The Brion McClanahan Author & Historian Blog

A paranoid leftist law professor worries that the Supreme Court will destroy the federal government. That is if a pending case is decided in the way he fears. You see, this professor thinks that originalist “cherry picking” of the Constitution is going to undermine the regulatory state. What will we do without the SEC, FDA, OSHA, or a host of other unconstitutional federal agencies? Who …more

If you’ve been listening to my show or reading my emails for even a few weeks, you know I am very hard on establishment activists…historians. And for good reason. They are destroying both the “profession” and more importantly traditional America. Most of these “experts” make glaring mistakes on a regular basis. Their goal is never to understand. They want to wield history like a sword …more

I have been teaching the progressive movement in college classes for over two decades. Progressives always had one goal: power. They were born in the Deep North and found a political home in the early Republican Party. They were also smart. Progressives thought locally and acted locally, particularly in the late 19th century when the movement seemed dead. You see, “national” politicos thought they killed …more

In 1883, sociologist William Graham Sumner coined the term “The Forgotten Man” in a lecture at the Long Island Historical Society in Brooklyn, New York. This lecture was later published with a collection of essays after his death in 1910. Sumner correctly argued that the American middle class was being squeezed by those at the top and those at the bottom. Those at the top …more

Young Americans are refusing the join the military. In fact, for several years in a row, the military has fallen short of its recruitment goals. The question is why. Newsweek provided some answers, and surprisingly, were generally spot on. But they missed the larger picture. We take it for granted that the United States needs a standing army over nearly 1 million men and women. …more

I’ve often been asked a variation of the same question: “If you had to choose one American history book to recommend, what would it be?” The answer is simple: David Hackett Fischer’s Albion’s Seed. I don’t make this suggestion lightly. There are other fascinating and important works to consider, but Fischer presents a compelling tale of early American culture that cannot be ignored. Culture matters, …more

Back in 2009, the comedian Tim Hawkins created a funny little tune titled “The Government Can“. It went viral for a time–as good as it could get in 2009–but the point was simple. The government can do anything it wants. Why? Because the Supreme Court said so, that’s why. Don’t you know history, McClanahan? You see, the Supreme Court has been expanding the powers of …more

I like reading Jonathan Turley. He is about as honest as a lawyer can get, no offense to any lawyers on my list. I know a few better than Turley. He’s sometimes wrong, but so is everyone else, even yours truly at times. That said, that sometimes happened in a recent column he wrote for Fox News. Turley thinks the greatest threat to America is …more