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by Rod D. Martin
June 26, 2026
Nationalism and Empire
National self-determination has been the policy of this country since the Declaration of Independence. However diluted that may have been in the postwar era, the reality has been clear in the unilateral actions since 1945 of presidents of both parties.
We call that idea “Nationalism”, much demonized today. It’s the proposition that discrete groups of people have the right to rule themselves, and not to be ruled by someone else. And to be clear, those are your options. There are no other.
The American Revolution was an anti-imperialist, nationalist revolution, asserting the right of Americans not to be ruled by distant strangers. Every Latin American revolution against Spain was the same.
Not all of those revolutions resulted in new governments of which you or I would approve. But America defended them all from recolonization through the Monroe Doctrine. Why? Beca…
