2016: The Nationalist Referendum

To some, the flag is (unfortunately) little more than a national standard. But to millions of other Americans, the Stars and Stripes are sacred, reminding them that no matter who they are — the Kentucky coal miner who works long hours underground to power the gears of his nation, the Iowa corn farmer who toils to feed his country, the Michigan steelworker, arms scarred from a lifetime of smelting, who kisses his baby daughter on the head when he leaves for work at four-thirty in morning, and returns home when she is again fast asleep that night, so that we may build buildings he will never walk in — they live in a truly exceptional country. A country like no other in human history, that, even with its nasty blemishes, has, through its commitment to the ideals of liberty and freedom, established its place as the single greatest country on the face of the Earth.

The American left has, over the last half-decade or so, committed itself to pushing the once-good idea of internationalism so far that it has devolved into the now common “no human being is illegal, borders are immoral, and anyone who believes in the very concept of borders is an evil ultra-nationalist” left wing inanity. This cancer on American leftism is not a movement that spans the entire spectrum of the country. Rather, it is one centralized in highly urban areas, college campuses and international boarding schools where moneyed foreigners come to “learn” from ultra-liberal professors and get to know their American counterparts who will in a decade or so begin their entrance into the world of the controlling elite. But I digress.

The obsession with internationalism has initiated an assault on American nationalism. I always like to say that nationalism is good in small doses; a little bit of patriotism goes a long way. However, here in our “Deerfield bubble,” in our ignorance of its effect, we have contributed — and are continuing to contribute — to the conditions that allowed someone like Donald Trump to become president.