A CONSERVATIVE TYPOLOGY

Hat-tip to John Dean!

From the Washington Times Insight magazine:


Who's who in America's conservative revolution?
Insight on the News, Dec 23, 1996 by David Wagner

Austriocons: The paleocons, so-called because they were conservatives back when most of the neocons still were Trotskyites, have split over the issue of free trade. Many paleos, being followers of the "Austrian" school of economics, are free-trade libertarians who honor Ludwig von Mises. The late Murray Rothbard was their subsequent intellectual leader.

Buchanocons: These are the paleos who have rebelled against free trade and the unaccountable global bureaucracies that they see it as producing. They have a clear political leader in Buchanan. Chronicles, a monthly magazine published by the Rockford Institute in Rockford, Ill., tends to be their voice in opinion journalism.

Neocons: These are intellectuals who drifted from the far left to the center to the right, taking their flagship magazine, Commentary, with them; mostly Jewish, mostly New York-based. Neocons tend to be internationalists. Though not seen as emphasizing social issues, Commentary has published articles critical of abortion, homosexuality and the sexual revolution. The center of neoconservatism has been drifting from New York to Washington, and neos now have their very own inside-the-Beltway weekly, the Weekly Standard.

Aquinacons: Neoconservatism acquired a Christian wing when the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus founded his monthly magazine First Things, patterned after Commentary. However, this increasingly is a distinct group, one that could be called "Aquinacons," because its members focus on the work of a rising generation of academic experts on the natural-law theories of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. Leaders here are Robert George of Princeton and Russell Hittinger of the University of Tulsa.

Radiocons: Just kidding, but we needed a place to put talk-radio conservatives Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Mike Reagan, Blanquita Cullum, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and other popularizers of the political and cultural right who have enormous middle-American audiences.

Sociocons: Often lumped with the religious right, sociocons are those who advance secular arguments for curbing abortion, divorce, illegitimacy, the homosexual agenda and drugs. Its leading lights are the Family Research Council (Gary Bauer), the Institute for American Values (David Blankenhorn) and columnists Don Feder, Cal Thomas and Maggie Gallagher.

Theocons: These are the ones -- far less numerous than the major media seem to think -- who actually do favor a more or less theocratic application of biblical law. Unlike Aquinacons, they reject natural law. The leader here is Rousas Rushdoony, whose Chalcedon Foundation increasingly is influential among impatient religious conservatives and in the councils of Phillips' U.S. Taxpayers Party.

Republicons: Here are the young people who learned their conservative theory back in college and since have given themselves over to activism, either as campaign strategists or as policy advocates. Newt Gingrich is their hero, and Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform) is their leader. They have politically gold-plated resumes and no time for pessimism.

Catocons: These are hard-core libertarians who have recognized that even if your goal is to dismantle government, you have to play the Washington policy-work game if you want to change things. Their leading think tank is the Cato Institute.

Platocons: Allied with, but different from, the Aquinacons, the Platocons are the disciples of the late Leo Strauss, who excited generations of students about classical political philosophy. Not all Straussians are conservatives, but their belief that ideas intrinsically are important, and not just manifestations of class interest or historical prejudice, puts them at odds with the academic left. The late Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind, was the best-known Platocon.