Milkchaser on the four traditions

Milkchaser posted a lengthy comment on my “Jacksonians, transnationalists, Red States and Blue States” post.

Most of the Jacksonian attributes you describe are typical of the ethnic values belonging to British-American, Scots-Irish Americans and Scandinavian Americans. These ethnic traditions, which have traditionally dominated American culture and politics, emphasize self-reliance, shared ethical values, emotional reticence and conformity (among other things that I don't recall).

We do well when we consider that the attributes that seem natural and right to us are not, in fact, the absolute, god-given, one-and-only approach to life. True, America has been wildly successful as a nation and this is no doubt due, in part, to the British-American ethnic values that dominate our culture. But this does not imply that our dominant culture is always best. Hence, we can and should adopt ways from other cultures. The "melting pot" tends to homogenize all constituent cultures, but it also produces a blend distinct from any one culture.

For example, British-American emphasis on conformity has had the unfortunate effect of allowing gays to be treated as second-class citizens. In our stifled past, boys who kiss boys were made to hide their passions because it was deemed offensive to the hetero majority. This seems a bit cruel to me.

On the other hand, we may as a society decide that a free society will truly tolerate all people as they are and not force them to conform. We may decide that the American principle of liberty trumps the dominant culture, notwithstanding the positive effect that culture contributes overall. Thus we decide to tolerate tasteful public expressions of gay love. However, an important part of this public tolerance implies that we also recognize the innate revulsion such expressions evoke, in most hetero people. I contend that such revulsion is also legitimate, and not bigoted, although, it would be wrong if it led to bigotry. People feel what they feel. Live and let live.

A similar argument could be made for tempering the ethic that values self-reliance with policies that protect those who cannot fend for themselves, because it strengthens the social fabric.

Where the multi-culturists go off the rail, IMO, is when they use multiculturalism as a means of attacking the dominant culture. This is classic leftism: promoting a victim mentality, the Hegemon vs. the rest of us, the oppressor vs. the oppressed.

The more each of us learns about his ethnic culture, the better equipped he is to act rationally in his own best interest rather than instinctively.

I think that Milkchaser’s commentary can be summarized as something like “America culture isn’t automatically right.”

OK, I accept that. I don’t mean to be an apologist for anything that doesn’t deserve a defense. Each of the traditions I reviewed in my post are a mix—in my view—of desirable and undesirable characteristics.

My feud with Jeffersonianism, Wilsonianism and Hamiltonianism is not that Jacksonianism is perfect but the other three traditions are more dysfunctional than Jacksonianism when dealing with national threats.

The Wilsonians aspiration for transnational organizations is beneficial to the extent that these things actually work OK when law-abiding nations are participating. What the Jacksonians intuitively understand—and the Wilsonians seem to refuse to understand—is that transnational organizations are dysfunctional—and even perverse—when they accept criminal regimes as equal partners.

Wilsonian foolishness is directly responsible for abominations like the UN. The UN is not merely useless, it is a malignant transnational organization that fails in its fundamental purpose. Not only does the UN fail to accomplish its goals but it also protects dictators, terrorist and international criminals.

The Hamiltonians are too busy conducting commerce with our enemies to worry about defending the nation interest. Joe Kennedy was a Nazi sympathizer. Japanese Zeroes were found to have Ford engines at the beginning of WW II. And Loral, during the Clinton administration illegally gives missile technology to China.

And the Jeffersonians are too enamored of diplomacy to understand that diplomacy to a losing tactic when dealing with criminal regimes.

My intent was to help my readers better understand the underlying factors that shape America’s behavior. I didn’t mean to say that everybody perfectly fits into one of the four traditions; I doubt many people do.

I also didn’t mean to say that people are unable to break with whatever tradition they might have been born into. I do believe—however—that the evidence show that most people are very influenced by whatever tradition they might have been born into.

My intention was to give my readers a way of understanding both themselves and their country.