/r/PatrioticSocialism
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/r/PatrioticSocialism
This video's initial aim was to debunk the popular, but misconstrued notion, that Monroe's 1823 address to Congress had anything whatsoever to do with asserting the United States’ right to meddle in the affairs of any of the independent republics of the Americas.
If we 'cancel' Monroe simply because we've been led to believe that he said something that he never said, then we'll never learn of how he paved the way for future PRO-DEVELOPMENT leaders such as John Q Adams, Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, FDR, and JFK. All of whom fully understood the importance of Hamiltonian economics in bettering the conditions of working people in the US, and throughout the world, via WIN-WIN COOPERATION on infrastructure projects between sovereign nations.
It was also this lineage of adherers to Hamilton's system of political-economy who always fought to, and finally did, end slavery in the US. And this same lineage (the Whig Party) that opposed annexing Texas into the Union, and opposed invading California, Mexico in 1848 (just look up the Congressional votes, to see for yourself).
Were these leaders and their colleagues spotless, and without faults? No, especially not by modern standards. But they were not seeking to build an imperialist empire--atleast not the adherers to Hamilton's system, that's for sure. And they WERE, broadly speaking, seeking to uplift humanity, and better the living conditions of all people.
If we throw the baby out with the bathwater on these historical figures, then we'll completely miss out on the importance of this much-forgotten lineage. The importance being that Hamiltonian economics, and it's spirit of constructive cooperation between sovereign republics, is still needed more than ever today.