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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 23, 2026

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I really wonder whether a Patrick Buchanan in 1992 victory would have actually accomplished some paleoconservative goals. He was very big on restricting immigration to Europeans only, and was a committed Catholic; a true isolationist too, which you hardly ever see in national-level politicians these days. RationalWiki calls him a xenophobe (as if that was a bad thing. Heh.)

Buchanan could never have won after Bush 1, so let's move him back in time: I think the conservative movement would be in kinda the same place; the party would have done the same dumb shit with the economy regardless: Increase entitlements and expenditures without raising taxes. If you are gonna cut taxes, the DOD and the olds need to take a trillion dollar haircut, not get an even bigger check.

That said, I imagine it wouldn't have the same moral rot it does now; the only reasons R's can even think about winning an election is because the D's are a combination of bought, incompetent, and too prideful to learn a lesson that has been taught to them twice now.