Nativist Demagogues

The pattern repeats itself every generation or so in America. Things go wrong, at home or abroad, and an explanation is demanded. For some, it is inconceivable that the source of the difficulties might lie within the American system itself. The cause has to be something quintessentially alien. This something may be unassimilated immigrant groups, racial or ethnic minorities, communism, the papacy, international bankers, Jewish conspiracies, progressive education—or, more likely, some eclectic combination of these things. The solution is always simple: a return to the alleged old-time virtues of authentic Americanism. These are supposedly manifest in anything from primitive Protestant fundamentalism and curtailment of central governme...