Traditionalists believe that human flourishing requires rootedness in particular places, communities, and inherited ways of life. Against both progressive universalism and libertarian individualism, they argue that people need thick social bonds, local institutions, and shared moral frameworks—not autonomous choice in an atomized marketplace of lifestyles.
This strain draws on communitarian philosophy, Catholic social teaching (particularly subsidiarity), and conservative thinkers like Russell Kirk, Robert Nisbet, and Wendell Berry. They're skeptical of bigness in all forms—big government, big business, big tech—preferring human-scale institutions where people know each other and share responsibility for common life.
Traditionalists critique both left and right for different failures. Progressives err by using state power to dissolve traditional communities and impose alien values. Libertarians and mainstream conservatives err by celebrating market forces that equally dissolve communities, replacing local businesses with chains, stable families with consumer choice, and rooted citizens with mobile workers.
The emphasis is on what mediates between isolated individuals and distant states: families, churches, neighborhoods, local businesses, voluntary associations, and civic organizations. These "little platoons" (Burke's phrase) form character, transmit values, provide meaning, and create the social trust that makes self-government possible.
At roughly 2% of the population, Traditionalists are a small but intellectually influential strain. They're found in "crunchy con" communities, agrarian and localist movements, traditional religious communities, and among thinkers trying to articulate what's been lost in modern life. They often feel politically homeless—too anti-capitalist for mainstream Republicans, too traditional for Democrats.