Originally Posted by Brainpolice

I don't believe he's ever claimed to be anything other than what he is: an anti-war/non-interventionist, constitutionalist conservative Republican straight out of the old-school right, in the tradition of Taft. What makes him different is that the majority of Republicans don't fit that mold at all, since ever since the 50's and 60's "fusionism" and eventually neo-conservatism transformed right-wing politics into a movement of throne and altar conservatism, corporatism and global crusades against communism and terrorism.

A little lesson in the history of American conservatism: before the influence of people such as Bill Buckley, many conservatives were opponents of the cold war, the draft and the military-industrial complex. But as time passed they started to allow anti-communism to permeate them to the extent that they abandoned their older non-interventionist and cosmopolitan positions out of fear of international communism. Modern conservatism is the result of an ideological disintegration within their own ranks, combined with infiltration from outside.