2022 Election, Political Reform, Politics

2022 Nationalist Voting Index – Political Reform

Longtime followers of this site will remember the American Nationalist Voting Index developed during the 2020 election to compare the two main presidential candidate’s positions on key issues. This series of posts will attempt to craft a similar list of nationalist issues for the upcoming midterm elections. 

We begin with the one most dear to Theodore Roosevelt himself – preserving and broadening our democracy to  give the average American an effective voice in Washington.  At a time when the durability and even the legitimacy of American democracy has been questioned, political reform is not merely desirable, but critical to insuring our strength here at home and our credibility as a champion of freedom abroad.

Freedom to Vote Act

This bill started out life as the “For the People Act” and proposed significant and important reforms in campaign finance, voter registration and rights, lobbying rules, election integrity and congressional ethics.  You can see more of my analysis of it under the “Politics – Political Reform “ tab on the website. Thanks to Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the bill was amended to eliminate many of the more overreaching provisions. Unfortunately, congressional ethics reform was one of the casualties of the process. However, as I discussed here, the Manchin compromise incorporated the best of the other reforms and deserved support from American nationalists.

Sadly, while the bill passed the House in February of this year, it failed in the Senate.  Your House member’s vote on it can be found at this link (ignore the reference to a NASA appropriation. If you click on the bill number, it will take you to the Freedom to Vote Act:

https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/20229 

In the Senate, a motion to bring the bill to a vote failed and your Senator’s position can be found here

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1171/vote_117_1_00420.htm

Ban Congressional Stock Trading

Insider trading by corporate and securities elites has been unlawful for decades, but recent revelations have shown the current rules to prevent similar profiteering by congress members are largely toothless. Several bills to ban stock trading by members of Congress were introduced, but the Democratic leadership in both houses prevented them from coming to a floor vote.

Thus, the only record of congressional support for this reform is the identity of the co-sponsors of those bills. Here is the list of co- sponsors of the House bill (HR 6678, the Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act)

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6678/cosponsors?r=43&s=1

A similar bill was introduced in the Senate (S 3494, the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act) and the list of co-sponsors can be found here

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3494/cosponsors

If your House representative or Senator is not on these lists, you may want to ask them what they’re trying to hide.

Electoral Count Act

The horrifying January 6 attack on the Capitol during the 2020 presidential election certification highlighted the weaknesses of the nineteenth century law governing that critical process.  One of the pretexts for the attack was the theory that Vice-President Pence had the unilateral power to reject the results of the election.  This bill clarifies that the Vice-President has no such power. It also prevents frivolous challenges by providing that any objection to a state’s electors must have the support of one- third of each house of Congress. 

This should have been non-controversial. However, it only passed the House and never came up for a vote in the Senate. You can see the results of the roll call vote in the House here at

https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2022449

A list of the co-sponsors of the companion bill in the Senate can be found at

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4573/cosponsors

Conclusion

TR spent much of his New Nationalism speech attacking the influence of special interests on the political process, comparing its importance to the fight against slavery in the Civil War.  If we are to avoid the modern-day civil war many observers fear, we must reinvigorate our own commitment to democracy to insure it works for all Americans, not just a narrow elite.

Nationalist Theory, Political Reform, Politics, Uncategorized

Who Lost America – A Guest Column

https://jamesstrock.substack.com/p/who-lost-america?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2

Through my membership in the Theodore Roosevelt Association, I have had the pleasure of corresponding with James Strock, one of the TR Association’s advisory board members. He hosts a blog on the Substack platform named “The Next Nationalism”, which also promotes TR’s philosophy in the present age. I can heartily recommend his well-written articles and thought-provoking podcast interviews.

One of his recent posts combines beautiful writing and a sharp perspective to deliver a biting assessment of the state of our current politics. However, it also points out that we have been here before as a nation and always overcame similar internal crises through deepening our commitment to our democratic values and our own national community. It is a long piece and, at the same time, the best summary of what is wrong with current American politics and why American nationalism is the cure.

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.