Students of “paleoconservatism” have long argued that the paleos” radical dissatisfaction with contemporary America could eventually veer into an anti- Americanism almost indistinguishable from the more familiar variety on the left. From an item in the March newsletter of the Rockford Institute — center of paleo-conservative endeavor and source of intellectual fire-power for Pat Buchanan’s presidential campaign — it looks like the veer is here.
In the course of detailing the Institute’s often interesting activities, the newsletter reports on editor Thomas Fleming’s trip to Moscow to attend a conference on the Balkans: “Dr. Fleming argued that America was a great nation as long as it followed the isolationist policies of Washington and Jefferson. The current rent expansionist path of American foreign policy, he concluded, is similar to that of the U.S.S.R. in the 1970’s.”
Wow. Sources say the Institute’s next newsletter will be devoted to neoconservative adventurism in the Horn of Africa and the recent American imperialist assault on the peace-loving Fidel Castro.
Meanwhile, Pat Buchanan seems to be following in the radical chic footsteps of Leonard Bernstein. Buchanan met last week with his advisers to plot strategy for his populist crusade on behalf of working Americans. The location: the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Tysons Corner, Va., a pitchfork’s length from the dreaded Beltway.
