now let the state make reparations by passing pro-family legislation”;rnor “Let us restore family values but not with the crushingrnburden of patriarchy and inequality that disfigured earlierrnregimes: We have learned something, after all, in 2,000 years.”rnWhat have we learned? Not to mind our own business? Notrnto accept responsibility for ourselves and our families? Scientificrnand economic progress does not entail moral or politicalrnprogress. The opposite is more often the case. Paleoconservatismrndoes not offer a nostalgic appeal to the golden age of thern50’s—either the 1950’sA.D. or the 450’s B.C.—but an insistencernupon the permanent things that have been under attack for centuriesrnand the memory of which is being obliterated in our time.rnIn calling for a restoration of manhood and woirianhood andrnfamily autonomv, we are not so naive as to believe that somernthink tank can draw up a package of magical legislation of taxesrnand incentives that will restore American social life. On therncontrar)’, we know that things will probabK’ get much worse beforernthe first steps can be taken toward restoration. But havingrnan ideal in mind, we also know that we must oppose any socialrnlegislation, whether it comes from far-left Democrats or centerleftrnRepublicans, that does not shift power and wealth awayrnfrom government and toward families and local communities.rnThis approach is both practical and principled, and its practitionersrnare not likely to be taken in by Potemkin-village projectsrnthat go by the name of “revenue sharing” or “the new federalism”rnor “school choice.” If voucher plans will increase the powerrnof the federal government over private schools, we opposernthem, along with national legislation restricting divorce andrndefining life. When we have a Chriiitian country, it will be timernenough to consider expanding the social authority of the state.rnTlie family is not the only natural social institution that is beingrnundermined by tlie modern state. Men are b’ nature competitive,rnand they created war and games, politics and the marketplace, tornsatisfy their need to contend for status, wealth, and power. One ofrnleftism’s greatest successes has been to adopt the social language ofrnChristianit- and to transfer it from enclosed households to thernopen fields where men do battie with each other.rnA simple definition of socialism is the pretense that the nationrnis a familv or a village, where everyone takes care of everyonernelse. Socialism, whether it takes the form of Social Securih’rnor welfare payments or aid to higher education, not onlyrnundermines the authorit}’ of the family but obscures the wholernpoint of competition, which cannot be defined as the strugglernfor money and power but as the pursuit of excellence.rnThe declared goal of socialist societies is to spread a minimumrnlevel of mediocrity (e.g., of affluence, free time, education,rnbeaufy, virtue) as broadly as possible throughout the population,rnwhile the goal of any honorable societ}- is to foster thernpursuit of excellence by individuals and within communities.rnJudged in socialist terms, America falls dismally short of social justice,rnbut judged by tlie standards of sixth centi.in’ B.C. Greece, medievalrnPisa, or 19th-centur)’ Europe and America, we are a nationrnof savages. In the life of the mind, where the pursuit of excellencernhas all but disappeared, the socialist approach has reduced ourrncolleges and universities to assembly-line factories that turn outrnsensiti’e, nonjudgmental, anti-intellectuals, the worst of whomrnare hired to keep the machiner’ running.rnPrivate property and the free market are essential to any nation’srnhealth, and both are being eliminated bv big governmentrnand the state-capitalist intemationale that is tjuickly assumingrntotal control over the global economy. Paleoconsen’atives mayrndisagree over the merits of free trade, but anyone calling himselfrna paleoconservative or “paleolibertarian” who does not unequivocallyrnoppose NAFTA, GATT, and the WTO is eitherrndimwitted or duplicitous. These acronyms represent global organsrnof trade control and world government.rnGompetition and family solidarity are the dynamic forcesrnthat generate human society. The theory of equality (and thernpolitics of envy which it generates) is fatal to both of them. Inrnthe real state of nature, as opposed to the destructive myth putrnforward by philosophers out to destroy the social order, womenrndefer to men, children to parents, young to mature, strangers tornnatives, low-status natives to high-status natives.rnTraditional conservatives were instinctively revolted by egalitarianism,rnbut they were often deluded into ascribing mysteriousrnvirtues to the upper classes. Unfortunately, ruling elites —rnwhether they are 18th-century aristocrats or 19th-centuryrnplutocrats—are often as stupid and futile as the French Bourbons,rnwho saddled their country with a centralized bureaucracy,rnwaged aggressive and destructive wars for the sake of makingrnaesthetic improvements to their cartographic hexagon, and soldrnout Ghristendom to the Turks. The mere fact that conservativesrnacknowledged the importance of status and hierarchyrnshould not have blinded them to the shortcomings of the Americanrnruling class. At least since the 1870’s, the upper echelonsrnof the American elite have been manned by venal and unprincipledrnfixers who made their money not so much by buildingrnbetter mousetraps as by fixing government. From Jim Fisk andrnJay Gould to Armand Hammer to Michael Milken and RossrnPerot, our ruling class has thrived on the manipulation of government.rnPaleoconservatives stand staimchly in defense of free marketsrnand free enterprise and oppose every attempt made by the centralrngovernment to control the market. We know that those whornwrite the regulations control the market, even if those regulationsrnare theoretically on the side of business and free enterprise.rnThe realit)’ is that regulations on business or programs designedrnto support agriculture impose disproportionately heavyrnburdens on small entrepreneurs and producers and confer correspondinglyrnricher benefits to the monopolists.rnAgribusiness was created by government; and chain storesrnand megabanks benefit from regulations and court decisionsrnthat ha’e struck down the rights of states and local communitiesrnto regulate their own economic affairs. The way to liberate therneconom}’ from the monopolists is not through any governmentrnpolicy but this: Strip all three branches of the national governmentrnof the power to regulate all business, manufacturing, andrnagriculture that takes place outside the District of Golumbia.rnThen, if the people of Peoria are ready to eat real spaghetti atrnLuigi’s and bank with their neighbors, they will have the powerrnto shape their economic destiny. If they prefer the microwaved,rngarlic-powdered plastic at the Olive Garden (a corporate chainrnthat frmds the infanticide lobby and represents all that is wrongrnin America), then they will have the life they deser’e.rnMany traditional conservatives have opposed the free market,rnbecause in their hearts they believe that Marx and Engels werernright, that capitalists have dissolved every bond between manrnand man except the cash nexus. But Marx was wrong. It wasrnnot businessmen who made the revolution that began the destructionrnof England and America but political liberals, the directrnancestors of the Tony Blair/Al Gore leftists who want to createrna global government that will finish the job.rnIn cozying up to fascist and authoritarian regimes, traditionalrnJANUARY 2001/11rnrnrn