Keep America Number One; or, Why Republicans Need a New Metanarrative

Rod Martin Substack ^ | 31 July 2024 | Rod Martin

[Rummyfan]

The classic 2010 essay in which I called for what became "Make America Great Again", and explained why it was necessary.

he left often says (though perhaps not in quite these words) that when the Cold War ended Republicans lost their metanarrative. Republicans reflexively deny this, since the implication is that we have no raison d’etre, and that America can and ought now get about the work of building the secular democratic socialist workers paradise since there’s no one left to kill us (if there ever was before).

….

“It is common sense that if jobs are flowing to China we should both negotiate better deals with them and also make our own competitive environment better. It is common sense that we shouldn’t turn California’s Central Valley into a desert for the sake of a tiny fish that isn’t even native to the area, at the cost of putting ex-farmers in food lines instead of in their fields feeding the world.

…. “It is common sense that American foreign policy should first and foremost serve America’s national interests rather than the interests of foreigners. It is common sense that budgets should be balanced, that people should have not just the opportunity but the duty to work for a living, that faceless bureaucrats in Washington don’t understand or care about your family as much as you do, that the safety net should encourage advancement, not stifle it. It is common sense that schools should focus on subjects that will help kids become good citizens and perform well at work, that families should be reinforced, that neighborhoods should be safe.”

[Rummyfan]

From 2010 but it certainly describes today.