The Brion McClanahan Author & Historian Blog

Joe Biden can’t get out of his own way. He can’t even find where he is supposed to go. His administration is an open embarrassment. Everyone knows it, even the Left, which is why they keep providing cover. Kurt Schlichter wrote a funny piece at Townhall the other day on “Coma” Joe. He asked, “What comes next?” If Biden really is a placeholder, what will …more

You might remember the Washington Post slogan that “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” This was an attack on the Trump administration and the perception that Trump peddled lies and false narratives. Democrats and those on the Left firmly believed that they were fighting the forces of evil and that only they could save “democracy.” Except democracy is structurally bound to fail. Why? Because “Democracy Dies in …more

Every problem we face in American politics can be boiled down to one word: nationalism. Out of many, one. It’s on our “money.” But did the founding generation really believe this phrase? Nope. Not if you read the documents that led to the ratification of the Constitution. Americans more properly identified with their States, their sections, and their neighbors than some imaginary American nation. Not …more

The 1776 commission is back in the news. Erased by the Biden administration, the 1776 commission report seemed to be dead. Not so fast. The leadership team will be launching a new website and has refocused its energy at the State and local level. Just like the 1619 project. Both of these groups realize that thinking locally and acting locally is the way to change …more

Jeremy Carl at American Greatness thinks we are in the midst of another secession crisis. The Democrats, he says, have seceded from the American order, and it’s up to real America to save the Union, just like Abraham Lincoln saved the Union in 1861. You see, Carl thinks we need a Lincolnian revival. In his opinion, conservatives have acted too much like James Buchanan in …more

Yesterday marked the 77th anniversary of Operation Overlord, better known as the D-Day invasion of Northern France. Some “conservative” commentators mark it down as a secular holiday, the day that American democracy doomed Nazism in Europe. If only they kept it out of the United States, and I am not just talking about the stupid neo-Nazis who run around mostly Northern States today. No, I’m …more

A friend of mine has been knee deep in local political activism for the last several months. The government in his State has only recently seen the light and started opening the economy. In other words, they were living in the dark ages while those of us in real America had long ago been able to do just about anything we want. He has formed …more

The “Righteous Cause Myth” folks would like you to think that it’s “settled science” that the War was “about slavery.” No other explanation is acceptable. These neo-revisionists spill a lot of ink beating back “neo-Confederate” bogeymen who amount to very few mainstream academics, if any. It’s almost as if they are trying to convince themselves that the war was “about slavery.” Because if it wasn’t, …more

A year goes by fast when you’re having fun. It’s been almost one year to the day since I released Southern Scribblings. I’m pleased to announce that my newest book, The Jeffersonian Tradition, is now ready for you to purchase, read, and digest. Like Southern Scribblings, The Jeffersonian Tradition is a collection of essays aimed at the heart of the righteous cause myth. But this …more

Yankees are having their revenge on the rest of America. Michael Lind argues that the modern mess of wokism is blowback from Southern dominance the general government from the New Deal through the 1980s. Lind correctly shows that Southerners used the government against powerful Yankees for about fifty years. It’s payback time. He might have a point. We live in Yankee America with the political …more