniformity, shouldn’t measures be taken to prevent people from intermarrying and creating a homogenous community of mestizos? Clearly, the government should criminalize marriage among different races — how else can we continue to enjoy the mysterious creativity that emerges when the different ways of thinking, seeing, and doing things bump into one another, making those stimulating sparks when people of different races interact?

Of course, I’m not advocating those things, I’m just thinking about the logical implications of the National Fair Housing Alliance radio ad. And you’re not supposed to think when you hear ads promoting Diversity.

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