The Evils Of Nationalism-- Tens Of Millions Of People Killed Over Stupid Ideas By Stupid People

Napoleonic Wars, Scramble for Africa, WWI, Breakup of Yugoslavia, Rwandan Genocide...

Yesterday, Alex Horton, writing for the Washington Post, reported that next week the Confederate memorial at Arlington will be removed despite GOP opposition. Someone on Twitter suggested it be melted down and recast as public toilets; good idea. 44 right-wing Republicans--mostly neo-Confederates-- are demanding the monument to slavery and treason not be removed:

• Andrew Clyde (R-GA)

• Mike Rogers (R-AL)

• Ken Calvert (R-CA)

• Jeff Duncan (R-SC)

• Andy Biggs (R-AZ)

• Ralph Norman (R-SC)

• Clay Higgins (R-LA)

• Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL)

• Randy Weber (R-TX)

• Eli Crain (R-AZ)

• Michael Cloud (R-TX)

• Bob Good (R-VA)

• Rob Wittman (R-VA)

• Eric Burlison (R-MO)

• Andy Harris (R-MD)

• Bill Posey (R-FL)

• Dan Bishop (R-NC)

• Tom Tiffany (R-WI)

• Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)

• Harriet Hageman (R-WY)

• Glen Grothman (R-WI)

• Alex Mooney (R-WV)

• John Rutherford (R-FL)

• Chuck Edwards (R-NC)

• Jerry Carl (R-AL)

• Dale Strong (R-AL)

• Andy Ogles (R-TN)

• Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN)

• Lisa McClain (R-MI)

• Matt Rosendale (R-MT)

• Robert Aderholt (R-AL)

• David Rouzer (R-NC)

• August Pfluger (R-TX)

• Keith Self (R-TX)

• John Carter (R-TX)

• Paul Gosar (R-AZ)

• Ronny Jackson (R-TX)

• Sam Graves (R-MO)

• Ben Cline (R-VA)

• Russell Fry (R-SC)

• Ryan Zinke (R-MT)

• Lance Gooden (R-TX)

• John Rose (R-TN)

• Wesley Hunt (R-TX)

Horton wrote that “Removal of the memorial was recommended by a bipartisan congressional commission appointed after the police murder of George Floyd in 2020 was followed by a wide-scale reckoning with the nation’s history of racism, and it marks a significant moment in the Defense Department’s mission to cleanse the U.S. military of Confederate iconography. The commission found about 1,100 assets that commemorate the Confederacy, including base names and street signs, and advised the Pentagon on what should be removed or changed. The memorial at Arlington was the last significant item on that list, Army officials said, and its ouster comes just before the Jan. 1. deadline set by Congress… The Lost Cause movement, which recast rebel traitors as morally righteous warriors defending states’ rights and spread the false belief that slavery was benevolent, is evident in the memorial’s bronze panels. A weeping Black woman, described by cemetery historians as a stereotypical ‘mammy,’ clutches the baby of a White officer, and a camp servant dutifully follows his enslaver toward battle.”

Herb Jones, a retired Army colonel, is the progressive Democratic candidate taking on Virginia MAGA Republican Rob Wittman in Virginia’s first congressional district. This morning, he told me that he absolutely supports “the removal of these symbols of treasonous terrorists whose sole purpose was the perpetuation of enslavement of African people. There are no symbols idolizing Hitler and the Nazis in Germany or Mussolini and the National Fascist Party in Italy. Why should we glorify these traitors here in the U.S. who attempted to overthrow our government so they continue to hold people in bondage? Why does Rob Wittman want to continue to support these racist images?” 

You may think James Carville is an imbecile and a clown— and I’m not going to argue with you— but the conservative Louisiana Democrat was interviewed by Jason Berry for a piece for yesterday’s Guardian and he noted that “The greatest distinction in the world is between patriotism, which is positive— a piece of ground as an idea— and nationalism, which is tribal, exclusionary and, yeah, poisonous.” Berry noted a quote from a 1965 essay by George Steiner on the Holocaust: “Nationalism is the venom of our age. It has brought Europe to the edge of ruin.”

Steiner, who died 3 years ago, saw nationalism as a form of tribalism, leading to division, exclusion, and ultimately violence, calling it the “nightmare of our age,” and pointing out that nationalism stifles critical thinking and intellectual growth, promoting blind loyalty to national narratives and ideologies, hindering open dialogue and creativity. It’s what perverts our democracy with characters like Andrew Clyde, who wrote that letter to the Pentagon— as well as the Neo-fascists who populate the House “Freedom” Caucus… and MAGA Mike.

Steiner also criticized the emphasis on territorial boundaries and national power inherent in nationalism, which invariably leads to aggressive foreign policy, imperialism, and disregard for international cooperation. We’re going to come back to MAGA Mike in a moment. But I just want to emphasize the difference between patriotism, a positive force, and nationalism, a negative one. Patriotism is associated with love and pride for one's country, its values, and its people, valuing inclusiveness, respect for diversity, commitment to shared ideals. (“We’re all in this together.”) The military teaches patriotism. Neo-fascist groups and the GOP teach nationalism, basically a fanatic identification with one's nation, often placing it above all else, while prioritizing narrow national interests, even if it means excluding and harming others, valuing exclusivity, superiority, xenophobia and suspicion of outsiders.

Horton wrote that “Carville zeroed in on the US variant: white Christian nationalism,” embodied by MAGA Mike. ‘Johnson has no skill, no background, no majority to speak of. What Johnson does represent is a level of breathtaking hypocrisy. His anti-homosexuality and young earthism are hypocrisy on steroids.”

Itching for a fight, Carville is challenging the speaker to a debate at Louisiana Christian University, a small Southern Baptist campus in the town of Pineville.

Carville calls LCU “the epicenter of Christian nationalism.”

“The debate I want begins: ‘Resolved, Christian nationalism is a greater threat to America than al-Qaida,’” Carville said. “I want students to see real debate and make up their own minds about what kind of America we want.”

Before his election to Congress, Johnson was founding dean of a campus law school to be named for Paul Pressler, 93, a retired Texas judge, legislator and Southern Baptist potentate. In 2018, the Houston Chronicle reported Pressler paid $450,000 to settle a lawsuit by a man who alleged that Pressler sexually assaulted him as a high school student in Bible study. The law school never materialized.

Carville, 79, and Johnson, 51, stand a generation apart, their lives mirroring the state’s divided history. Once a Democratic party stronghold of the Gulf south, Louisiana has gone deep red: Republicans hold the major state offices and a heavy legislative majority. The attorney general and governor-elect, Jeff Landry, boasted of the former president Donald Trump’s endorsement as Landry coasted to an outright, multiparty primary victory.