nationalism – Page 15 – 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.

Nationalist Theory, Politics

A Globalist’s Failed Attempt to Understand Nationalism

Bob Claude | March 8, 2018October 2, 2019

This article missed a real opportunity to craft a modern American liberal nationalism in the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt’s New Nationalism speech. It first attempts to belittle nationalism by conflating the concepts of “nation” and “state”. While the modern-day state is arguably a recent phenomenon, nationhood is almost as old as humanity itself. Statehood is a creature of international law dating back to the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. States are entities that have sovereignty over territory. Nations, on the other hand, are peoples with a common heritage, usually ethnic in nature. There are states that are not nations and nations that are not states. The African states created after the end of colonialism are the best example of the former and the world is full of examples of the latter, such as the Kurds.

In contrast, the United States was founded not on an ethnic or denominational basis, but on the concept that all were created equal and were endowed with basic human rights. As I mentioned in my previous post on MLK Day, there is, and never should be, such a thing as an ethnic American. While we have struggled, sometimes bloodily, to fully realize this vision, we should never forget how revolutionary the concept was during the monarchical, absolutist nationalism of the 18th and 19th centuries. We fashioned a nationalism that was committed to achieving the American Dream for all our citizens regardless of origin or religion in the hope that other nations would see the benefits of such a society and adopt this vision in their own unique way.