Celebrating the New Republican-Labor Party

The idea that our nation—or any nation—is divided between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is a foreign virus imported into the United States from the City of London and the European oligarchy.  We are a Republic of “We the People,” a nation Constitutionally mandated to protect and defend the General Welfare of ALL the People.  That intention was there from the founding of our Republic.  

Today, under Donald Trump’s leadership, that spirit is being revived.  The corruption of the late 20^th century Republican Party is gradually being eradicated step-by-step and is being replaced by a new Republican Party, a party which looks back to the original principles of the Republican Party, to the intention of Abraham Lincoln.

This ongoing transformation was on full display at an extraordinary public meeting of President Trump’s Cabinet which took place on August 26. At that meeting, the issue of American labor and the well-being of American citizens took center stage in a way not seen since the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt.  President Trump began the meeting by saying: 

“(On Labor Day) we celebrate the hard-working men and women of America.  Every policy of the Trump administration is designed to lift up the American worker, promote great-paying blue collar jobs and to rebuild the industrial bedrock of our nation.” 

I repeat Trump’s words: “Every policy of the Trump administration is designed to lift up the American worker (and) promote great-paying blue-collar jobs. . .” 

Later in the same meeting, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins emphasized this commitment, saying:  

“This is our Day.  America was founded and fought for by fishermen and farmers and workmen.  Genesis, the first book of the Bible, talks about the righteousness of Work and the art of Creation.  I do believe we are in a Revolution—1776 was the first one; 1863 with Abraham Lincoln was the second; this is the third, with Donald Trump leading the way, and we are saving America.” 

A Nation Based on Human Labor 

This commitment to the protection of Labor and the promotion of human advancement is embedded in our history.  We find it in the career of Benjamin Franklin who devoted his life to “Doing Good,” including the founding of public libraries, fire companies, colleges and societies devoted to scientific advancement.  And we see it in Alexander Hamilton, in his creation of a system of Public Credit devoted to economic progress and human advancement.  His 1792 Report on Manufactures and his founding that same year of the Society to Promote Useful Manufactures is indicative of his approach.  As he wrote in his Report on a National Bank: 

“The tendency of the national bank is to increase public and private credit.  Industry is increased, commodities are multiplied, agriculture and manufactures flourish, and herein consist the true wealth and prosperity of the state. . .  The intrinsic wealth of a nation is to be measured, not by the abundance of the precious metals contained in it, but by the quantity of the productions of its labor and industry.”  

Later, with Abraham Lincoln, we find not only a commitment to the American System policy of manufacturing and infrastructure development, but we also find the Emancipation Proclamation, accompanied by Lincoln’s life-long fight for public education and defending the Rights of Labor.  Lincoln strongly supported the formation of trade unions.  In his December 3, 1861, Message to Congress, Lincoln declared: 

“Labor is Prior to and independent of Capital.  Capital is only the fruit of Labor and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed.  Labor is the Superior of Capital and deserves much the higher consideration.”  

Earlier, while campaigning for the Presidency in the Spring of 1860, Lincoln had stated:  

“I am glad to see that a system of labor prevails in New England under which laborers can strike.   I would to God that such a system prevailed all over the world. . .  I know that in almost every case of strikes, the men have just cause of complaint.” 

We also find the same moral outlook with Republican President William McKinley.  Throughout his career he enjoyed the support of Labor, including from Samuel Gompers, the President of the American Federation of Labor and Terrence Powderly, the President of the Knights of Labor.  As President, McKinley demanded that corporations who were benefitting from his policy of high protective tariffs, pass along a portion of their new-found profits toward higher wages for their workers.  He even eliminated tariff protection on some industries which refused to increase wages. 

Class Warfare is Un-American  

In the decades following 1945, a common political aphorism in America was that the Democratic Party was the party of Labor and the Republicans were the party of Business.  Of course, this was never really true, but in a way it reflects the manner in which U.S. political alignments became corrupted.  With Hamilton, with Lincoln and with McKinley we see a Constitutional commitment to the Common Good and the advancement of All of the People.  

What happened after the murder of McKinley was that we became infected with the European virus.  Following the French Revolution, out of London and other oligarchical capitals in Europe, what was created was a false right-versus-left dichotomy.  This was greatly advanced through the creation of “Marxism” by the British aristocracy.  These oligarchs denied that a “Common Good” existed or that we could be unified by a Principle shared by all.   For the oligarchy, all human beings are animals driven by self-interest.  

In opposition to the principles of the American Revolution, the oligarchs of London and other European capitals, in the second half of the 19^th Century, created the (Marxist) Social-Democratic Parties.  These would all take their place in parliaments of Europe where they would “represent labor.”  But it was the oligarchs and Central Bankers who would call the shots.  It was the British financial empire that ruled supreme and whose power was never challenged by the socialists.  The Social-Democrats begged for crumbs in the (deliberately) impotent parliaments, as right versus left scenarios were manipulated from above.   

That is not the American Way.  We do not recognize class warfare as a defining condition of life.  We hold (or should hold) our elected officials to a higher standard—the standard proclaimed by Franklin, Lincoln and McKinley;  the standard enunciated by Gouverneur Morris in the Preamble to our Constitution—to protect and promote the General Welfare of All of the People.  That is the essence of the American Republic.  

A Productive Future for All 

The three-hour August 26 Cabinet meeting was a beacon of optimism for American Labor and the American People.  In addition to highlighting the re-shoring of old and new manufacturing that is now in the pipeline, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer reported that federal grants for 185,000 skilled trade apprenticeships have already been processed, and that the Labor Department expects to meet Trump’s goal of 1 million skilled apprenticeships.  A productive future and skilled employment for the youth of America is the goal, and Trump and his team are moving aggressively to realize that potential. 

The time has now come to bury the worship of financial profits that has come to dominate our nation’s leaders, beginning in the 1990s and then escalating under Barack Obama.  Our manufacturing and technology were not just shipped overseas; they were looted and hollowed out by financial predators.  A new billionaire class was created—cutting across party lines—largely created by maximizing financial profits and what is sometimes called “shareholder values.”  Maximizing monetary profit at the expense of everything else became the watchword, and the payout of unprecedented wealth to the elite corporate and financial class became the reward.  As Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated at the August 26 Cabinet meeting: 

“The wealthy in our country and the coastal elites that live away from where stuff’s actually made, they just lost their way, and politicians just let them have it.” 

When his protectionist tariff policies were creating the most powerful productive economy in human history, William McKinley stated again and again that corporate profits were not his concern.  The purpose of the tariffs was to create millions of productive jobs, to raise living standards and provide new opportunities for all Americans.  That must be our measuring rod today. 

As Trump’s economic agenda takes effect thousands of new and returning industries will begin to operate.  How will the leaders of those industries treat their workforce?  It is the view of Promethean Action that the nation must begin to move back to a single-income household, thus encouraging family formation and the ability to rear children.  This cannot be done unless wages are substantially higher.  Will the leaders of the new manufacturing, energy and high-tech concerns seek to create record monetary profits and to enrich themselves, or will they recognize—like Henry Ford and George Westinghouse—that high wages will make the nation wealthier, more productive and happier? 

As Lincoln’s economic advisor Henry Carey recognized, labor and capital, together, possess a “Harmony of Interests”—a shared destiny in which all can prosper.  And as Abraham Lincoln insisted, “Labor is the Superior of Capital and deserves much the higher consideration.”  That is what we should celebrate and honor this Labor Day of 2025.