Evan Stark
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

always interesting to reflect on patriotism and the revival of ‘nativitism’ not to refer to native Americans but to 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants who despise African-Americans whose residence here is far longer than 9/10th of KKKers, etc. There have been, I think, two kinds of ‘liberal’ nativists in U.S hx, or mainly, the ‘city on the hill’ New Englanders and the LaFollette progressives a la Turner, the lst more elitist whose bias was primarily religious (anti-Catholic; anti-Quaker e.g.) and the second more populist (anti-ethnic, primarily Irish, jews (for an amazing glimpse at this see LaFottlette’s ‘Makng of America’ set of volumes circa about 1910 I think, maybe later filled with racist diatribes by Commons, Ross and their Wisconsin buddies)…Both had exceptionalist ideologies, the lst more imperialist a la TR, the 2nd more isolationist (opposition to WWI, League and so on)…but oddly, neither saw ‘patriotism’ as a cornerstone of their nativist ideology. The America First crowd included some of the New England stalwarts, like the Lodges and the Yale crowd I think, but even they weren’t particularly patriotic in their rhetoric. American patriotism of the sort DT, the KKK and Nazis are appealing to has more to do with small town boosterism a la Sinclair Lewis Arrowsmith, etc. than it does with populism a la Watson or Long whose racism was coupled with specific class demands. there is also, as you reflect personally, a patriotism of the left, a hangover from the popular front days of the CP…we’re having a memorial for Fred Hellerman in a few weeks where this will be on display…and deeply rooted in immigrant nostalia for Amer. as a ‘haven,’ the City on the Hill idea + nationalism. We shared some of this in the new left — see the Port Huron Statement…plus Ginzberg “kissing America under the bedsheets” and apt metaphor for the KKK return. I find it somewhat ironic that as we target the momuments built be the racist right in the 1920’s and the handful of nuts nostalgic for this small town rural utopia, we withdraw from the direct confrontation with those who voted for DT.

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