OPINION —
In 1998, a grand jury was formed in the Monica Lewinsky case that threatened President Bill Clinton’s career. Clinton cleverly denied that he had lied about his sexual conduct with her.
“It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is,” he said. “If someone asked me on that day, are you having sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky — that is, asked me a question in the present tense — I would have said no. And it would have been completely true.”
Terms like “white nationalism,” “black nationalism,” “patriotism versus nationalism” and “extremism” in many forms are often in the news. In the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted coup, those who broke into the U.S. Congress were called “insurrectionists.” In this column, I will explain those terms.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has blocked military nominees from being advanced forward, in a bid to change abortion policies in the Department of Defense. He also emphasized that expanding diversity in the military was weakening the armed services and negatively impacting recruitment. The term “white nationalists” came up several times at public hearings recently.
“Democrats portray all Trump people as white nationalists,” said the senator on May 11 at the U.S. Capitol. “That’s what I was saying,” he said. “… There’s a lot of good people that are Trump people that for some reason my Democratic colleagues want to portray as white nationalists. That’s not true.”
Here is our opportunity to define some of these terms.
Nationalism is a movement that strives toward the interests of a particular nation, notably with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation’s self-government over its areas to create a nation-state. It bends toward each nation-state governing itself, away from outside political power, according to Paul James, a professor of globalization and diversity at Western Sydney University.
“It is important not to confuse nationalism with mere worship of success,” wrote British author George Orwell in a classic essay. “The nationalist does not go on the principle of simply ganging up with the strongest side. On the contrary, having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the strongest and is able to stick to his belief, even when the facts are overwhelmingly against him.”
Is it possible that a person with nationalistic tendencies also has patriotic genes? Of course. How about a traditional patriot (“apple pie, baseball and Mom”) who becomes more nationalist around an election, then reverts to U.S. Constitution principles? I can’t see many well-trained troops giving up their careers to back an insurrection. But I could see a group of poorly trained and young privates and specialists following a leader who bends U.S. laws and traditions.
One of the seminal books in political science, which I first read as an undergraduate in 1978, is “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” by Richard Hofstadter. It was published in 1964 after conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater won the GOP presidential nomination over moderate Nelson Rockefeller.
Hofstadter, an acclaimed historian, warned readers about political groups that fell for dubious conspiracy theories. He said that was not new, that it was part of the American political fabric that included “movements of suspicious discontent.” I can’t imagine that he thought such groups as white nationalists and similar groups would gain as much traction as they have.
Three weeks before the 2022 midterms, Tuberville told a crowd in Minden, Nevada, that Democrats are “pro-crime.”
“They want crime because they want to take over what you got,” he said. “They want to control what you have. They want reparations (for slavery) because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bull****. They are not owed that.”
The passage in that speech can be called “Far Right,” and at best, it could be quasi-nationalistic in that the senator points to Democrats as grabbing at public money for their purposes only. NAACP President Derrick Johnson called Tuberville’s remarks “flat-out racist, ignorant and utterly sickening.”
Tuberville admirably shows he cares about his work on the Armed Services, Agriculture and other committees. He is getting a larger profile with more TV, radio, podcast and other media. That is good for him and the state of Alabama. He has plenty of media skills, having been a football coach for decades.
Yet, given the state’s historical background in civil rights, people will look at any intolerant or off-target message as an excuse to criticize Alabama. Like Bill Clinton, his fellow Arkansas native, Tuberville should be more careful when speaking. It depends on their word choice, not what the meaning of “is” is.
Greg Markley first moved to Lee County in 1996. He has master’s degrees in education and history. He taught politics as an adjunct in Georgia and Alabama. An award-winning writer in the Army and civilian life, he has contributed to The Observer for 12 years. Gm.markley@charter.net