By Matthew Ehret “Man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe….” President Kennedy, 1961 Inaugural Address Where China and Russia are currently leading a…
Category: The American System
A Pax Americana or A Republic If You Can Keep It?
By Cynthia Chung “Fortune thus blinds the minds of men when she does not wish them to resist her power.” – Livy It seems quite evident to many that the United States has been consumed by the same ambition and thus fate with that of the Roman Empire. That one of the most notorious periods…
A Historical Reminder of What Defines the United States, As Told by Frederick Douglass
By Cynthia Chung We live in tumultuous days… one could say “the end of an era”. It is clear that there is a storm coming, however, the question is will it be the sort of storm that provides sustenance and relief to drought-stricken and barren lands, or will it be the sort of storm that…
How to Save a Republic Part One: Hamilton’s Genius
By Matthew Ehret Today’s world calls out desperately for a systemic change. This means not only a change in thinking about diplomacy, the superiority of win-win cooperation over “might makes right”, but it also means a change in thinking about value itself. Everyone agrees that money is useful and few people would say that they…
How to Save a Republic Part Two: Lincoln and the Greenbacks
By Matthew Ehret In my last paper I introduced the figure of Alexander Hamilton (first Treasury Secretary and founder of the American System of political economy). I reviewed how America was saved from an early dismemberment in the early years of chaos after 1783’s Peace of Paris which finally ended the war with Britain but left…
How to Save a Republic Part Three: In Defense of Patriotism
By Matthew Ehret “Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend, will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof shuts out the sky.” – Marquis St. Evrémonde (from Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities) A major cultural fight has broken out in the USA…
V.I. Vernadsky and the American System in Russia
As the dust settled on the American Civil war in 1865, Russia took pride in the fact that this Eurasian nation turned the tide in favor of Lincoln’s cause of preserving the union and abolishing the institution of slavery. Czar Alexander II was also known as “The Great Liberator” for liberating the serfs in 1861…
A Harmony of Interests: Inquiries into the True Nature of the American System
What ideas will shape the next centuries of human civilization as our species begins to confront the reality of our collective self-interest living on the earth? The use of the atomic for either peaceful or warlike purposes has given our species for the first time in history the dual potential to destroy all life as…
The Historic Clash of Two Opposing Paradigms: Gilpin’s Landbridge vs. Mahan’s World Maritime Empire
By Matthew Ehret Compared the great initiatives taken on behalf of freedom and anti colonialism throughout the past 260 years, today’s America appears to be a strange and foolish creature running roughshod over the dignity of people and nations in a race for mass nuclear extermination. Such is the image projected by Mike Pompeo’s anti-China…
RTF Lecture: Frederick Douglass, Lincoln and the Fight to Save the Soul of America
To quote Martin Luther King: “Is anything more obvious than the presence of evil in the universe? Its nagging, prehensile tentacles projects into every level of human existence. We may debate the origin of evil, but only a victim of superficial optimism would debate its reality. Evil is stark, grim, and colossally real. … Within…
