Defining the Mission of The St. Croix Review
Derek Suszko – Editorial
Derek Suszko is an associate editor for The St. Croix Review.
This last month Rasmussen reported that the percentage of Americans who were pessimistic about the future of the United States stood at 71 percent. Reuters and Politico reported figures not much better at 70 percent and 69 percent. Monmouth produced a staggering 80 percent of respondents who claimed that they were pessimistic or very pessimistic with only 16 percent declaring they were not. These figures are approaching all-time lows. They speak to a malaise which has descended on the citizens of this country. There is a feeling, felt at times by myself and by almost everyone I’ve spoken to, that the best days of the United States lie in the past; that America is in an inescapable decline; that patriotism and love of country are dying among the younger generations; that the glories and heroes of American history have been forgotten and demonized; that something grand and beautiful — the American experience — is withering away. None of this is surprising. A terrible fact is evident in every news story, every longstanding institution, and every political debate: America is full of powerful people who despise America and wish to destroy it. They despise what it stands for and for what it has stood for in the past. They dismiss its virtues and magnify its apparent faults. They wish to uproot the foundations of God, family, and country and replace them with slavish devotion to hideous ideologies. They seek the elimination of everything that has produced American prosperity: free markets, freedom of speech, freedom of self-defense, traditional marriage and family, a robust and independent middle class, patriotism, and property ownership. This radicalism is unprecedented, and it is clear that days of quaint debate are over. America is in a life-and-death struggle and, if it falls, the world will follow. For the sake of the world, for the sake of future generations, for the sake of the idea of human freedom — it must prevail.
The present goal of The St. Croix Review is clear: to end the destruction of America. There is nothing more important for the world and for our time than the success of this objective. The destruction of America is occurring on two main fronts: economic degradation and cultural upheaval. The destroyers of America wish to reduce the economy to two classes: an elite ruling class with all the wealth and political power, and a vast dependent class of the rest who, reliant on their rulers for welfare and survival, will not threaten the authority of their self-appointed masters. In order for the destroyers to achieve this, they must eradicate the middle class in the United States. And they are doing so by means of over-regulation, inflation, outsourcing of jobs overseas, and insourcing of jobs to illegal immigrants. On the culture front, the destroyers of America have adopted the deadly ideologies of the academic Left. These ideologies — such as critical race theory and gender ideology — are blatant evil, fostering widespread misery and devastation and instilling in vulnerable minds nothing but a confusion in the self and a hatred of others. The destroyers seek to overthrow biological fact, mutilate vulnerable and healthy adolescents, propagate perversion (especially toward children), encourage racial violence and anarchy, and normalize all manner of ghastly behaviors for the ends of chaos. It is in light of these two fundamental threats — economic and cultural — that we here unveil our mission statement:
The mission of the St. Croix Review is to end the destruction of America by re-establishing the family as the center of American life, restoring economic prosperity to an independent middle class, and reviving a culture of tradition.
I shall briefly comment on each of these aspirations:
- 1.Re-establishing the family as the center of American life
The two-parent family — one husband, one wife — is the essential cornerstone of any prosperous society, and its sanctity is paramount. The St. Croix Review mission condemns abortion and advocates for policies aimed at remediating fatherlessness and single-parent homes. We believe that the federal government has a duty to incentivize fidelity to the traditional family through subsidies for bearing children and maintaining marriages.
- 2.Restoring economic prosperity to an independent middle class
The American middle and working classes have taken brutal hits in the past decade, and much of their wealth has been pillaged by predatory government policy. The St. Croix Review’s mission believes that the guarantees of liberty are only possible if a nation retains a middle class free from reliance on a central government for its prosperity. We advocate for all economic policies that will restore the middle class to its former prominence, especially those that target the issue of reducing consumer prices.
- 3.Reviving a culture of tradition
The cultural rot emanating from America in the past few decades is obvious for all to see. It has produced a society of nihilism, selfishness, and misery. But traditional American culture — centered on God, family, and nation — produced American greatness and it can do so again. In the battle for American institutions, the mission advocates for an aggressive insistence on the primacy of traditional culture. If the institution is too far corrupted (as, perhaps, with public education), we advocate for the founding of alternatives. We will never accept the penetration of destructive ideologies into daily life.
In advocating for the reversal of the causes of America’s decline, we at The St. Croix Review intend to be its saviors. As conservatives, we have generally taken too little care of this and have watched the slow erosion of American greatness with complacency for far too long. We have no time for docile debates with “well-meaning” adversaries. Now is the time for forceful advocacy and an unwavering devotion to our mission. I know I join with all of you when I declare my love for this country. As a boy playing outside in my yard, I remember how I would charge Bunker Hill and storm the beaches of Normandy. I remember standing in awe at the views of Grand Teton and being overwhelmed at the solemnity of Arlington National Cemetery. The images of America are seared into my soul, and I cherish them as though they were my own. And I know this is how all of you feel. Many of you have seen more of America than I have. You have lived through more, and you know better than I do what America was — and what it might be again. I exalt the greatness of the generations before mine, and yet I fear for my own. My duty is clear to me, and I take it up with all determination as an editor of the St. Croix Review: to end the destruction of America and to restore to the rising generations its former greatness. Because you have loved America and have felt the gifts of previous generations in your hearts, you already recognize what an extraordinary lineage you comprise. We are honored by your support. The St. Croix Review intends to be a dominant voice for the future. We are rapidly expanding on social media and entering new channels to promote our mission. We believe that we are taking up nothing less than the salvation of America. Despite the magnitude of the task before us, we are confident that, God willing, we will prove equal to the times. *
