Domestic Policy – Page 17 – New Nationalism

Domestic Policy, General, Government, Politics

An Ugly Betrayal of American Nationalism

Bob Claude | July 17, 2019October 9, 2019

“We are all Americans. Our common interests are as broad as the continent. I speak to you here in Kansas as I would speak in New York or Georgia, for the most vital problems are those which affect all of us alike.”
Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism, August, 1910.

Like many Americans, I did not vote for Donald Trump (or Hillary Clinton) in the 2016 election. As an American nationalist, former Secretary Clinton’s globalist history and her express commitment to continue the Obama Administration’s policies that weakened America were clearly anathema to me. At the same time, no authentic American nationalist would support the Russian and WikiLeaks hacks of a fellow American citizen. Nevertheless, I hoped Trump still might be able to unify us around a new nationalist foreign and domestic program to develop a realist and sustainable foreign policy and to renew the American Dream.

Some welcome steps have been taken toward these goals, such as the new National Security Strategy and the rollback of unnecessary regulations. Sadly, the positive accomplishments have been overshadowed by the President’s constant appeals to rank ethnic bigotry and jingoistic international provocations. His recent tweets telling four congressmembers to “go back to the….places from which they came” further proved he has no real understanding of the principles of American nationalism. Those principles are grounded in our democratic values and our commitment to helping all citizens achieve the American Dream. As I said in previous posts, there is, and never should be, any such thing as an ethnic American.

Theodore Roosevelt welcomed anyone from any nationality that embraced American values and could work to strengthen our nation. This positive nationalism would reject the kind of hateful rhetoric the President has directed toward Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley and Tlaib. It is the purpose of this site to save American nationalism from permanent association with such ugly demagoguery.

Domestic Policy, General, Government, Politics

An American Nationalist View of the Mid-Term Election

Bob Claude | March 17, 2019October 2, 2019

Political punditry is not the primary purpose of this site, but the results of the 2018 mid-terms may be an important driver in the nationalist-globalist debate as we enter the 2020 presidential cycle. It was clearly a Democratic victory, but not without future risk for them.

The capture of the House essentially gives Democrats a constitutional and more effective podium in the national debate. It occurred because of Trump’s abject failure to mold a coherent and unifying nationalist program. However, the losses in the Senate of moderate Democratic Senators in Indiana and Missouri are a warning that rural and urban blue collar workers believe Trump’s conservative nationalist policies on issues such as immigration and job creation, as limited as they are, address their concerns better than opposing globalist policies.

Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Domestic Policy

A Gaping Loophole

Bob Claude | January 18, 2018January 23, 2021

The absence of effective state, and especially national, restraint upon unfair money-getting has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power…. We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows…. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community.
Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism, August 31, 1910

Much of TR’s classic New Nationalism speech is spent criticizing the influence of “special interests”, especially business corporations, on government and public policy. While his criticism is primarily based on morality and the good of the country, the situation is best explained by legality and practicality. Legally, corporate officers have a fiduciary duty to avoid wasting corporate assets and to maximize returns to their shareholders, which includes increasing the underlying value of their capital investment. They thus have an incentive and, arguably, a duty, to seek legislation that will help them accomplish that objective. It is the role of the people, through the democratic process, to ensure that this incentive is controlled and channeled by the law in a way that benefits the nation.