Tag: Liberty

To Those Who Suddenly Care, Welcome

I feel like I should welcome all the people who are suddenly now concerned about violent protesters. When St Louis was burning and cops were being assassinated in their cars, people got upset if you said you support the police or that this went beyond free speech.

When Antifa, angry that Trump won, were smashing Starbucks windows and burning property in the streets, we were told this is all free speech and #resistance.

When protesters set Berkeley ablaze, Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders said he understood their anger, condemned their violence, and admonished the violent ones not to say they were Bernie Sanders supporters.

People cheered when an Antifa member punched Richard Spencer in the face. I’ll admit, I cheered.
People paused for a moment when an alt-leftist from Bernie Sanders campaign staff walked onto a softball field and started gunning down GOP congressmen. In fact for almost a whole 24 hour news cycle there was unity in the thought that a line had been crossed. At the same time, Antifa on social media cheered the attack on right-wingers who opposed the Socialist agenda.
As Antifa emailed threats of violence to Fascist rally organizers and got nationalist events canceled through threats of violence, many sat in silent approval because our violence is apparently better than their violence.
Now that the racist Fascists have drawn blood, people are starting to care. In fact, they care so much that if you even mention “both sides”, you are shouted down and lumped with the racists. Condemning all violence and promoting all free speech has become anathema to the crowds. It is as evil as suggesting all lives matter when a cop is shot dead in his patrol car.
The Socialists of the Antifa movement and the Fascists of the Nazi/KKK movement have one goal in mind. They seek power. One seeks it through populist appeals and promises to those they seek to control, the other through an overt demand that all others should bow to them. Both sides oppose liberty. Both sides only approve of their own free speech and believe the other should be limited.
The only way to truly diffuse this war that the vast majority of Americans want no part of is to embrace liberty. The demands of both the Nazis and the Socialist Antifa are incompatible with the constitution. Unfortunately, embracing liberty means giving up aspirations of controlling others through big government. Even non-radical Republicans and Democrats struggle with that concept.
If you are finally ready to denounce all violence and all attempts by partisan groups to gain power over our lives through big government, then welcome. If you are simply mad that their side killed someone on your side, then this article isn’t for you.

American Nationalism vs. White Nationalism

If you are like me, you grew up saying the national anthem, setting off 4th of July fireworks with no thought towards legality, watching Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day parades, and being proud to be an American.  I’ve stood up when the song says “I’d proudly stand up next to you”.  We’ve sung God Bless America.  We sing along to the national anthem at sporting events.  I love America.

America to me is many things.  It is apple pie, freedom to worship, respect for the military who fight and die to protect our freedoms.  It is the Bill of Rights, freedom of association, freedom to drink beer, spit, cuss, or not.  America is the freedom to call divine condemnation down upon the President, or pray for divine providence depending on how your political beliefs fall.

Nationalism is defined as patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts.  An extreme form of this is feeling of superiority over other countries.  Guess what, America is superior and I’m OK with saying that.  Our constitution is superior, our military is superior, and our people are superior.  That may be more my truth than actual fact, but I have no issue believing it.  I love America, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Today, two groups have misidentified American Nationalism as White Nationalism.  The White Supremacists claim us as theirs, and the Globalists seek to disassociate with us. White Supremacists have long attempted to usurp Patriotism because in most countries Nationalism and supremacy go hand in hand.

I love to travel.  I’ve been to 15 countries over 5 continents.  The unique thing about America is that there is no American race.  If you go to Korea, you will find a country filled with Koreans.  Korean is different from Japanese or Chinese.  If you go to Argentina, you will find a country filled with Hispanic Argentinians.  You won’t find a large Russian population.  There are almost no blacks.  If you go to Italy, the country is filled with Italians.  That’s just how most nations work.

Much of America is different.  When I take my kids to the park, we see other mixed families like my own.  We see every continent represented, except maybe Australia and Antarctica.  But my town has an Australian presence too.  That is America.  We aren’t White Supremacists because America is not a white country.  It’s a diverse country made up of it’s citizens.

That is why I can feel comfortable identifying as an American Nationalist.  When I say our people are superior, I mean our first generation immigrants from India as much as I mean our Mayflower descendants. I also mean our African American citizens and our Hispanic citizens.  That is America, and that is what the vast majority on the right mean when they talk about Patriotism and Nationalism.

Jon Stewart got it right when he identified the Liberal hypocrisy of calling all Trump supporters racists.  Yes, there are some.  And they call themselves Nationalists which makes the whole thing very confusing for Globalists.  But they are not representative of the movement that thinks it should be OK to dislike someone for not standing for the anthem.

Kaepernick received a great deal of criticism for his anthem protest.  But it was instructive. It gave us an opportunity to separate the Nationalists from the Fascists.  Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalist system of government.  When Kaepernick refused to stand, Nationalists were split.  Some said he had the right, but was stupid for directing his anger at America in general.  Others said he had the right and it was a good protest that got attention and will hopefully make America better.  Fascists said Kaepernick should be punished, deported, or forced out of the league by the government for taking such action.

If you love America, you might be a Nationalist.  If you think your race is superior, you are a racist.  If you think your race represents your nation, you are a racist Nationalist and you might be a White Nationalist (if that happens to be your race).  If you are a racist Nationalist and think the government should enforce the supremacy of your race, you are a Fascist and could be rightly labeled as a Nazi.  If you think the government should somehow give special recognition to your race, you might be Alt-Right.  Or you could be Alt-Left.  You might be a Black Panther.  KKK aren’t the only racist “Alt” group out there.  If you think America is nothing special, you might be a Globalist or you might just be jaded.

As for me, I’m an American Nationalist.  Nothing more, nothing less.  I’m proud to be an American.  I’m proud of America.  I’m proud of the soldiers of every race, creed, and ethnicity who stormed the beaches of Normandy to fight White Supremacist Fascists.  I’m proud of the melting pot, the traditions that are not mine but belong to fellow Americans, and the freedom of conscience to worship and believe as we see fit.

I’m not blind to America’s problems.  We shouldn’t be.  We should recognize them and fix them because we love America.  If you love your house and your roof leaks, you hire a roofer.  You don’t lock your doors  and board up the windows so no one will see the leak. America isn’t perfect.  But the American Dream is that liberty and Providence leads to improvement on both a personal and national level.  America has sometimes been and continues to be downright evil in some cases. We used to own and sell people as slaves. Today we still allow the killing of the unborn. Racism is still a huge problem. These things need to be fixed. But I can and do love my imperfect country. Let’s fix it together.

I didn’t vote for Trump. I wrote in the name of a Libertarian Republican. But Trump won because of people who view America the way I do.  Not White Nationalists, not Fascists, not Alt-Right, just old fashioned Patriots.