I believe a nationalist movement would attract what is either a majority or a significant minority of Democratic voters who are not socialists and who do not seek to destroy society and remake it in a progressive image. I believe this group of Democrats who identify as “liberal” simply do not see in the Republican Party as it exists today a recognition of the individual’s responsibility to society that is so vital a part of a nationalist movement. I don’t blame them. I don’t see it, either.
This group simply places more emphasis on the individual’s responsibility to community and nation than on economic freedom. Given the choice between the “conservative” movement as they understand it today and the progressives, they side with the latter, who at least acknowledge some public responsibility.
I believe a nationalist movement would attract large numbers of this group. They are blue-collar Democrats who aren’t interested in socialism or forced multiculturalism. They just don’t want to live in an America where they are completely sold out to multinational corporations who have no obligation to the nation they are helping to build.
They want to live in the kind of America their parents and grandparents grew up in, where there is economic freedom, opportunity, and personal liberty, tempered by a duty to preserve the nation that makes all of that possible. Once they understand the nationalist platform, I believe many of them will join us without hesitation.
Nationalist Foreign Policy
When George W. Bush invaded Afghanistan, he had overwhelming support from the public, regardless of political affiliation. America had been attacked, and no one denied the need to defend our security and defeat the forces behind 9/11.
It was only when Bush apparently abandoned that mission and pursued his disastrous invasion of Iraq that rank-and-file Democrats turned against him. It was largely the Iraq War that cost Bush and the Republicans Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008. To this day, Republicans refuse to admit the Iraq War was a mistake, merely because it was prosecuted by a Republican, even though the rest of the world, including almost half of Republican voters, know it.1
I was against the Iraq War from the beginning, for the same reason true conservatives and most rank-and-file Democrats were. It did not defend the security of the United States against anyone who threatened it. Whatever secondary reasons there may have been for invading Iraq beneath the ridiculous “weapons of mass destruction” theory, none of them justified sending our troops to war or the sacrifice of blood and treasure that resulted.
Yet today, most Americans would support military action in Iraq against ISIS, and they disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the Islamic State.2 Why the completely opposite opinions on military action in the same country? Because the American people perceive a real threat from ISIS today that they did not perceive from Saddam Hussein in 2003.
I believe history will show the people were wise on both accounts. If we had a government that truly represented them, we would likely have avoided the mistake of invading Iraq in 2003 and the mistake of letting ISIS continue to grow its power in 2015.
The truth is the Republican Party has become far too eager to go to war for its own sake. I don’t think it’s any accident that this benefits the big business of defense contractors. The Republicans want to go to war over everything, all the time. The American people want war limited to defending our security.
Meanwhile, the progressives have sent our troops into conflicts like Somalia and Serbia, either to support the Islamofascists or on humanitarian missions. At the time of this writing, the Obama administration has “signaled that it was prepared to expand military cooperation in the fight against Boko Haram.”3
It’s no coincidence that America’s Progressive-Islamist administration would suddenly want to fight the ISIS affiliate Boko Haram in Nigeria the minute the conservative, free-market-oriented People’s Democratic Party and its Christian president lost an election to the progressive party of Muslim Muhamad Buhari, Nigeria’s former military dictator. Until this election, the administration had expressed little interest in the Nigerians’ plight.
Regardless, this fight has nothing to do with the national security of the United States nor the stability of the world. The peaceful transfer of power was the first in Nigeria in decades and represents a step forward in stability, if not in the best interests of the Nigerian people. That’s their problem. American taxpayers are not financially responsible for it and sending our troops into such quagmires, should it come to that, further weakens our military.
Most Americans, whether they vote Republican or Democrat, want our military to be used only when it is necessary for our national defense. They don’t want to sacrifice lives or treasure to right every wrong in the world or promote democracy in Third World backwaters, whose inhabitants burn our flag. When the military is deployed, they want them given the tools and strategy they need to win decisively and come back home.
In other words, they want a nationalist approach to foreign policy.
40 Actions to Save America
In terms of specific actions, I could probably think of thousands that would spring from a nationalist movement to save this country. I’ve proposed many over the years. Some were time sensitive; some can still be accomplished. I have other ideas that are brand new. Here are the top forty that come to my mind as most urgent in 2015–2016.
Notice that not all of these have to do with the federal government. Some should be accomplished at the state or local levels. Some should be accomplished outside of any governments at all. There is much we can do in the private sector with the choices we make and the power we have over those who want to influence those choices.
1. Start a Nationalist Party. We need a true two-party system. Right now, we have a one-party system. It’s a charade, a shell game with no peas under either shell. As we have seen with Boehner and McConnell, we have an oligarchy running America. We voted in conservatives and they were put at the back of the bus. Conservative has become meaningless. A Nationalist Party would attract disaffected members from both parties and tip the balance of power back to the people.
2. Close the borders completely for seven years. We have had unprecedented immigration into this country, not just in terms of numbers, but of foreign and even hostile cultures. We need time to assimilate the immigrants we have, just as we did the waves of immigrants at the beginning of the last century. At the end of seven years, evaluate our capacity for normalizing immigration, with nationalist priorities as I’ve described.
3. Deport all illegal aliens in American prisons. That would be up to one-third of the prison population, which exceeds two million prisoners. This is not an expense American taxpayers should be bearing, especially in a down economy.
4. Repeal the “Anchor Babies” law. Right now, an illegal alien who crosses our border and gives birth has automatically bestowed citizenship on her offspring. This gives an incentive for illegal immigration, not to mention endangering the mother and baby.
5. Make English the official language of the United States. Mandate English for all legal and political transactions, including ballots. If you can’t read English, you can’t vote, period. Require all government employees to be able to speak, read, and write English fluently.
6. Require government-issued identification to vote. This seems like a no-brainer. It doesn’t guarantee the voter is a citizen, but it at least confirms he or she is alive. Dead voters overwhelmingly vote progressive.
7. Reintroduce civics classes to elementary and secondary schools. We need to teach our children the history and meaning of America’s founding fathers, founding documents, and founding principles. This knowledge should also be required on all citizenship tests.
8. Restore to active duty all military officers purged by Obama. Offer them a generous bonus as an incentive to return.
9. Restore physical standards in the military. If women are going to participate in combat, they are going to have to be able to meet the same physical standards as
men. We cannot weaken our military for the sake of progressive politics. Lower standards cost lives on the battlefield.
10. Restructure military spending. We need to adequately equip the soldiers who are defending our civilization and stop wasting defense dollars in Germany and South Korea. Pull our troops out of those countries and redeploy them on our southern border. This will help control illegal immigration and ensure that soldiers are patronizing American retailers and businesses instead of foreign ones. Use some of the savings to increase the pay and upgrade the equipment of soldiers on the front lines of the war on radical Islam.
11. Cut the rest of government significantly. While our military is struggling, the rest of the meddling federal government is living higher than ever. Cut all nonmilitary spending in each department by 4 percent per year over the next presidential term, for a total reduction of 16 percent by 2021.
12. Repair our relations with Russia. Russia should be an ally in the war against radical Islam and a partner in the world economy. The United States should propose an agreement that has Russia cease any aggression outside its borders in return for assurance that the U.S. and Europe will stay out of the affairs of nations bordering Russia.
13. Sign a mutual defense treaty with Israel. The United States has no formal treaty with Israel at present. The U.S. would pledge its protection if Israel were attacked by a foreign power in return for Israel guaranteeing the safety of American shipping and trade with its own resources in the region.
14. End all foreign aid, including to Israel. The U.S. currently gives $3 billion in annual military aid to Israel and five times that amount to Middle Eastern nations, most of which want to destroy Israel. We can’t afford this, nor would we need to bribe other nations not to attack Israel with a formal mutual defense treaty in place.
15. Recognize radical Islam as the enemy. We aren’t fighting a war on terrorism. Terrorism is a minor problem outside of what is perpetrated by radical Islam. Let’s formally recognize the enemy, who doesn’t just fight on the battlefield and in terrorist acts, but seeks to infiltrate the West and destroy its borders, language, and culture.
16. Allow profiling in security investigations. While the TSA is harassing a Welsh-German grandmother from Indiana, radical Islamists walk onto airplanes without identification and try to blow them up. This is the insane result of banning profiling in security work. The security risks to American citizens come from radical Islamists. They have openly declared their intentions. Let’s start our investigations on terrorist plots there and stop harassing innocent Americans.
17. Demand Congress declare war against ISIS and destroy them. ISIS claims to be a formal state. They control territory, have declared war on the United States, and have killed American citizens. This is a no-brainer. Declare war and win it decisively. The rules of engagement should go no further than what is required by the Geneva Conventions.
18. Close all tax loopholes for Hollywood. Hollywood has become a fountain of anti-Americanism and has tax incentives to keep churning out the garbage it has been creating. Close them. Let them survive without the government’s help.
19. Fund all climate science research to include the skeptics. This branch of science has become completely politicized. The reason so many scientists are willing to go along with this preposterous theory is they are dependent upon government money. Balance the funding and we’ll see a sudden uptick in skepticism about the real effects of man’s activities on climate.
20. Withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, if possible. We don’t know the terms of Obama’s secret trade deal. If there is a way to withdraw honorably under its terms, the next president should get out of it.
21. Withdraw from NAFTA. It has benefited no one but multinational corporations. In addition to killing American manufacturing, it has also destroyed the small farm industry in Mexico, giving further incentive for illegal immigration.4
22. Narrow the Federal Reserve’s mandate to a strong dollar and stable prices. Right now, the central bank is also charged with maximizing employment, managing long-term interest rates, and regulating banks. It’s doing none of its jobs well. Its mandate to maximize employment requires it to inflate the currency, which contradicts its mandate to keep prices stable. As we aren’t getting real employment growth anyway, we have nothing to lose.
23. End the H-1B visa program. We have STEM workers unemployed and ready to start tomorrow. We don’t need to bring in temporary help from other countries. Big business will have to pay the market rate here in the United States.
24. Institute a flat tax. Right now, almost half of U.S. citizens pay no income tax at all, while the other half pays progressively more as they become more productive. This is unfair and counterproductive, by definition. A 15 percent flat tax on everyone means everyone pays their “fair share,” as the progressives love to say. It also eliminates myriad loopholes for all sorts of special interests, including corporate America and Hollywood.
25. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. This 1933 law prohibited commercial banks from also operating as investment banks. Its repeal in 1999 was a key factor in the housing meltdown. Here’s one regulation that actually helped. Restore it.
26. Reinstate the Wall Street “Uptick Rule.” This rule required short sales to be made on an “uptick,” or at a price higher than the last traded price when the last movement was upward. It sounds technical, but it basically prevents speculators from driving stock prices down purely for short-term gain. Wall Street provides a valuable service when it capitalizes new businesses, creating jobs and wealth. This rule helped keep it focused on that, instead of functioning as a rigged casino for speculators.
27. Privatize the regulation of Wall Street. There is a role for government regulation and a role for the market. Clearly, Congress is never going to regulate the source of its campaign contributions. Create a financial clearinghouse for the oversight of financial derivative debt instruments. Together with prohibitions on bailouts, this would introduce market discipline to the legalized gambling.
28. Institute tort reform. Frivolous lawsuits and ridiculously disproportionate awards also drive up medical expenses. States should cap medical liability at $250,000 per claim. This is one thing my home state of California did right and it worked.
29. Eliminate government employee pensions. The pension is an outdated concept that never really worked. Virtually no one in the private sector is guaranteed a pension by their employer. Why should government employees receive them? Existing pensions must be renegotiated to reflect economic reality.
30. End affirmative action. We’ve had a black president, black cabinet members from both parties, a black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, black CEOs of Fortune 100 corporations, and black billionaires. None of these achieved their success through affirmative action. Affirmative action is racism defined, as it assumes people of color need special privileges to make it. Clearly, black Americans have proved they don’t. It’s time to kill it.
31. Defund federal unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits should be provided by private insurers in state markets. Just as we don’t want states to prohibit interstate competition in medical insurance, we don’t want the federal government subsidizing unemployment. It encourages people not to work. At the time of this writing, we had a record number of job openings in America.5 We need to incentivize people to get back to work.
32. Limit welfare benefits. Limit welfare benefits to three years and end the incentive for welfare moms to have more babies by capping the subsidies per child. We need to reverse the perverse incentive for people to have more children when they can’t support the ones they already have.
33. End bulk collection of data by the NSA. The NSA was collecting data on every American. The USA Freedom Act reformed this practice, but it didn’t go far enough. We are wasting time and resources on innocent Americans. We know who the enemy is. Get warrants on radical Islamists and stop spying on the rest of us.
34. Make all state univers
ities and colleges “free speech zones.” Our colleges and universities have become brainwashing centers for the progressive left, where no dissenting speech is permitted. Not only does it further the Progressive-Islamist agenda, it stifles creativity and critical thinking. Tax dollars should not be subsidizing subversion.
35. Defend freedom of speech against radical Islam. Americans should feel as secure in their right to criticize Islam as they are in their right to criticize any other religion. Oppose government infringement of this right, and when the news media supports it, boycott their broadcasts. They need our viewership, but we no longer need them.
36. Restore freedom of religion in the military. Stop persecuting qualified officers and soldiers for their religious beliefs. End the war on Christianity in the military.
37. Defend religious freedom in business. Regardless of gay marriage laws, individuals should not be compelled to violate their conscience on matters of religion. Support religious freedom restoration acts at the state level.
38. Restore religious freedom in schools. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. No religion should be officially promoted in schools, but students and teachers should be free to talk about their religious beliefs without imposing them on others.
39. Defend freedom of the press. Oppose any intimidation of the press for unfavorable reporting on the government, regardless of which party is in power. Reward media that challenges the government with your business. Boycott media that bends to the pressure and propagandizes for the government.
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