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Nationalism
The National Conservatives, a debate [UPDATED]
In this post, I discussed “national conservatives” and their movement (if one can call it that), “common good conservatism.” The New Criterion devotes a large part of its current issue to a debate on the subject. In this post, I will present two articles criticizing national conservatives and common good conservatism. I’ll present some entries from the other side of the debate in a follow-up post. But first, here is »
What’s in a song?
I’m a fan of soccer and of nationalism. Thus, I relish soccer tournaments that pit national teams against one another. Euro 2020 (being held a year late due to the pandemic) is such a tournament. Before the kickoff of matches in these tournaments, the starting players line up on the field and the national anthems of their countries are played. The camera pans on the players and microphones pick up »
Globalist dogma means the end of America, and for many that’s the goal
John Fonte has written an excellent article called “End Nationalism, End America.” For many on the left, that’s the point. They may dislike nationalism, but what they really can’t stand is America. Their target isn’t the nation state; it’s our nation state. That’s why they want to cede as much of our sovereignty as they can get away with to international bodies. Fonte writes: If progressive liberal esteem for the »
Macron—Defender of the West?
Who would have thought that French President Emmanuel Macron would emerge as a Defender of the West against the multicultural nihilism eating away at our foundations. In the aftermath of the beheading of a French schoolteacher for the sin of displaying some of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, Macron has not been mincing words. In fact he’s been sounding like the polar opposite of an American-style “inclusionary” »
Nationalism and international soccer
International football, by which I mean nations playing other nations, has a strong and obvious nationalist component. The anthems of the two teams are played before the matches commence. Some players belt out the song with the gusto one would expect at a feverish nationalist rally. Fans paint their faces in the colors of their nation. Some countries come to a standstill the day their team plays. FIFA, the body »
Conservative internationalism?
Liberals who offer advice to conservatives are best ignored. Almost invariably, they want to advance liberal interests, not conservative ones. This rule of thumb applies to Anne Applebaum’s column called “Conservative intellectuals are at a turning point: Normalize Trump or resist him?” The title itself is nonsensical. The opposite of “resist” isn’t “normalize,” whatever that means. The opposite of “resist” is “support” or “embrace,” and conservatives also have options that »
European chauvinism as the antidote to nationalism
Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post is probably the leading American defender of “the Europe of Brussels,” the antithesis of “the Europe of Nations.” She’s also one of President Trump’s harshest critics. That makes sense. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks the truth when he says that “President Trump has helped put the world back on track to a nation-first trajectory.” In her latest column, Applebaum describes a lunch meeting »
The Trump Doctrine
Michael Anton writes about “The Trump Doctrine” in an article for Foreign Affairs. Anton wrote the famous “Flight 93 Election” article during the 2016 campaign and later served on President Trump’s National Security Council team. Anton describes the Trump Doctrine as the view that America (like other nations) should put its interests first. Not long ago, this would have been seen as a truism. Nowadays, it’s a doctrine — one »
An “antidote to nationalism”?
This column by Fareed Zakaria is called “Democrats need an antidote to nationalism.” The most interesting thing about it is that Zakaria never describes such an antidote. Instead, he seems to favor nationalism, but one that isn’t “populist” — one that’s “informed and influenced by other values such as liberty and equality.” We’ll get to this prescription in a moment. For now, let’s consider what the alternatives to nationalism are. »
The virtue of nationalism
President Trump came under the usual hyperbolic assaults a few weeks ago for defending the virtue of nationalism. As it happens, Yoram Hazony is the author, most recently, of a new book by that name (i.e., The Virtue of Nationalism). He is a conservative and, I think, one of Israel’s leading public intellectuals. If not the latter, he is certainly one of Israel’s leading lights. Taking up the theme of »
In defense of American nationalism
Nationalism is under attack now that President Trump proclaimed himself a nationalist. Critics say Trump is either ignoring or embracing a horrific chapter or two of European history by invoking that label. Nonsense. European history for many centuries is a history of nationalism, at times for better and at times for worse. Other than communism, nationalism was, until recently, the only game in town. And other than Lenin, the major »