Civic Nationalism, and Why It Still Matters
The Right in Australia has often been fractious at best, and outright chaotic at worst, but has managed to win more electoral victories at the federal level than the Left, despite these flaws. However, in the past twenty years, it has become obvious to even the most politically unaware people that the Left has been better at co-ordination than the Right, and have been able to sway opinions and events their way.
This agenda of political correctness has been implemented gradually from the beginning of the post-war period, via the Fabian Society and the Frankfurt School. Our education syllabi have been watered down, undermined, and rendered woefully inadequate to teach our children what it means to be not only to be an Australian, but a good Australian.
How much of our history is taught in schools anymore? The answer is, very little.
How much of our heritage is taught in schools anymore? The answer is again, very little.
How much is patriotism taught in schools anymore? The answer is, none.
We are no longer taught to be proud of our heritage or history, but encouraged to disregard it out of a misplaced sense of shame. We are taught to dismiss the contributions of the Fathers of Federation, and the positive legacies that we have inherited, while at the same time we are encouraged to focus on the negative aspects of our history, and have a black armband view of it. It has rendered our civic values anaemic through constant subversion of our national identity.
The black armband view of history encouraged by the Political Correctness Brigade, Fabian Society, and Cultural Marxists, have all served to degrade our national identity, as well as our pride in our nation. To look for evidence of this, one need only look at how little people know of our history, or the great men and women of our nation; household names that have been forgotten by all but a few.
The black armband view, however, is merely a symptom of the problem propagated by the previously mentioned groups. The cause of this is the ideology that is disseminated by the Fabian Society and the Frankfurt School; the ideology of Cultural Marxism. Some on the Left like to say that Cultural Marxism isn’t real, but is a conspiracy theory used by those on the Right to attack the Left, but the reality is that Cultural Marxism is a real theory propagated especially by the Frankfurt School to affect a socialist revolution by subtle and incremental means.
The Fabian Society, which predates Adorno, Marcuse, Horkheimer, etc. of the Frankfurt School, derives its name from the Roman general Fabius, whose stalling tactics of asymmetrical warfare against the Carthaginians ultimately led to Carthage’s defeat in the Second Punic War. Like their Continental European counterparts, the Fabian Society’s goal is to create a socialist revolution within society by peaceful means. After the Second World War, the Frankfurt School appropriated ideas from the Fabian Society and applied them into a global context.
Simply put, this means that Cultural Marxism is anti-nation, anti-religion, and anti-civilisation. For those of you who might accuse one of hyperbole, one will simply point out that the unfortunate (and arguably unlawful) practice of prioritising international law over national law has become apparent even to some of those who are sympathetic to the agenda of the Frankfurt School. (If that still doesn’t convince you, look up Yuri Bezmenov on YouTube.)
Multiculturalism, which is a key part of the Frankfurt School ideology, has proliferated across the world, and in the places where it has not yet taken full root into the ground, those who resist it are accused of racism, of bigotry, and/or intolerance. One will point out that multiculturalism in of itself, is not problematic, however the case against it has been demonstrated significantly in nations that have welcomed members of groups who adhere to a culture that is illiberal and/or incompatible with the host nation.
(Obvious example: if you welcome an adherent of a culture/ideology that teaches that one of the ways to get into heaven is to kill non-believers, into a nation that is built on strong cultural values or even liberal democratic values, then you’re going to have problems. This should be obvious to those running the nations, but either they are blind, or they just don’t care about their nations.)
The reason that one mentions this is because there is a huge surge in nationalistic sentiment, where those who are not perceived to be of the erstwhile majority demographic potentially face hostility from those who are in the erstwhile majority demographic. Given the dysfunctionality and brokenness of contemporary society, it is easy to become cynical about the political process, and it is at this stage where the real dangers start to emerge.
When people give up on the political process, they will consider less palatable options in the hope of restoring the hegemony within their nations. For those people who understand the problems that our nations face, particularly those in our country of Australia, it causes dismay to think that due to the corruption of our syllabi and our society that the current political system has failed to uphold its social contract.
Those people who understand the problems fall loosely into two categories; civic nationalists and ethno-nationalists. (One still calls oneself a civic nationalist, because one understands the real enemy of the Commonwealth is not people, but perfidious ideology.)
Around the world we can see what has been deemed (in many cases incorrectly) as “extremism” among nationalist groups; a few examples are people demanding moratoria on immigration from Islamic countries, people demanding that governments stop sending money to rich people in poor countries (via Foreign Aid), and/or a categorical suspension of all immigration.
As much as one sympathises with some of these demands, they are merely remedies for problems, not cures. It will not stop the pendulum of history swinging back to hard-line nationalism from multiculturalism, because the pendulum of history is always moving back and forth, just at various speeds in different periods, depending on circumstances.
If you want to rebuild our Commonwealth, you must address the societal issues that are symptomatic of society’s dysfunction and brokenness. These steps are not exhaustive and some can be implemented concurrently with other steps.
The first step would be to enact a freeze on Foreign Aid, and attach conditions to it. There is no point in throwing money at rich people in poor countries when those rich people are going to embezzle it for themselves. The most notorious example is the South African President spending almost as much on a Presidential palace as South Africa got in aid in one year.
The second step would be to put a temporary moratorium on all immigration until Australia reached full employment. Some of you might ask whether it is possible to train up our unskilled and/or unemployed people; the answer is yes, we can. Moreover, upskilling our current population will not only enhance happiness amongst the populace, but improve productivity in the long term. It will give them direction, motivation, and most importantly, hope in the Australian dream.
The third step, and one has touched on this above, is to fix our education syllabi, so that our children learn our history, our heritage, and have pride in our nation once more. One would need to go even further than just removing the black armband approach loved by pseudo-intellectual academics, and instruct our children in the folklore of our ancestors from Primary School onward; teach them to read and understand where they came from, and of what they are capable in their lives.
The fourth step would be to upgrade our infrastructure. Just as one example, in many states, energy grids are woefully inadequate to handle the massive demand for the 24 million odd people that already live in our nation. Energy security must be restored, but that is another issue for another article.
[However, a national works project, such as the Snowy Mountain Hydro, created lots of jobs in the past, and could do so again. Imagine having public works programs that not only train and employ our people, but effectively guaranteed them access to the Australian dream which we all prize. The benefits of a nationally organised public works program would solve our logistical problems, enhance our viability internationally, and increase national prosperity]
The fifth step would be to increase our funding to the CSIRO for research and development. We Australians have a proud tradition of innovation, from the Hills Hoist to Wi-Fi, and so much more. There are many exciting technologies that will continue to generate employment and prosperity for the people, but only if we act now.
The sixth step is to cut waste and duplication. Granted, this isn’t an exclusively nationalist idea, but it will restore the people’s confidence in the Commonwealth by upholding the Social Contract. It will make the people happy, as well as prouder and ultimately, more prosperous.
No nationalist would disagree with any of these ideas, and these are just a starting point, but a party that can hold this platform, and implement it, shall win the hearts and minds of the people. The current political parties have either enabled the current anaemia of our society and values by neglecting our curricula, or have actively engaged in subversion of our identity as a nation.
Civic Nationalism was, prior to the subversions of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness introduced into our curricula, the one thing that unified Australians regardless of political affiliation. It was strong, proud, and non-discriminatory in spirit. It can serve our nation once again, but only if we take those six necessary steps.
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