America First is not a political statement. It's a way of life. 

But anytime someone says they're "America First," you instantly assume to know what they believe and who they vote for. So, people are ashamed to be proud of America because they fear being tied to a particular party or politician (even though America First has nothing to do with parties and politicians). The elites want it that way. They want America weak by discouraging Americans from being proud. It allows them to seize power across borders without fear. And we can't let that happen.

It's time for a hard reset. It's time to redefine what it means to be America First. 

Where Does It Come From Anyways? 

Woodrow Wilson, a liberal of all people, coined the term America First during his reelection campaign in 1916. One of his campaign promises was to keep the US out of World War I. But of course, he folded less than two years later and sent 116,000 US soldiers to die in a war that had nothing to do with us. That sounds more like America Last.

Numerous groups have used the phrase in the years since, but it took off during the Trump administration. And now politicians throw it around to appeal to voters. We'll give you a hint...most of them are secretly America Last too. 

That's how we end up with so many people ashamed to put America first. It makes no sense. America First doesn't mean America only. We love cooperation. But we're simply not going to let other countries take advantage of us.

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America First means that we should support our country before we support others. That means creating jobs, growing our economy, and helping the poor. These are all awesome things. Yet, we're seemingly the only country that's ashamed to be awesome. 

Practically no one in Germany, Japan, or Brazil puts their country last. It's the opposite. They're proud to put their citizens first. They love their nation, their language, and their culture. And they're happy to take advantage of our misplaced generosity regarding international trade. Why wouldn't they? It's time for us to start putting Americans first. 

America First Because America Is The Best 

If any country has the right to put its needs first, it's us. Why? Because we're the best. 

It's not even up for debate. We have a vibrant culture made up of people from around the world. Many of the greatest inventions of the last 200 years, from the sewing machine to the internet, were created by Americans. And we lead the world in medical advances by far. 

On top of having the brightest minds, we have the hardest workers. That's not an opinion. It's a fact. Americans work the most hours of any industrialized country in the world. Only a handful of developing countries beat us. 

Our hard workers and treasure trove of natural resources drive the most prosperous economy in the world. But, haters will be quick to say, what about Sweden? Or Switzerland? They have way better education and healthcare! But how do those countries pay for it? By spending next to nothing on their militaries. Instead, they rely on the most powerful in the world (our military) to protect them. Oh yeah, that's another reason we're the best country in the world.

Academic and media elites quickly point out that America isn't perfect. And they're right...to a degree. Every country has ugly parts in its past. America's flaws are well documented. But so are our successes. The United States was the first country founded on values like Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It seems obvious now, but it was crazy at the time. Our boldness inspired dozens of other countries to follow our lead, bringing freedom to billions of people. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died to preserve that freedom. And not to mention, we were one of the first countries to abolish slavery, and 360,000 Americans died to make it happen. So we have nothing to be ashamed of.

We Built These Companies 

Another reason we have the world's most prosperous economy is we've made it easy to start and grow a business. We've historically had excellent infrastructure, a well-trained workforce, and a friendly tax system. These are things that help companies grow. And we pay big companies additional benefits. For example, when corporations lose money, they can pay less in future taxes to offset their loss. And there are a bunch of extra tax breaks for things like investing in renewable energy or employing Native Americans. Corporations use them to save billions in taxes a year. That's our tax money. So we're indirectly paying these corporations to give people jobs and make good products. We'll leave the tax debate to the politicians. But no one can argue that many companies have benefitted from being in America.

Check out our podcast to hear interviews with America First thought leaders.

Main Street Insiders Jeff Perlot and Luke Perlot 4 episodes

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How have they repaid us? By taking many of the jobs they could've created here and sending them overseas. We all earn less when jobs get shipped overseas. That's because there are fewer jobs for the same amount of workers. More supply than demand, which pushes prices down. So companies can afford to pay us all less. That's wrong. 

The Washington Times @WashTimes

A federal jury found former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo guilty on Tuesday of spying for Saudi Arabia, using his access at the social media company to inform on the kingdom's critics. Jury finds former Twitter employee guilty of spying for Saudi Arabia: ReportsA federal jury found former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo guilty on Tuesday of spying for Saudi Arabia, using his access at the social media company to inform on the kingdom’s critics.trib.al

August 10th 2022

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Instead, the elites running these corporations expect us to consume their products endlessly (read about the Overconsumption Doomsday Machine here). They collect your data and get you addicted to their platforms so they can sell you even more stuff. These companies were built by Americans...in America. They have a moral obligation to give back to the communities that created them. This isn't a liberal or conservative position. It's an American position.

Getting Back To The Fundamentals 

It's time for American companies to start putting America First. But of course, they're not going to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. So we're going to have to apply some pressure. One of the best ways to influence companies is through shareholder activism. Even if you have only one share of a company, you have the right to vote on shareholder proposals and attend its shareholder meeting. That means you can ask questions directly to the CEO! Justin Danhof goes into greater detail in Episode 3 of the Main Street Insiders podcast (if you’re not on Apple podcasts, you can check it out here).

Pursuing Excellence Capitalism with Justin Danhof Main Street Insiders 31:37

One of the takeaways is that we don't need to own 51% of a company to affect it. With just a small percentage of ownership, Main Streeters can influence companies to start investing in America. That's a plan everyone can get behind. 

This is the way. 

God bless and God bless America, 

-Jeff and Luke