By Nancy Spannaus
June 16, 2019—Today, this blog turns two years old. Over the past two years, we have published 333 posts, ranging from reprints of key historic documents, to in-depth analyses of FDR’s New Deal and war mobilization, to more pithy analyses of current economic developments from the standpoint of the American System of political economy. More than 16,000 individuals have visited the blog. The articles were read by many, many more people through being re-posted in other newsletters, blogs, and Facebook pages.
But this is only the beginning. The dearth of knowledge about the core principles of the American System, and the apparent unwillingness of so many of our fellow-citizens to read and study, is shocking and more and more dangerous by the day. Making those principles available, and showing their relevance to today, continues to be an urgent task.
Thus we urge you, our readers, to accelerate your efforts to spread the news about americansystemnow, using its presence on Facebook and Twitter, as well as the blog itself. We urge you to subscribe, so that you get informed whenever a new post is made. Subscriptions are free, and we recently changed our subscription service to make it easier to sign up. Encourage your friends to subscribe as well.
It may be of interest to you to learn what have been the most popular items on the blog.
The most viewed post, measured in views on a single day, was “Alexander Hamilton Answers the Historians,” a review I did of a book of essays by historians criticizing the play last August 2018. That post got over 300 hits in one day, attributable to the fact that its existence was tweeted by the National Park Service, which had hosted an event by one of the historian contributors whom I criticized. That shows you what well-placed tweet, by a group with a lot of subscribers, can do!
Over time, however, the consistently highest viewed items, by far, have been those related to the fight of the American Revolutionaries against slavery. The success of these posts has been enhanced by publicity about them from Google ads, but the trend of interest in this issue, and its reverberations down to the present day, is undeniable.
While this interest in the real history of the slavery fight in the United States is gratifying, it is critical that the larger issue be faced. Many historians of the United States today tell us that it was slavery that created the wealth which bolstered our economy to be the envy of the world. That is not true. What built our country was a unique American System of Economics, which is elaborated on the blog (as well as in my recent book, Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics). We still need that system today.
This review would not be complete without reference to the circumstances under which we began the blog. We chose June 16 because it was the day in 1933 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Glass-Steagall bill which protected our banking system from collapse for a good 66 years. This blog has been committed to promoting the re-enactment of Glass-Steagall, as well as the establishment of a National Bank along Hamiltonian lines, which would provide the credit to rebuild the nation. Unfortunately, despite serious discussion about both these measures and support from numerous national organizations, neither Congress nor the President has yet shown the disposition to act.
Ultimately, our future as a nation, and the world as well, lies in the hands (and minds) of the citizenry. Will we educate ourselves on our history, and the principles which built the nation? AmericanSystemNow is dedicated to this goal. Please join us in the effort.
Happy Birthday–well done!