A liberal view from the right

Here's a little example of the difference between right liberalism and traditionalist conservatism.

There's an Australian blog called The View from the Right (not to be confused with Lawrence Auster's excellent American site, View from the Right).

A recent post on the Australian site was an attempt to justify our Prime Minister's crackdown on illegal immigration. The argument given was that by cracking down on illegals, Mr Howard had pacified the public, allowing a large increase in legal migration.

Now, this is "right wing" only in the sense that it is right wing liberalism. The author of the post clearly supports the deconstruction of traditional Australia by large scale foreign immigration. He believes that by controlling illegal immigration, the process can be done in a more orderly and socially acceptable way.

This is not genuine conservatism. Genuine conservatives don't see ethnicity as an impediment to individual will and reason to be overthrown. Instead they see it as an important part of human connectedness and self-identity to be valued and conserved.

A genuine conservative will therefore argue not only to maintain border control as a normal exercise of national sovereignty, but will also want immigration to be small-scale and compatible with existing ethnic traditions.