General, Politics

Betraying Lincoln and Roosevelt

My friends, in the interest of the working man himself, we need to set our faces like flint against mob violence just as against corporate greed

Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism, August 31, 1910

The historic fissures in the Republican Party were laid bare this weekend after the resolution adopted by the Republican National Committee calling the January 6 insurrection “legitimate political discourse” and it’s rejection by former Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Minority leader McConnell. The resolution is a shameful betrayal of the party’s nationalist tradition dating back not only to Theodore Roosevelt. but also Abraham Lincoln.  As TR said so plainly, our loyalty as Americans is to the Constitution and the country, not to any one person and no grievance by any group justifies the use of violence in a democracy.   

As I’ve written before here and here, this division between the Trump’s populist right and the remaining wings of the Republican Party is part of a realignment in American politics that began in earnest with the 2016 election. Similar fissures exist in the Democratic Party between the Democratic socialists and the various wings of the party establishment, as shown in this recent poll. The frightening part of the current realignment process is that the two extremes embrace or tolerate violence to achieve their objectives and seem to be driving both parties at the local party level. Indeed, a recent poll showed a third of Americans believe violence to achieve political goals is acceptable.

It has been my experience that the internal party elite like the RNC are generally more extreme than their respective primary electorates.  Whether this is now true of the two major parties will be determined in the upcoming primary elections. Will Trump loyalists succeed in ousting Georgia Governor Brian Kemp? Will firebrands like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green survive their primaries? What happens to Michigan Congressmen Peter Meijer and Fred Upton, who voted for the impeachment resolution after the January attack?  And how successful will democratic socialist movements be in taking over local party organizations as happened in Nevada?  If the authoritarian extreme prevails in those contests, true American nationalists will have to conclude, as TR did in 1912, that the parties are now … “empty husks…incapable of approaching the great problems of today” and form a third party to pick up and carry the American nationalist banner.  

General, Politics, Uncategorized

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Like the Roman god after it was named, January is a time for looking back and looking forward. This site began because it believed that nationalism was the most important motive force in modern international relations. The best way for the United States to survive in such a world was to seek a realist foreign policy designed to preserve its own national security and, at the same time, strengthen the nation by addressing long-standing domestic problems. It would involve the kind of sacrifice and commitment by America that Theodore Roosevelt lived and advocated, which is why he is invoked on the banner of the site. 

The failures of our government in the last two years result from our political elite to accept this reality.  With a few exceptions, Trump only paid lip service to this reality while feeding  a dangerous American ethnic nationalism that became traitorous in the end. Biden was always going to be a transitional figure, especially after the Democrats lost seats in the congressional elections. Instead of accepting a role as a non-partisan unifier, Biden pursued an agenda designed to preserve the old vision of liberal hegemony while trying to placate the warring wings of the Democratic Party. The mismanaged Afghan withdrawal, the immigration disaster at the border and inflationary pressures all stem from this misguided strategy. Biden was most successful when he pursued policies left over from the Trump Administration such as the COVID relief bill and the bi-partisan infrastructure bill.

Both parties currently suffer from deep divisions that hobble them from developing a clear and successful nationalist strategy for the nation. Those of us who believe in TR’s vision of a progressive (not democratic socialist) nationalism need to begin identifying the policies and then the candidates, regardless of party, to support in those elections. One of our goals for this year is to build on the American Nationalist Voting Index used for the 2020 presidential campaign to develop a similar index you can use to rate candidates in the congressional elections. Eventually, it will serve as the basis of a new nationalist platform for the 2024 presidential election. I also will expand the New Nationalism News feature to keep you up to date on issues ignored by the mainstream media. A new subscription service will also be offered so you can receive posts directly in your e-mail box. 

I am honored and humbled by those of you who have followed and liked the site up to now. I hope to make it a more consistently helpful and inspiring source of information in the upcoming year. 

General, Politics

After the 2021 Off Year Elections

The 2021 off-year elections showed the continuing appeal of American nationalist themes previously exhibited in on the congressional side of the 2020 elections.  However, the divisive methods of appealing to this pride resulted in close races where almost all the victors won narrowly.  The use of emotional dog-whistles like critical race theory or former President Trumps’ responsibility for the January 6 insurrection obscures the issues that we must face to truly build a strong America.

As I mentioned in this previous post, we have been in such politically divisive days before and survived to renew our civil political culture. In post-Civil War 19th century politics, the real social and economic dislocations caused by the Industrial Revolution were obscured by campaigns about the tangential issues of alcohol temperance, religion, and responsibility for the Civil War, or “Rum, Romanism & Rebellion” as it was called by one observer.  Similar red herrings are used by today’s political propagandists to distract us from the real issues. The modern equivalent of “Rum” is the abortion and other social issues, which distract us from discussing the real crises faced by today’s families attempting to raise moral and successful children. Instead of warnings about the supposed religious threat of Romanism, we now focus on woke politics, critical race theory and other ethnic grievances rather than improving the education of our children to insure they can compete in the world workforce. Finally, the constant harping over the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol enables our leaders to avoid addressing the sources of the extremism on both sides that justifies political violence (see the section “Political Violence” in this previous post).

Two years ago, this website was started to cut through these emotional dog- whistles used by extremists on both sides by highlighting the real issues that weaken the America and its people in a age of rising nationalism elsewhere. I believed the way Theodore Roosevelt guided us out of the political abyss of the late 19th century was a model for curing the fevered politics of these times.   He, like us all, was never perfect in his actions, (see this post), but he was a pioneer of his time on them. Over the next year and in preparation for the next election, we will continue to help you identify the true issues facing America and act on them. For example, we will develop a new American Nationalist Voting Index you can use to evaluate your local congressional candidates in the upcoming 2022 elections. There will also be some changes in the structure of the website, including a new subscription service that will deliver website posts right to your e-mail box. 

Thank you for your attention and support for the website. It is my goal to continue to inform you on how you can preserve a strong America and the American Dream.