Introduction
In my article called The Problem with The Dissident Movement Part 2. I went over the issue that many American dissidents tend to only use foreign leaders and intellectuals as their inspiration. While there is nothing wrong with liking people from other countries and taking influence from them but we must understand that they live in different conditions than we do and that adopting everything from the names, symbols, ideas etc., will just make us outcast, out of touch with our own conditions and larpers. Most of these people would argue that America never had an anti-liberal tradition which was not what I mentioned above however that is not true there is a natural anti-liberal tradition that does exist and somewhat successful all be it many of their admire in the mainstream tend to not to understand or downplay their anti-liberalism. In this article, I will be going over this tradition. Note I will not be going over everyone because I have not read all of them and I will probably make a part 2 once I read a few more of them.
Edward Bellamy
Edward Ballamy born on March 26, 1850, was an American novelist, socialist,
and nationalist thinker who influenced the socialists and populists of his time
from 1888 to his death in 1898. He did not enter politics initially however
what got him into politics was his science fiction book Looking Backward 2000
to 1887. In this book, Bellamy describes a future where class, crime,
prostitution, and private property no longer exist. The book did really well
being the third bestselling book of its time. Selling over 200000 copies in its
first year. Many people were inspired to make this science fiction book a
reality. These groups would call themselves the Nationalist clubs.
These clubs would advocate the ideas of Bellamy along with them starting up
publications like The Nationalist and The New Nation which Bellamy would
contribute to. The clubs would also build ties with trade unions like the
Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor along with political
parties like the Populist Party and the Socialist Labor Party.
The group attracted many intellectuals and important figures of that time
like American Civil War General Arthur F Devereux, Clergyman/ Christian
socialist W.D.P Bliss, future Marxist/ Syndicalist writer Danial De Leon, and
many others. Despite the group being a socialist group Bellamy never called
himself a socialist rather calling himself a Nationalist due to the term
socialist being foreign and anti-religious sentiment amongst many
self-proclaimed socialist. He also criticized others like Laurence Gronlund for
being decentralization and trying to replace American Patriotism.
The Nationalist Clubs would start to decline in the mid-1890s due to a lack
of funding. The groups would completely disappear by 1898 when Bellamy would
die. Bellamy would leave a lasting mark on both the American Socialist
and Populist movements.
Richard M Weaver
Richard M Weaver was an American Traditionalist philosopher. Born on March 3rd, 1910. Weaver was originally a socialist due to him being against consumerism and industrial capitalism which would stay with him for the rest of his life. However, while at Vanderbilt University, Weaver discovered the work of the Southern Agrarians which was a group of Southern Traditionalists and Agrarians who were against industrial capitalism. Weaver soon after abandoned socialism and went to traditionalism. In 1948 he wrote his most famous book Ideas Have Consequences which went over the decline of Western society and critiqued Capitalism, Consumerism, Liberalism Communism, Nominalism, Egalitarianism, and mass media but in the book, he also supported Traditionalism, Christianity, Ruralism, private property and Hierarchy. He also believed the South was the last anti-materialist civilization. Weaver’s ideas would go on to influence many of the intellectual founders of American Conservatism like Frank Meyer, William F Buckley, and Russel Kirk but unlike Weaver with the exception of Kirk they did not adopt his anti-industrial capitalism or his agrarianism rather they fused capitalism and conservatism together which is called fusionism which is what modern conservatism is which Weaver would have been against, due to Weaver seeing capitalism as putting profit before morals. Along with seeing how industrial society erodes tradition. Weaver would die in April of 1963.
Christopher Lasch
My personal favorite out of this list, Christopher Lasch was an American
intellectual and social critic, Born in Nebraska on June 1, 1932. Lasch parents
were left-wing which would influence Lasch in his early life. During the 1960s
Lasch was a neo-Marxist who took influence from the Frankfurt school and was
associated with Herbart Marcuse’s New Left. However, by the 1970s Lasch became
disillusioned with the social direction the Left was going in. Seeing many of
these social ideas as not hindering capitalism but rather supporting
capitalism, along with being disillusioned with the left idea of progress. He
soon started to become more concerned about how capitalism is degrading
traditional institutions like the family and religion. Lasch would go to write
his most famous book The Culture of Narcissism. This goes over how modern
liberal capitalist society creates a society of narcissists and how capitalism
eroded traditional institutions which made many people’s lives meaningless,
which created hyperconsumerism or in Lasch words a “cult of consumption”. Lasch
would soon get many supporters and critics from both the left and right. Along
with then US president Jimmy Carter making a speech inspired by Lasch’s book.
However, Lasch was critical of Carter’s speech saying it was elitist and wished
it were more populist. Lasch also did not identify with the left or
right. Lasch criticized the left for its social progressivism which he
saw as elitist and helped capitalism rather than hindering it and criticized
the right for its capitalism seeing William F Buckley and Frank Meyer’s
conservative capitalism as a contradiction. Seeing capitalism as hindering
religion and the family instead of helping them. Lasch could be best described
as a socially conservative and economically leftist being very similar to a
communitarian with small differences.
Lasch final book before his death in 1994 called Revolt of the Elites and
Betrayal of Democracy. Which was very critical of global capitalism, the elites
and stating that they feel more attached to other global elites instead of
their own working-class countrymen. Lasch would also advocate for populism and
family in the book as well. Lasch would die in 1994 a year before the book was
published. Many people from all sides of the political spectrum claim Lasch as
their own from both moderates to radicals to left to right and in between.
Paul Gottfried
Paul Gottfried is a Palo Conservative intellectual. Born in 1941 to Jewish
Hungarian immigrants, Gottfried was an average run-of-the-mill conservative of
his time for most of his early years however he did consider himself a Marxist
for a brief time during college. At Yale University Gottfried was a student of
the Marxist intellectual Herbart Marcuse whom Gottfried really liked due to
Marcuse allowed a lot more debate and discussions in his class then other
professors Gottfried had along with Marcuse liking Gottfried strong defense of
the Monarchist and Reactionaries of the French revolution. During the late 60s
to ’70s, Gottfried worked for William F Buckley National Review publication and
was a part of the mainstream conservative movement before he was pushed out by
the Neoconservatives. He was also a University professor but struggled to stay
with one school for a long time due to conflict with staff and teachers at the
schools including Christopher Lasch at one point before the two became friends.
Gottfried would become one of the main intellectuals behind Palo
conservatism and worked with presidential candidate Pat Buchan in the 1990s.
Gottfried views at this time were social conservativism, isolationism, and
economic nationalism. Gottfried would go on to associate with the American
branch of the French New Right and coined the term alt-right with Richard
Spencer. At the time Gottfried just met as an alternative to mainstream neo-conservatism, not white nationalism Which Spencer would end up using the term for. Gottfried is still alive today and does a Podcast on YouTube and Rumble. He also has
published many books and articles on a wide range of subjects like American
Conservatism, Marxism, Fascism, News, and his personal life. He is also currently editor in Chief of Chronicles Magazine.
Sources
Edward Bellamy
Bellamy, E. (n.d.-b). The Edward Bellamy Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bellamy-ed/index.htm
Wikipedia contributors. (2023d, August 14). Nationalist clubs. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalist_Clubs
Richard Weaver
Conservatism In America by Paul Edward Gottfried
The Conservative Intellectual Movement In America by George H Nash
Ideas have Consequences by Richard Weaver
Ideas Have Consequences audiobook Pt 1 – YouTube
Ideas Have Consequences audiobook Pt 2 – YouTube
Ideas Have Consequences audiobook (pt. 3) – YouTube
Ideas Have Consequences audiobook (pt 4) – YouTube
Christopher Lasch
The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch
The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy by Christopher Lasch
Lasch Christopher The Revolt of the Elites Audiobook – YouTube
ENCOUNTERS by Paul E Gottfried
Christopher Lasch On Progress 1/2 – vidéo Dailymotion. (n.d.-b). Dailymotion. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5fdem
Christopher Lasch On Progress 2/2 – Vidéo Dailymotion. (n.d.). Dailymotion. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5fgfe
Shullenberger, G. (2023, April 12). How Christopher Lasch left the left. IM—1776. https://im1776.com/2020/12/23/how-christopher-lasch-left-the-left/
Beer, J. (2019, November 13). The Radical Lasch. The American Conservative. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-radical-lasch/
Paul Gottfried
TomWoodsTV. (2019, September 25). Ep. 1499 The Neocon Takeover of the American Right [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KI_s9QxNMw
ENCOUNTERS by Paul Gottfried
The Conservative Intellectual Movement In America by George H Nash
Special to National Post. (2018, April 17). Paul Gottfried: Don’t call me the ‘godfather’ of those alt-right neo-Nazis. I’m Jewish. Nationalpost. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/paul-gottfried-dont-call-me-the-godfather-of-those-alt-right-neo-nazis-im-jewish
Rumble. (n.d.). Cotto/Gottfried. https://rumble.com/c/CottoGottfried
Authenticity 
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