Political Economy: An Overview
by Ryan Setliff

"A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some spot of a native land, where it may get the love of tender kinship for the face of the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar and unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge. The best introduction to astronomy, is to think of the nightly heavens as a little lot of stars belonging to one's own homestead."
—George Eliot

"Economics can tell us how wealth is created, and how, once created, it is distributed; but it is powerless to tell us how wealth should be distributed, at least not without explicit information about how much people value their material wealth," notes Samuel Gregg.Gregg, Samuel, Economic Thinking for the Theologically Minded, (Lanham, MD: Univ. Press of America, 2001,) p. 49. Gregg writes further,

The distribution of the end product of economic activity—that is, material income and wealth—is strongly influenced by the distribution of the ownership of basic resources. If someone owns a great deal of land and capital or, alternatively, is gifted with some rare and highly prized talent (such as a beautiful singing voice,) it usually follows that such a person is richly rewarded by the market system. If the distribution of basic resources—land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurial ability—follows a particular pattern, the distribution of income and wealth will follow much the same pattern.Ibid. p. 49-50.

Taking this aforesaid observation into consideration, Old Right critiques of political economy characteristically embody a recognition of the interplay between the body politic and the economy; and in recognizing the perilous consequences of political centralization, coercive wealth redistribution and other state intervention in the economy perpetuated by the managerial state, the Old Right favors peaceful steps toward political devolution — supplanting the national unitary state with a decentralized federal polity. Samuel Gregg astutely observes,

Economics tells us that changing the distribution of the fruits of economic activity is a costly business. Generally, the distribution can be changed only through the imposition of taxes, subsidies, or regulations of one sort or another. Much theoretical and empirical work by economists shows how severely interventions of this sort can affect the wealth-creating ability of an economic system...Ibid. p. 50

Hence, the Old Right critique recognizes the folly of such economic interventions as wealth redistribution. Instead, the Old Right favors political devolution, and reforms which mitigate against the centralization of the managerial state and its coercive schemes of wealth redistribution, in favor of the principle of subsidiarity. Political devolution and a renaissance of federalism would contribute to the possibility of achieving the ideals of the humane economy, by structuring economic, political and social institutions on the humane scale. Predictably, within a decentralized republic with vibrant local and regional cultures, the natural tendency of the market for economic development is for a more widespread distribution of property and capital, a broader more affluent middle class, and the preponderance of small-scale enterprise and entrepreneurship. Joseph Scotchie postulates,

A dramatic decentralization of nearly all government functions is the tenet that unites libertarians and traditionalists. If regional cultures were revived, then they would hardly need a cradle-to-grave social security state to guide its citizens through their lives. How would people live? As Allen Tate explained in the dark years following World War II: "It is my impression that [people] get fed and clothed incidentally to some other impulse, a creative power which we sometimes identify with religion and the arts." Thus culture drives economics, as it does politics. Healthy regional cultures might mean liberation from an overbearing centralized state. This is in essence the distributist ideal.The Paleoconservatives. Joseph Scotchie, ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999), p. 19.

America's rich and vibrant history, and her legacy of liberty, exists in continuity with her European past. Historian Clarence Carson made this astute observation,

Americans did not cast themselves off from their past experience, from ideas and practices of long standing, or from older traditions and institutions. In their building they relied extensively upon ancient and modern history and that which had come to them through the ages. What separates this as an epic from abortive revolutions is that these men brought to a fertile junction their heritage—which contained several great streams, namely, the Classical, the Christian, and the English—their experience, and contemporary ideas. The Founders stood on the shoulders of giants, thought it sometimes requires giants also to attain such heights. The Rebirth of Liberty: The Founding of the American Republic 1760-1800, (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1973), p. 21.

Therefore, America's remarkable success as a nation, and an experiment in ordered liberty owes to the fertile ground and soil her roots were planted in. In the establishment of the nation, and securing her independence from Great Britain, America did not make a clean break with the past—but stood in continuity with the Anglo-American common law tradition and a broader cultural inheritance from Europe.

In his perennial classic, the Roots of American Order, Russell Kirk elucidated on the roots of order in the United States:

Although the tree of American order has grown in height and breadth during the past two hundred years, it could not have flourished so if those roots had been unhealthy. Those roots go deep, but they require watering from time to time. Whatever the failings of America [presently], the American order has been conspicious success in the perspective of human history. Under God, a large measure of justice has been achieved; the state is strong and energetic; and a sense of community endures... [T]he history of most societies is a record of painful striving, brief success (if success at all), and then decay and ruin. No man can know the future, but most Americans believe that their order will continue to 'bring out in this life the dialectic union of authority and liberty.' That will be true so long as the roots of order have proliferating life in the them. Kirk, Russell, The Roots of American Order, (Bryn Mawr, PA: ISI Books, 1974)

The Essentials of an America First Foreign Policy
by Ryan Setliff

America First!—should be the rallying cry behind an American foreign policy tailored to serve our vital national interests through strategic independence and armed neutrality. Speaking on the Old Right position on foreign affairs, Joseph Scotchie notes, "A post-Cold War foreign policy that combines a strong national defense and a nation free of such globalist organizations as the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization has been a good enough model for the Old Right." The Paleoconservatives. Joseph Scotchie, ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999. p. 2. In relations with other nations, the Old Right is apt to question the logic of globalism and globalization, and affirms skepticism of interventionism abroad. Though, the Old Right's principled position is sometimes denigrated as isolationism by detractors, the Old Right readily concedes that "isolationism" is not the historic foreign policy of the United States. Nonetheless, a foreign policy geniunely tailored to serve the national interest eschews foreign entanglements, alliances and security commitments and reckless intervention abroad.

Patrick Buchanan warned in 1999 in his book Republic, Not An Empire that perilous consequences could follow the course of United States' interventionist foreign policy, which aggravated and kindled the flames of resentment at our nation:

The United States has unthinkingly embarked upon a neo-imperial policy that must involve us in virtually every great war of the coming century—and wars the death of republics... if we continue on this course of reflexive interventions, enemies will one day answer our power with the weapon of the weak—terror, and eventually cataclysmic terrorism on U.S. soil... then liberty, the cause of the republic, will itself be in peril.

This statement proved prescient in light of the tragic terror attacks of September 11, 2001, and while no one amongst the Old Right finds any legitimacy to the claims of those heinous terrorists; it should go without saying that their grievances point to opposition to an interventionist U.S. foreign policy, such as the U.S. stationing troops in Saudi Arabia.

Foreign Policy Challenges Face the Next President

The biggest thing in the news and on people’s minds lately, and understandably, has been the credit crunch and implicitly the extent to which it threatens financial institutions and poses a threat to economic wellbeing in the country and indeed around the world. Boys and girls on Wall Street screwed up, and their mistakes trickle down a lot quicker than the obscene profits do. Effects could be stagflation, unemployment, not to mention declining value of stock, which affects so many savings and investment vehicles like mutual funds or retirement accounts.

West, Jonathan, Tragedy of Freedom: An Indictment of Liberal Democracy and a Call for Patriotic Resistance, (West Conshohocken, PA: Infinity Publishing, 2006.) $14.95.

Review by Ryan Setliff

An Indictment of Liberal Democracy

Author Jonathan West grew up in liberal family, attended college in Washington, DC, during the tumultuous Vietnam era. There he witnessed the subversion of America by New Left radicals who made heroes of our nation’s communist enemies. During this time, West underwent an epiphany and became convinced that the democratic system itself, which coddles subversives, is the culprit. West laments, "Liberals recreated the American soul, first in the media and then in the teachings and textbooks of America’s schools. By the time the Viet Nam war was underway, the real battle was already over." The liberal intelligentsia succeeded in sapping "America’s children" "of their national character, their cohesion and vision. In place of these stood attributes of ethnic pluralism, leftist self-hate, and alienation" (p. 90.)

It should be no surprise, that the Tragedy of Freedom is very much an indictment of contemporary liberalism in America—and a call for patriotic resistance to this insidious creed:

Liberalism is a media-induced judgment disorder, not an ideological doctrine. Liberals have been conditioned to rely on their feelings and to judge people and events, not on some moral or logical basis, but on how they gratify their own emotions. Liberals use a non-objectivist kind of decision making with no relation to future impact. Their politics serves only as an emotional tonic for unhappy reality, the sole purpose of which is to feel good. With such morally and mentally perverse people in charge of our opinion-forming institutions is it any wonder our society also seems to lurch toward madness and self destruction? (p. 117)

"Liberals are not concerned with outcomes or even with how policies work. They are only concerned with how policies FEEL," notes West. "Thus, they often embrace false and unworkable principles (like equality) simply because they are emotionally irresistible" (p. 117).

Between the Alps & A Hard Place: Switzerland in World War II and Moral Blackmail Today by Angelo Codevilla. Hardcover: 480 pages. (Washington, DC: Regnery, 2000), Amazon.com $27.95.

Review by Ryan Setliff

Between the Alps & A Hard Place: Switzerland in World War II and Moral Blackmail Today is a energetic defense of the Swiss and their role as a non-belligerent neutral power in WWII. This thorough and well-documented book challenges the myth of Swiss collaboration with the Nazis and charges the Clinton Administration for obfuscation of historical fact and betraying the national interest. The Swiss have been wrongly slandered, scapegoated and extorted for their role in WWII as a neutral power, and were no more culpable for the Holocaust than the United States was. They had nothing to gain from declaring war on Germany, and it would have only meant more loss of life. As Winston Churchill recalled, "of all the neutrals Switzerland has the greatest right distinction... She has been a Democratic State, standing for freedom in self-defense among her mountains, and in thought, in spite of race, largely on our side."

With the precision of a veteran intelligence analyst, the respected Angello Codevilla offers an accurate assessment of Switzerland's geostrategic situation with a chapter-by-chapter breakdown on economics, political, and military considerations for the tiny alpine nation before and during WWII.

The Swiss people have a proud past and are one of the more unique countries in Europe, since it's a confluence of cultures situated on the Alps at the ceiling of Europe. Switzerland encompasses cantons that speak four languages including French, German, Romansch, and Italian. Swiss confederates united against the counts of Habsburg on the Rütli back to 1307. Their confederation began to grow and take shape as an alliance against the domineering Hapsburg dynasty as the Holy Roman Empire was slowly withering away. The Swiss patriarch is William Tell who personifies their patriotic spirit. The Swiss have a firey zeal for local self-government and have preserved their relatively decentralized federal body politic. Over the years, the Swiss have gained some renown for their reputation as international bankers and fine craftsman whether it is as manufacturers of precision machinery, watches or firearms. Today, the Swiss have a prosperous market economy—with one of the highest standards of living in the world and they continue their traditions of local self-government. So, one may wonder why the freedom-loving Swiss were bullied and slandered as Hitler's willing executioners by the mass media around the turn of the century?

From Union to Empire: Essays in the Jeffersonian Tradition by Clyde Wilson. Hardcover: 304 pages. (Columbia, SC: Foundation for American Education, 2003), Amazon.com $24.95.

Review by Ryan Setliff

The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Writings from Lao Tzu to Milton Friedman is a fascinating primer on libertarian thinking throughout the ages. I being of a classical conservative mind, hope to offer a fair critique of both this book and libertarianism in general. I acquired it during my pre-law days while studying political theory. Anyway, David Boaz has assembled an anthology of political and philosophical writings gleaned throughout history of what he deems to be libertarian thought. The introductory section entitled "Skepticism About Power" puts forward the crux of libertarian thought, namely skepticism of concentrated power and an affinity for the principle of subsidiarity and the widespread dispersal of power. Such skepticism is rooted in recognition of a fatal tendency in human nature for men to conspire to domineer one another — and many do so under the auspices of government itself. In sum, libertarians affirm Lord Acton's axiom that "power tends to corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Boaz tosses in a selection from the Scriptures, in 1 Samuel 8, which shows the consequences of the ancient Israelites insisting on a monarchy. Here, the prophet Samuel warned of the consequences of absolutism that would ensue, but they the people would not relent and God through his permissive will relented and gave them their monarchy. James Madison's poignant Federalist #10 is included and correlates the founder's reverence of liberty with libertarian thought.

Shots Fired: Sam Francis on America's Culture War by Samuel Francis, Peter B. Gemma, ed., (Vienna, Virginia: FGF Books, 2006), 361 pages with index

Review by Ryan Setliff

Samuel Francis—Culture Warrior for the West

The late Samuel Francis gained renown for his trenchant pen, as one of the most provocative paleoconservative writers of his generation. He possessed the trenchant pen of H.L. Mencken and the political predilection Patrick J. Buchanan. In fact, Buchanan has written the introduction to the book. Always caring more about the truth than political correctness, Samuel Francis stuck to his guns, and lost his journalist job with the Washington Times over his politically-incorrect positions on immigration and racial issues in the United States. Francis was the bête noire to the establishment. He kindled the ire of neocon stooges and limousine liberals. His friend, Thomas Fleming, editor of Chronicles, remarked, “In so many ways he was the opposite of most conservatives. He rarely talked a good game, but he always played one.” Paul Gottfried proclaimed, “Francis was not a conventional movement conservative. He was too smart, too honest, and, as these essays indicate, too ready to state social truths that the media had worked strenuously to conceal.” A vociferous pundit, Francis has condemned “immediate gratification, indulgence, and consumption,” while making a clarion call for a “thunderous defense of moral and decent traditionalism.” This powerful anthology of writings, edited by Peter Gemma, represents some of Francis’ most intrepid writing.

Down With the Presidency by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

This speech was delivered at a meeting of the John Randolph Club in Arlington, Virginia, on October 6, 1996.

The modern institution of the presidency is the primary political evil Americans face, and the cause of nearly all our woes. It squanders the national wealth and starts unjust wars against foreign peoples that have never done us any harm. It wrecks our families, tramples on our rights, invades our communities, and spies on our bank accounts. It skews the culture toward decadence and trash. It tells lie after lie. Teachers used to tell school kids that anyone can be president. This is like saying anyone can go to Hell. It’s not an inspiration; it’s a threat.

The presidency — by which I mean the executive State — is the sum total of American tyranny. The other branches of government, including the presidentially appointed Supreme Court, are mere adjuncts. The presidency insists on complete devotion and humble submission to its dictates, even while it steals the products of our labor and drives us into economic ruin. It centralizes all power unto itself, and crowds out all competing centers of power in society, including the church, the family, business, charity, and the community. I’ll go further. The US presidency is the world’s leading evil. It is the chief mischief-maker in every part of the globe, the leading wrecker of nations, the usurer behind Third-World debt, the bailer-out of corrupt governments, the hand in many dictatorial gloves, the sponsor and sustainer of the New World Order, of wars, interstate and civil, of famine and disease. To see the evils caused by the presidency, look no further than Iraq or Serbia, where the lives of innocents were snuffed out in pointless wars, where bombing was designed to destroy civilian infrastructure and cause disease, and where women, children, and the aged have been denied essential food and medicine because of a cruel embargo. Look at the human toll taken by the presidency, from Dresden and Hiroshima to Waco and Ruby Ridge, and you see a prime practitioner of murder by government.

That the South was the first section of the United States to sense an enemy in fascism was indicated not only by polls of opinions, but also by its ardor in preparing for the fight. On the surface it is an anomaly of the first order that this most conservative of sections should have discerned a foe in the regimes gathering strength in Europe, for in open debate the South would have been hard put to it to distinguish between some of the slogans of the New Order and the tenets of its own faith, sealed with Confederate blood and affirmed in many a post-bellum oration. That the Southern whites considered themselves Herrenvolk in relation to the Negro is one of the obvious features of the sociological landscape, and belief in the influence of blood and soil is powerful with them, as with any agrarian people. The glorification of the martial spirit, the distrust of urban liberalism, the hatred of money economy are pages that might be found in the book of any unreconstructed Southerner. The restoration of medieval concepts in Europe might almost have seemed the Confederate's dream or reversing history and regaining the way of life which he lost in 1865. Why then the deep, instinctive hostility of the SOuth to Hitler and his allies?