Tag: nationalism

Politics, Uncategorized

For Sale to the Right Owner

Bob Claude |

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement. and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic, April 10 1910

Six years ago, I started this website to preserve the positive message of American nationalism in the face of the negativity of the first Trump Administration.   The goal was to save the nationalist cause from Trump’s bombastic, confrontational rhetoric and restore it as a unifying call for constructive permanent change. We supported President Trump’s policies when we agreed and did not hesitate to oppose him when they degenerated into corruption and globalism. We did the same during the Biden Administration, praising some policies while damning most others.

At the same time, Theodore Roosevelt’s words from his “Man in the Arena” speech haunted me. I dealt with TR’s challenge by setting the creation of a new progressive nationalist movement as the ultimate mission of the site. While I am grateful to the approximately 300 subscribers to the site on various platforms, this is far from the number needed to overcome the highly polarized politics of our time.

I firmly believe the problem is not the message, but the shortcomings of the messenger. This cause deserves the youthful energy of a Charlie Kirk and the social media savvy of a Joe Rogan. It deserves its own “man in the arena” fighting under the inspiration of TR’s New Nationalism.  Unfortunately, at almost 70 years of age, I lack the necessary energy, resources, and technical skills to achieve this.  Thus, I have decided to offer the site and its assets for sale or transfer, in the hope of finding a leader more capable of maximizing its true potential.

Any buyer must prepare to satisfy the following terms, in descending order of priority:

  • First and foremost, they must demonstrate a commitment to the ideology and unifying message of the site as expressed in our Mission Statement. No Internet troll or clickbait purveyor need apply.
  • They must have the will and resources to expand the subscriber base and reach of the site and the progressive nationalist movement, along with a plan to do so.
  • Next, while I would lose editorial control over the site, I would like to retain the right to continue submitting articles for publication.
  • Finally, I hope to recover some of my personal investment, both material and in effort, in creating and building the site.

The assets of New Nationalism currently consist of the website domain www.newnationalism.com , a Facebook page, a Substack page, and other intellectual property. I will be happy to itemize the assets for any serious purchasers. Any inquiries should be directed to the editor’s mailbox at editor@newnationalism.com .

Finally, to those who subscribed to any of these sites, I am grateful and humbled by the faith and commitment you have shown to me and our mission. I am not giving up the fight. I am simply looking for a new, more robust leader whom we all can support. The goal of this process is to give us the opportunity to participate in an exciting movement that can actually build a strong America and strengthen the American people. If I am unable to find someone who can fulfill this role, I will retain the site and continue the mission at a sustainable pace.  In the meantime, stay strong and God bless America!

Political Reform, Politics, Uncategorized

Happy 165th Birthday, Theodore Roosevelt!

Bob Claude |

Our country – this great republic- means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy, the triumph of popular government, and, in the long run, of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that is in him. That is why the history of America is now the central feature of the history of the world: for the world has set its face hopefully toward our democracy; and, O my fellow citizens, each of you carries on your shoulders not only the burden of doing well for the sake for the sake of your own country, but the burden of doing well and of seeing that this great nation does well for the sake of mankind. Theodore Roosevelt, The New Nationalism

Theodore Roosevelt lived a life made for the cinema. He exhibited not only physical courage, but also an intellectual courage that met social and political crises similar to those of today. Acceding to the presidency after the politically motivated assassination of his predecessor, he challenged the elite of his day to address the inequities of his time threatening the American republic he so dearly loved.

Today we confront similar crises confronting the institutions that built this nation into an example for the entire world. Let us face them with TR’s optimism and his faith in this nation’s promise not only for its people but also for the world. Thank you for your example, Colonel, and rest in peace.

2024 Election, Globalism vs. Nationalism, Nationalist Theory, Politics

2024 American Nationalist Voting Index – Political Philosophy

Bob Claude |

This is the seventh of a series examining the issues in the 2024 presidential election. To see previous articles, click on the “2024 Election” category under the “Politics” tab above.

Score

Harris -2.5 Trump +.5

Presidential campaigns should be informative discussions about the issues that face our country. Many historians believe that the 1912 election between Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and William Howard Taft was among the most intellectual and consequential in our history. Unfortunately, this campaign so far is sorely lacking in those qualities.

However, presidencies often are defined not by the issues raised in the campaign, but by crises that were totally unforeseen. Think George W. Bush and 9/11 or Donald Trump and Covid. Both risks were “known unknowns” discussed only in academic circles and were never campaign issues. Nevertheless, they happened and required fateful decisions by the president on behalf of the nation that became right or wrong.  Since we don’t know what the crisis will be, we lack any indication of how today’s candidates may deal with it. There is only one indication of how they might – their political philosophy or ideology.

In a recent series on this website, I argued that the most relevant ideological divide in politics was between globalism and nationalism (see the category under the “Politics” tab above). Globalism believes that national borders should be irrelevant. Leaders and elites should have obligations not just to their own peoples, but to the entire world. Nationalism believes that individual communities represented by nation states are natural and legitimate actors in the world.  National leaders owe primary allegiance only to their respective peoples. The two ideologies actually break down into four subsets – socialist globalism, corporate globalism, ethnic nationalism and the progressive nationalism of Theodore Roosevelt. If we can place a candidate’s ideology on this spectrum, we can make an intelligent guess about their approach to future issues.

Kamala Harris‘s rhetoric and past issue positions place her squarely in the camp of socialist globalists. As she repeated in these clips from past interviews, Harris believes government should insure that everyone “end up in the same place”, regardless of circumstances. While she is clearly correct that people do not start in the same circumstances, her goal is not equity (equal opportunity) as she claims, but an empirical equality that is inherently impossible in a free society.  Moreover, her past positions on issues like immigration enforcement suggest that this desire to achieve empirical equality extends to the rest of the world as well.  Thus, when confronted with a crisis, her response will likely be to cater to the rest of the world, even to the detriment of the American people. She thus rates a -2.5 on the globalist side of the ledger.

Donald Trump is more difficult to pin down. While he campaigned in 2016 on a nationalist platform that included progressive ideas, his administration adopted policies dear to the corporate elite. His 2018 tax cuts reduced taxes on business and higher earners while widening the budget deficit and stoking inflationary pressures. His immigration policy successfully limited and deterred illegal border crossings, but it was often justified on ethnic rather than economic grounds. He has also favored increasing the number of higher skilled immigrants to compete with American tech workers, even to the point of “stapling green cards” to foreign students’ diplomas. His new alliance with consummate corporate globalist Elon Musk is also worrisome.

Thus, Trump may simply be a corporate globalist masquerading as an ethnic nationalist. Nevertheless, there are three groups that could pull him back to the nationalist side.  First and foremost is his voter base, which is ardently (and sometimes dangerously) ethnic nationalist. He will be loathe to cross them after their past support. His embrace of RFKJr. also introduces a progressive nationalist influence that will be more difficult to dismiss in a new term. Finally, his vice president JD Vance is a professed foreign policy nationalist.

Needless to say, Donald Trump is a mercurial and strong-willed candidate who has ignored outside advice in the past.  When all of these influences are taken into account, he is best rated as plus .5. In other words, he will tend to react to a crisis as a nationalist, but exactly to what extent will depend on the particular nature of the crisis.  Since we cannot know what those particularities will be, we can only hope that his nationalist side will prevail.

I recognize this analysis is based on guesswork, though it is leavened as much as possible with the facts. Trying to predict a person’s future decision on an unknown matter can easily degenerate into a form of divination. However, TR teaches us that avoiding such decisions can have worse consequences and the unpredictability of today’s world requires that a decision be made. I hope the four ideological categories I cited earlier are at least helpful in telling you where you stand, and then aiding you in determining where your candidate will stand as well.