The Brion McClanahan Author & Historian Blog

Eric Foner thinks “presentism” is a pretty good idea. Of course, because “presentism” undergirds Foner’s scholarship. In a recent review of a new book about C. Vann Woodward, Foner concludes that Woodward’s “presentism” helped bring attention to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. You see, to Foner, historical activism in the name of a good cause isn’t really “presentism,” it’s reality. But …more

Last week, The New York Times ran an article that exemplifies the current Constitutional ignorance in the United States. While the article was ostensibly about the “independent state legislature doctrine,” the subtitle grabbed my attention: “Races in state legislatures are often quiet and turn on local issues like roads or schools. But a Supreme Court case could give these legislative bodies nearly absolute power over …more

For years, academics have argued that Lincoln and the Republicans maintained the Constitution during the War. This is the common tripe from Straussians and their righteous cause myth allies. But what if those who argued Lincoln shredded the Constitution have been correct the entire time. What if “originalism” has been the proper way to interpret the Constitution as ratified by the founding generation? What if …more

Last week, I discussed Justice Jackson’s “progressive originalism.” This led to an email asking if I denied that such a thing existed. It was easier to make an episode of The Brion McClanahan Show then respond directly, and it also allowed me to review a book that has created quite a stir in the “libertarian community,” Randy Barnett’s The Original Meaning of the 14th Amendment. …more

I’ve received several emails over the years asking me to explain what I mean by the “Straussians.” With the theme of “myths” this week, I thought it was a good time to go into more detail. The Straussians are a particular type of American conservative based on the teachings of Leo Strauss through perhaps his most important student, Harry Jaffa. Jaffa became somewhat of a …more

American history is full of myths. The most conspicuous and derided is the “Myth of the Lost Cause.” Most people don’t know what the so-called “Lost Cause” meant, but they think it means people who argue that slavery wasn’t important in the antebellum period or as a contributing factor to the “Civil War.” All they know is that only “neo-Confederate”, racist, uneducated dopes believe in …more

Several people sent me a link to a recent Atlantic article tilted, “The United States of Confederate America.” I had to cover it on The Brion McClanahan Show. The piece is an example of the absolute disdain the progressive left has for rural America, specifically white, high-school educated, middle and lower middle class Americas. These are the “deplorables,” the rural Americans that cling to their …more

Language matters. The descriptive words we use define our principles and positions. Terms like “rebel” and “neo-confederate” have always been sneers by a supposedly morally righteous individual untainted by “treason” or “slavery”. All four of those words are meaningless in current discourse. The same can be said for “federalist” and “anti-federalist”. The perversion of the former and the creation of the latter has led to …more

The “Naming Commission” has spoken and the Secretary of Defense has signed off on it’s proposals. Unless something happens, the Confederate Monument in Arlington Cemetery will be unrecognizable once they are through with it. It will simply be a block of granite. This is the future of America. Beauty is gone, only communist “equity” will remain. Take a look at those wonderful communist apartments in …more

According to the establishment, new Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson “schooled” the rest of America on the 14th Amendment last week. Slate called this “progressive originalism.” But did she really “school” anyone on anything? Hardly. Justice Jackson supposedly took the Alabama Solicitor General to task for insisting that the 14th Amendment and the Constitution are “race blind.” She correctly asserted that the 1866 Civil …more