ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses The Sources of The "Radical Right" (1955). The activities of the radical right would be of less interest if it sought its ends through the traditional democratic procedures of pressure-group tactics, lobbying, and the ballot box. The notion of Americanism as a creed to which men are converted rather than born stems from two factors: first, our revolutionary tradition which has led us to continually reiterate the superiority of the American creed of equalitarianism, of democracy, against the old reactionary, monarchical and more rigidly status-bound systems of European society; and second, the immigrant character of American society, the fact that people may become Americans–that they are not simply bora to the status. The conservative elements in American society can be divided into two groups, the moderate conservatives and the radical right. The singular fact is that radical right agitation has facilitated the growth of practices which threaten to undermine the social fabric of democratic politics.
