Pema Levy, in a Monday Mother Jones article, wrote that Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), who President-elect Donald Trump has picked to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, spoke in July at a dinner held by a chapter of the John Birch Society in Mulvaney’s home state. Levy suggests Mulvaney presenting a speech at the dinner should be troubling when she asserts that the John Birch Society “has long been exiled from mainstream conservatism.”
Supposing Levy’s assertion about the John Birch Society is true, is it such a bad thing to be exiled from mainstream conservatism? Many people would claim such a status with pride given all the wars and individual rights violations that have been pursued with the support of many politicians who consider themselves mainstream conservatives.
In 2008, Ron Paul, then a Republican House of Representatives member from Texas, spoke at the John Birch Society’s 50th anniversary event in Wisconsin. Watch here Paul’s speech, in which he talks about the John Birch Society, as well as matters including the importance of following the US Constitution, avoiding foreign intervention, opposing conscription, and ending the Federal Reserve:
