The American Conservative was founded in 2002 to reignite the conversation that conservatives ought to have engaged in since the end of the Cold War, but didn’t. TAC’s founders—Scott McConnell, Patrick J. Buchanan, and Taki Theodoracopulos—believed, in different but compatible ways, that what passed for conservatism in the United States wasn’t conserving much of anything. At the time, the American right was marching in lockstep towards a disastrous regime change war in Iraq, and an increasingly globalist domestic agenda at home. TAC would offer a different voice.

The very name chosen for the publication was a challenge to the GOP Beltway conservative establishment. TAC’s vision was actually seeking to conserve what’s best about America. As Scott McConnell wrote in the magazine’s founding editorial:

We believe conservatism to be the most natural political tendency, rooted in man’s taste for the familiar, for family, for faith in God.

美国保守党成立于2002年，旨在重新点燃自冷战结束以来保守派本应参与的对话，但事实并非如此。TAC的创始人Scott McConnell、Patrick J.Buchanan和Taki Theodoracopulos以不同但兼容的方式认为，在美国被认为是保守主义的东西并没有保护太多东西。当时，美国右翼正步调一致地走向伊拉克灾难性的政权更迭战争，以及国内日益全球化的国内议程。TAC会发出不同的声音。

该出版物的名字本身就是对共和党环城公路保守派建制派的挑战。TAC的愿景实际上是寻求保护美国最好的一面。正如Scott McConnell在杂志创刊社论中所写：

我们相信保守主义是最自然的政治倾向，植根于人们对熟悉的事物、家庭和对上帝的信仰的品味。