In December 2018, Candace Owens further proved why defending Adolf Hitler is foolish. Even more insane is her defense over a horrific ideology that led to an estimated 70 to 85 million deaths during World War II .
Not only is Candace Owens’ defense of nationalism not a belief of any true conservative Republican, but her remarks provided no purpose in her desire to defend nationalist ideology.
Candace Owen’s blunder is the reason why faux-conservatives— who are capable of providing eloquent sound-bites, but lack an understanding of objective moral truths— are labeled as immoral by progressive Democrats. She ought to apologize and simply move on.
For those who were originally unfamiliar with Candace Owens, like me, she is a right-wing commentator associated with Turning Point USA. Right now, she serves as the Director of Communications and, recently, chastised Tomi Lahren for having a failed career.
If you are misinformed on nationalism, here is a primer. As the name implies, nationalism refers to the promotion of national identity. While scholars concern themselves with civic or sectarian nationalism, it is rare to use the word ‘nationalism’ interchangeably with the term ‘nationalist-socialist,’ or Nazism. In fact, these terms cannot be used interchangeably because they are not synonymous.
Historically, civic nationalism has deep roots in American philosophy and promotes the very ideals we desire for our nation. According to Raheem Kassam, a former senior advisor to Brexit leader Nigel Farage, she lauded civic nationalism as “inherently beautiful” and akin to patriotism. Clearly, civic nationalism is not contentious and, likely, what Candace was referencing.
Sectarian nationalism, the latter definition, is universally castigated as lethal when connected to seemingly innocuous terms like “culture, heritage, history, language or ethnicity.” This is the same ideology that gave rise to Nazism, the modern-day ethnic cleansing in Myanmar/Burma, and is the basis for Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Sectarian nationalism is the ideology responsible for the Holocaust. Sectarian nationalism is the same ideology Candace Owens mistakenly conflated when she attempted to defend civic nationalism.
Unfortunately, Candace Owens not only conflated the two definitions, but she also conflated the idea of globalism and nationalism. She believed that Adolf Hitler’s problem was that “he wanted — he had dreams outside of Germany.” This is blatantly false. Hitler’s problem was that he wanted to persecute a whole religion because he dehumanized his fellow German man. Hitler’s problem was that he failed to understand objective moral truths of human decency and international rights. Hitler’s problem was not that he had global desires.
Further, according to Candace Owens, having dreams outside of Germany is an indication that Hitler “wanted to globalize. He wanted everybody to be German, everybody to be speaking German. Everybody to look a different way. That’s not, to me, that’s not nationalism.”
Globalism has less to do with borders and more to do with economic liberalism than Candace will ever understand. Globalism is a call for Westernization. Globalism is a call for universal Human Rights. Globalism is a call for decreasing tariffs, reciprocal trade barriers, and the foundation of international laws.
If you want to contest the ideology, follow the same suit of President Trump’s 2016 election victory. He, accurately, understood that voters working in manufacturing had their jobs outsourced and livelihoods destroyed.
Candace, you were ill-informed and if you apologized, you would re-establish credibility. Misspeaking on occasion is understandable. Hell, Americans loved President George W. Bush and Time Magazine wrote about the “Top 10 Bushisms.”
Candace Owens, apologize.
Disclaimer: All views are my own. None of my positions represent the Department of Defense, the U.S. Air Force, or any stance of the U.S. Government.
Ryan Harden
Ryan Harden graduated with an Economics degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has interned with Senator Corker on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In Organization, and Co-Founded Counter Current, an environmental media company. Disclaimer: Views expressed are not representative of the Department of Defense.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff.
@Ryan_Harden