THE PARTY’S OVER
Time to Be Americans, Not Just Party Faithful
With the announcement of President Obama’s latest massive tax increase proposal, this week has brought us another prime example of why conservative values are necessary for America to survive. It also brings more clarity to the fight to realign our own political thinking. In this edition of Majority Points, we’re going to discuss something rarely heard in the media – and from the leadership of either political party. We’re going to talk about Americanism.
The party is over. For too long, those involved in the political process have narrowly defined their place in the game by political party. How many times have we all started a sentence with, “As a Republican…” or heard someone refer to themselves as a Democrat. One of the reasons the American dream and our freedom is threatened every day is because people have stopped referring to themselves as Americans. In so doing, they have forgotten what Americanism is all about. Facing ballooning spending, massive debt, higher taxation, government bankruptcies, and a weakened private sector, it’s time we led our efforts with American ideals rather than political affiliations.
Progressives believe that Americanism—very loosely understood—is everything we are as a nation. Others on the Left argue that establishing a concrete definition of Americanism is to be jingoistic or insensitive to the larger world. Americanism has been polluted by these other “isms,” and by ideas brought from European nations that don’t seek to empower individuals, as we do. Everything from the welfare state to secular relativism has infiltrated America with help from progressives who stopped believing in the supremacy of Americanism.
It’s time to fight for the survival of Americanism, and to do that we must understand its tenets. Americanism isn’t all things to all people, nor is it jingoistic. You don’t have to live in America to believe in Americanism; anyone on any corner of the earth can believe in the values that have made us the greatest nation the world has ever seen.
Americanism is freedom founded on the power of the individual, and his ability to achieve without undue government interference. It’s the idea that the state exists to serve man, to protect God-given rights, and to allow the greatest amount of political freedom within the bounds of ordered liberty. It’s the idea that people truly own their property and are not merely renting it, and that they are free to use their talents, initiative, and “can do” spirit to make the lives they dream for themselves a reality.
Americans need to realize that we are up against very large platforms for driving political debate: the media, Hollywood, public employee unions, and progressive groups backed by Leftist billionaires.
What is required now is a cultural shift among conservatives. Republicanism has proved insufficient as a guidepost for American values, as is patently obvious from the lack of political courage exhibited by supposedly conservative politicians. Many to this day participate in the expansion of government at a level that threatens our future. We must view Republicanism as little more than an institutional or legal vehicle through which to participate in the political process. Our real platform must be Americanism.
All who appreciate Americanism have to celebrate and defend it in their daily lives without regard to political affiliation. America needs everyday citizens to engage continuously on local, state, and national issues not as Republicans or Democrats but as soldiers for American ideals. It can be as simple as talking to your children, colleagues, friends, and neighbors around your dining room table about America, its greatness and its challenges, or as easy as joining existing political or civic organizations and being unafraid to let people know where you stand on protecting America.
Then Americans must reengage in the political process by getting involved in their local committees and campaigns. That’s when real people take back control from the establishment forces and elites that have blurred the lines between the parties and brought Americanism to the brink of the abyss.
Keep America Free,
Ned Ryun
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