Bill Kauffman

Bill Kauffman (born November 15, 1959) is an American political writer generally aligned with the localist movement. He was born in Batavia, New York, and currently resides in Elba, New York, with his wife and daughter.

A devout Roman Catholic, Kauffman was also an intimate correspondent of the late Gore Vidal, with whom he shares many ideological similarities.

Education and career

After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester, he went to work as an aide to New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (which he would later describe as an "anarchist-making experience") in 1981. After leaving Moynihan's employ, Kauffman worked as Washington, D.C., editor for ''Reason'' before quitting and returning to Batavia. He has written frequently for ''The American Conservative'', '' The American Enterprise'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''CounterPunch''. He wrote the screenplay to the independent film '' Copperhead'', which was directed by Ron Maxwell, a friend of Kauffman's. The film came out in June 2013 to mixed reviews.

Political beliefs

Kauffman's politics remain difficult to categorize. He holds strong libertarian leanings with culturally conservative and isolationist inclinations. He is a critic of development, frequently writes approvingly of distributism and agrarianism, and is strongly anti-corporate. Kauffman has described his politics as "a blend of Catholic Worker, Old Right libertarian, Yorker transcendentalist, and delirious localist."Vance, Laurence (2006-12-04
Bill Kauffman: American Anarchist
''LewRockwell.com'' He has also described himself as an "Independent. A Jeffersonian. An anarchist. A (cheerful!) enemy of the state, a reactionary Friend of the Library, a peace-loving football fan." Although he remains a registered Democrat, he rarely supports their candidates or their party platform and has frequently voted Green since the collapse of the Reform Party in 2000.

Other positions adopted by Kauffman that are considered controversial to both the Left and the Right include his support for the Second Vermont Republic secessionist movement, his admiration for 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, his argument that Catholic Worker activist Dorothy Day had much in common with elements of the Right, and his contention that Philip Roth's book '' The Plot Against America'' is "the novel that a neoconservative would write, if a neoconservative could write a novel." He made the argument in his book ''Ain't My America'' that a true conservative would object to an interventionist foreign policy.

He voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan in 2000.Who's Getting Your Vote?
''Reason'' In 2004 and 2008, he voted for Ralph Nader for President of the United States "because I never got the chance to vote for Gene Debs or Norman Thomas." On September 2, 2008, he addressed the Rally for the Republic in Saint Paul, Minnesota put on by Ron Paul (R-TX).Bill Kauffman Rally Republic - Bill Kauffman - Rally for the Republic Bill Kauffman speaks at Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic, Target Center, Minneapolis, MN, September 2, 2008.
user-created clip at C-Span

Writings

His books include ''Every Man a King'' (1989), a novel about a young senatorial aide who, disgusted with politics, returns to his rural New York hometown to start a new life; ''Country Towns of New York'' (1993), a travel book; ''America First!: Its History, Politics, and Culture'' (1995), a history of American populist, isolationist, and anti-imperialist thought; ''With Good Intentions?: Reflections on the Myth of Progress in America'' (1998), a collection of (often approving) profiles of the opponents of school consolidation, child labor laws, a standing army, women's suffrage, and the Interstate Highway System, as well as the proponents of homesteading as a means of battling the Great Depression; ''Dispatches from the Muckdog Gazette: A Mostly Affectionate Account of a Small Town’s Fight to Survive'' (2003), the story of Batavia and its decline; ''Look Homeward America: In Search of Reactionary Radicals and Front-Porch Anarchists'' (2006), a meditation on American political, literary, and artistic figures whose values he admires; and ''Ain't My America: The Long, Noble History of Anti-War Conservatism and Middle American Anti-Imperialism'' (2008). ''Forgotten Founder, Drunken Prophet: The Life of Luther Martin'', was published in 2008 by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. It was followed by ''Bye Bye, Miss American Empire'' (2010), a study of secessionist movements; by a book reprinting his screenplay for ''Copperhead''; and by the essay collection ''Poetry Night at the Ballpark'' (2015). He also edited ''A Story of America First'' (2003), a memoir by America First Committee congressional liaison Ruth Sarles Benedict, and ''The Congressional Journal of Barber B. Conable, Jr.'' (2021).

References

External links

Bill Kauffman personal website
* Vance, Laurence (2006-12-04

''LewRockwell.com'', 2006
*

Interview
with Scott Horton on Antiwar Radio
* Five-part interview wit
2Blowhards


Profile in Notre Dame Magazine

Essay on Bill Kauffman in The University Bookman

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kauffman, Bill
1959 births
Living people
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American non-fiction writers
20th-century Roman Catholics
21st-century American journalists
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century Roman Catholics
American libertarians
American male journalists
American male non-fiction writers
American political journalists
American political writers
Anti-corporate activists
Catholics from New York (state)
Journalists from New York (state)
New York (state) Democrats
Non-interventionism
American opinion journalists
Paleoconservatism
People from Batavia, New York
People from Genesee County, New York
University of Rochester alumni
Writers from New York (state)
Distributism