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I generally like David Frum. I recently finished his book The Right Man about the early part of the Bush presidency. I thought it was a very good book that painted the president in a fair and positive light. Likewise, I generally like the president although I disagree strongly with some of his positions on the issues.

In spite of some good feelings, I'd recommend against taking David Frum's word as the final opinion on what a "paleoconservative" is. Much of the paleo versus neo conservative rhetoric is little more than the immature sniping of people in opposite political cliques. The stupidity comes from both sides, and I've seen in from both sides on Free Republic just as I've seen it from more nationally known figures.

I'll offer my own definition based on the big issues and leave it to others to decide where they fall.

Immigration:

Paleoconservatives believe in limited immigration geared towards what is best for The United States as a whole. Paleos don't believe that immigration policy should be dictated by some people's guilt over the fact that America is prosperous and other countries are not. We don't believe that immigration policy should exist to give some employers cheap labor. We don't believe that immigration policy should exist to increase America's racial and cultural diversity.

Yes, we are a nation of immigrants, and we became strong because we allowed people to come to this country to become Americans and fill the land for America. In case proponents of more immigration haven't been watching, America is quite well populated these days, and we don't need to bring in large numbers of people to stake our claim to our land. Paleos believe in a selection process that brings people here because they would be good Americans. Admittedly, some Paleos have racial prejudices and mistakenly believe that only Caucasions will become good Americans. I disagree with the movement on this point. However, I agree that racial diversity just for the sake of racial diversity is not a good thing. Instead, we should look for people of all races who will believe in the things that made America great, and we should accept them at a rate that allows us to assimilate them into our culture.

Free Trade:

Paleoconservatives agree with the Founding Fathers that tariffs are the most non-intrusive way for the federal government to make money and that their protection of American manufacturers is a good thing. We look at history and see how the South wanted free trade and wanted to import all of its manufactured goods from Britain and France. When the lead started flying in the War Between the States, the South had big problems meeting its own needs for manufactured goods. A country that must import many of is manufactured goods is a country that has a major weakness.

I depart from some Paleos in the extent to which I support protectionism. I don't think we should promote policies that encourage too much of our manufacturing to go overseas, but I see the advantage to some competition to keep unions from becoming too strong.

Regulation:

The neoconservatives accusation that paleos favor regulation is simply a lie. Paleos favor reduced government regulation of American businesses. We favor repeal of many of the laws that have driven companies to move their manufacturing elsewhere. People who are too stupid to understand the difference between a tariff and a regulation are too stupid to be taken seriously.

Foreign Policy:

Paleoconservatives oppose an activist foreign policy. We believe in becoming involved only when our interests are at stake. Unfortunately, it often seems that each side in this debate follows their position without thought. I disagree with those paleos who think that we were wrong to be involved in the War on Terror or the war against Saddam Hussein. On the other hand, neo support for the Kosovo war was just as stupid as paleo opposition to this one. The KLA that the neos supported in Kosovo was affiliated with Al Qaeda. In effect, Clinton provided an Al Qaeda ally with an Air Force to use in their terrorist war against the Serbs, and neos cheered him forward at every moment. One dishonest point in the David Frum article was his failure to point out that the anti-military quote from L. Rockwell was in regards to the Kosovo campaign.

Abortion:

Paleos and neos both oppose abortion, but some paleos tend to be louder and less thoughtful about it. Most of these paleos don't like me and get mad when I suggest that I'm a paleo.

Guns:

Paleos and neos both oppose drastic gun control, but some neos support some additional restrictions on gun ownership. I oppose all new gun control and most existing gun control. On this point, I am most closely aligned with the paleos.

Taxes:

Paleos and neos both oppose high taxes. Neos like to accuse paleos of supporting taxes, but their accusations just aren't true. The argument is about how much to take in each kind of tax.

Many of the neos like to pretend that all paleos hate the president and want to see him fail. That accusation simply isn't true. For the most part, I'm a paleo, and I like the president very much. There are some national figures that are stuck in perpetual pissing contests with each other, and they line up as "neos" versus "paleos." We see the same silliness here at Free Republic. We have strong differences on some issues, but the notion that paleos aren't patriotic is silly.

WFTR
Bill