The Foolish Abandonment of Pat Buchanan

by Steve Farrell

Revisiting the NewsMax Years, No. 1, June 30, 1999

Patrick J. Buchanan

Sometimes our memory plays tricks on us. Back in the 1980s and right up into the early 1990s Pat Buchanan was widely acclaimed as the toast of the Republican Party.

Possessing a rare combination of hard-hitting yet inspiring commentary, extraordinary debating skills yet an affable personality, a history of brawling as a youth yet heartfelt religious devotion as an adult; here was a one-time Democrat turned Republican who by the time he had written “Right from the Beginning” had earned himself the title “the conscience of conservatism.”

Even in the presidential primaries of 1992 and 1996, it was readily admitted that it was the Buchanan campaign that shaped the debate. That’s because, unlike the host of other candidates who opposed him it was Pat Buchanan who had an in-depth stance on most every issue, one which never altered in casual or heated discussions, nor floated upon the winds of opinion-poll politics.

Buchanan Electrifies 1992 RNC

There was no posturing, no politicking. Just roll-up-your-sleeves, straightforward, in-your-face, for-better-or-worse statesmanship, and everybody knew it.

Of course, that disturbed some people. Democrats for years had loathed him. And they had good reason, for Pat presented to the Democratic Party a nightly national embarrassment on CNN, as he outwitted and outmatched their best thinkers with commonsense, get-to-the-meat-of-the-issues insight, which left (no pun intended) opponents gasping from a lack of emotion-free, sensible comebacks.

What Democratic Party faithful wouldn’t hate him for that?

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But as a presidential candidate and surprisingly serious contender, Buchanan ran head on into a new set of enemies, this time within his own ranks.

Hypocritically, it was the same party hotshots who had long dubbed him “hero” who now caricatured him “villain” and who, just like their Democratic Party counterparts who couldn’t defeat Buchanan on principle, resorted to the mindless, bullying, emotion-filled tactic of name calling.

Overnight, Pat became a tenured fanatic, a divisive party figure, an oddity, a throwback, a racist, an isolationist, a protectionist, a narrow-minded, hot-headed street brawler and occasionally, in “kindness,” a candidate who “we like, but who can’t win.”

Establishment Turns Hero Into Villain

Leading the charge was the man who had written the most flowery endorsement of all on the jacket of Buchanan’s best-selling book, President George Bush, who suddenly changed praise into hostility, calling Mr. Buchanan “a far right extremist.” But the only thing extreme about Pat is that he has forever stood firm by those principles that the establishment Republican merely espouses during political campaigns.

The truth is, Pat Buchanan’s beliefs are mainstream and sensible. Here are a few:

• A belief that the U.S. Constitution is the best political standard ever devised by the wisdom of men.
• A belief that the size and scope of the federal government should be limited, and that the excessive burdens of taxation, regulation and government meddling in the economy would correct themselves if only we would return to the superior standards delineated in that document.
• A belief that free trade means that elected representatives in Congress, as specified by the Constitution – not some un-elected, superintending, international regulatory body such as NAFTA or the WTO – should decide how Americans direct their own commerce.
• A belief that refusing most favored nation (MFN) trade privileges to a country (China) which has for a long time manufactured goods by slave labor, practiced patent theft, sold drugs on our streets to our youth, stolen our most guarded nuclear secrets, threatened and invaded its neighbors, systematically killed and oppressed its own people, and who now points missiles at our shores, makes sense.
• To so refuse, he believes, is not a violation of free market principles. For domestic laws which forbid the sale and purchase of stolen goods, which close down Mafia-run front shops and disenfranchise the rights of convicted felons, do the same.
• A belief that protective tariffs against such a nation are constitutional and present a peaceful option of protest short of war.
• A belief that international communism and terrorism, which still prosper everywhere, cannot be defeated by  subsidizing of the economies and military of foreign nations (international socialism), nor by implementing, in the name of national security, police state measures at home. But that a strong, united, independent and prosperous United States that refuses to aid her enemies is the best plan to defeat both communism and terrorism.
• A belief that just as freemen have the power to decide who and what influences can and cannot enter into their homes, so a nation of freemen can and should collectively possess that same power with regard to immigration policy.
• Robbers don’t have the right to come into our homes and steal our goods, so why should the Fidel Castros of the world have the right to empty their worst criminals onto America’s shores, and why should those who refuse to work have the right to come to America and demand welfare, medical services, a free education (in Spanish no less), and a host of other benefits?
• American immigration policy once opened our doors only to the good, the educated, the skilled, the law-abiding and the refugee; and refused entrance to the criminal, the lazy and the political enemy. This was just plain common sense, and it’s still common sense today.
• And finally, Pat Buchanan believes that the principle of representation means that our leaders possess delegated power over our nation only … period. The duty of our president and our Congress is to serve the American people. America first and America only.

And so, what’s wrong with that?

Frankly, nothing. These are the things most Americans, and especially most Republicans, believe in. For those who take the time to read and reread what Pat Buchanan has taught and now teaches, they will find logic, reason and moral persuasion. They will find themselves, and then maybe they will conclude that it is not Pat Buchanan who should be abandoned, but the hypocritical leadership of the Republican Party that turned their collective back on their friend, their conscience and their spokesman.

Steve Farrell is one of the original pundits at Silver Eddy Award Winner, NewsMax.com (1999-2008), associate professor of political economy at George Wythe University, the author of the highly praised inspirational novel “Dark Rose,” and editor in chief of The Moral Liberal.