Joseph Stromberg

THE STATE OF PLAY A few weeks ago, I dealt with the overblown reaction to the electoral success of Austrian’s "far right." Since then, the watchdogs of Euro morality have taken up other subjects, but "sanctions" remain in place. Some Portuguese fellow who reigns over the EU’s central committee reportedly said lately that there were … Continue reading “Nationalism I: Austria, Nations, States, and Human Scale Revisited”

Louis Bromfield was a sort of Northern agrarian, a Jeffersonian democrat of the Old Northwest. He was soft on FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps and some aspects of the Tennessee Valley Authority, but was otherwise critical of New Deal methods, as can be seen in his essays on farming in Pleasant Valley (1943[reprint 1971]). Bromfield was … Continue reading “Louis Bromfield (1896-1956): Farmer, Novelist, and Cold War Critic”

CLARK’S TWO CAREERS The long life of Joshua Reuben Clark, Jr. embraced two quite different careers. Born in Grantsville, Utah in 1871, Clark received a law degree at Columbia University in 1906 and worked at the US state department from 1906 to 1913, leaving to form a private law practice. He served on the staff … Continue reading “J. Reuben Clark (1871-1961)”

PAINE’S REPUTATION The English radical Thomas Paine was without contest the greatest propagandist of the American Revolution – in Common Sense, The Crisis, and other writings. His The Rights of Man, written in response to Edmund Burke’s broad attack on both English liberal republicanism and the fast-shifting French Revolution, has its merits as a summary … Continue reading “Tom Paine (1737-1809) on War, Governments, and Trade”

As sometimes noted here, many historians see the beginnings of American imperialism in the Spanish-American War. A war fought ostensibly for the freedom of the Cuban people allowed the United States to relieve Spain of its Pacific possessions, Guam, the Marianas, and the Philippines. We took Puerto Rico as well and Cuba became an American … Continue reading “Anti-imperialism, 1900”

In the mid-19th century it was still possible for a public figure to be a liberal, a Romantic, and a nationalist, simultaneously. Giuseppe Mazzini, for one, comes to mind. By the end of the century, such a combination was increasingly rare, at least in Europe. There, nationalism – whatever its early associations with liberalism and … Continue reading “José Martí: Cuban Nationalist, Critic of American Imperialism”

‘Fascism’: Déjà Vu All Over Again VERBAL WEAPONS OF MASS DEMONIZATION The partly successful exclusion of Patrick J. Buchanan from American public life sheds light on a problem which might be called "Buchananization" – the opposite of canonization. Question the general trend of Uncle’s Imperial New Order on any point, these days, and there you … Continue reading “‘Fascism’: Déjà Vu All Over Again”

HOW TO HAVE ‘FREE TRADE’ Most people these days – outside of certain left-wing and right-wing populist circles – understand that global trade tends to increase the prospects and prosperity of all people and nations that share in it. Unfortunately, much confusion exists as to what "free trade" actually is and how one goes about … Continue reading “Free Trade, Mercantilism, and Empire”

OLD RIGHT: THE MOVIE Taking a cue from Mel Brook’s character Yogurt in Spaceballs, I often think there should be a line of Old Right products – Old Right the tee-shirt, Old Right the book, and so on. Not the least of these would be Old Right, the Movie. This could be done, cheaply enough, … Continue reading “A Lost Episode of the Old Right: The ‘Great Debate,’ 1950-1951”

The ongoing excitement, hysteria, and agitprop surrounding the internal affairs of Austria has made me postpone a topic in order to address a few matters which may be of some interest to our European friends. Certainly, "fascists" are everywhere these days. There are so many in fact that it might be worth reactivating some of … Continue reading “Anschluss 2000, Or Get It in Writing”