This is exactly why there's distrust. When some claim that "nationalism" is nothing more than big government statism cloaked in nicer sounding goals, everybody gets all offended and bet out of shape that nationalism can't possibly be big government.
Yet here you are, ready to throw the Founding documents overboard which really are the only thing that holds small government in place.
You know, the phrase "worship of the founding documents" is a statement rooted purely in progressivism. Yes, I can prove that. (here) If you're drifting toward progressivism, just say so.
Besides that the real ultimate kicker is that you're upset that there's been "worship of the founding documents" when there hasn't ever been such as thing in our lifetimes - not among the GOP anyways.(save a handful of key people; Reagan, Schlafly, etc.) It's only been conservatives and conservatives alone who have had respect for the Founding.
You're ready to punish us conservatives for that which we didn't do. We're innocent, the GOP did this to us just as much as they did it to you.
For the founding documents to have worked in keeping government limited, they had to be interpreted correctly. This would have required a sufficient majority of citizens to be properly educated and willing to support the proper understanding of the documents.
This didn't happen. Instead conservatives continue to naively believe that they have the spokespeople and prophets necessary to convert a majority of the incoming legal immigrants and liberal citizens to the correct point of view.
This has been a complete failure. Legal immigrants continue to vote liberal. Liberal citizens are not largely converted over to the conservative position.
Instead the founding documents are interpreted in a more and more progressive manner which is either actively supported or tacitly approved by the majority of citizens.
The America First movement, and right-leaning populist movements in general, believe that we need to put a temporary halt to all legal and illegal immigration. Even then it might be too late for us to educate a sufficient number of current citizens to view the founding documents in the correct light.
I am of Italian and Irish heritage. When my ancestors came over they voted Democrat almost exclusively. It was only because of the long halt to mass immigration before the 1965 Immigration Act that Italian and Irish Americans became acclimated to the American experience and ultimately became a big part of the Reagan Democrats of the 80's.
Conservatives still naively believe that grifters like Charlie Kirk and TPUSA can convince a majority of legal immigrants to support small government and free markets. Conservatives still believe that a Candace Owens here and a Bennie Johnson there means that we have successfully reached the Black and Gay communities and they are ready to fight for conservative values.
This is wishful thinking of the highest order. Marbury vs. Madison set the stage for the Supreme Court being the final arbiter of what the Constitution means. Over the years the court has been packed with progressives by the left and corporate whores by the "right". It seems that justices who truly understand what our founding documents mean get on the court only by accident or maybe Acts of God.
Conservatives still think they are in some kind of dialog with the liberals and leftists. They are speaking to deaf ears while the millions in the middle try to figure out what celebrity is behind the singing mask.