VFR is not a political party

Mark J. writes:

Regarding your observation that “Conservatism can only acquire a positive agenda when it adopts a traditionalist, as opposed to a liberal, politics,” have you written anything where you laid out what you believe would or should be the traditionalist political agenda in terms of policy positions on the major political issues? I would be interested to read it.

For example, where do traditionalists stand on abortion, welfare, privacy, guns, immigration, environmentalism, Social Security, etc etc? If I go to the Libertarian Party web site I can find out just what their policies are. But even after a few years of reading your site I’m not sure I know what specific policies traditionalist conservatives would advocate. The libertarians have a consistent theme of respect for private property and individual liberty that can be applied to pretty much any issue. (Which is why they are fatally flawed when it comes to immigration—they do not recognize racial or cultural differences and have no ideological basis upon which to oppose immigration by alien peoples.)

I think that traditionalists need something like this sort of checklist that people new to this political philosophy could use to decide whether they agree with it or not.

LA replies:

Mark J. doesn’t seem to have noticed that I am one person, not a political party. I have not put out platform-type positions on every political issue facing the country. A couple of years ago I printed the BNP platform and I approved of it. The BNP platform did not touch on every conceivable issue, but issues essential to British national identity and survival. Wouldn’t that be enough to start with?

Ronald Reagan ran for president not with a plan on every issue but with a plan on a small handful of issues, yet what he did was radical in the context of the time.

Mark refers to traditionalism as a political philosophy. If it is one, it is still in the process of being developed. Further, we don’t expect a political philosophy immediately to take the form of a political platform. That would be an evolving project. Perhaps there is a need for a full-blown traditionalist political party in America. It’s something to think about.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 22, 2007 12:44 PM | Send