What is the National Economics Editorial?
The National Economics Editorial was founded in 2016 by Editor-in-Chief Spencer P Morrison.
Since then, we have grown into one of America’s largest sources for news and commentary from the perspective of classical conservatives—those who:
like Edmund Burke, see the nation not as an assorted collection of atomized individuals, seeking pleasure at the expense of their fellow man, but as a people inseparably bonded to one another through culture and language, and to the past and future through art and blood…[most] important is the preservation of our nation, be it wilderness or artifice, duty or liberty.
Contrary to what people are taught in school and university, conservatism has very little in common with the neo-conservative Republican party in the United States, nor the classically liberal Conservative parties in the UK or Canada.
This is because conservatism isn’t a universal ideology based on abstract notions, be they freedom, equality, or small government—conservatism looks different depending upon where you look, and when.
Instead, what unites classical conservatives is their respect for time, the arbiter of all things. Time sorts the good ideas from the bad, and therefore, what stands the test of time is likely beneficial (even if it looks redundant or inefficient). History is our guide.
Likewise, conservatism is grounded in Aristotelian particularism and inductive reasoning, as opposed to liberalism’s Platonic universalism and deductive reasoning. All this means is that classical conservatives look at the empirical evidence, and formulate their theories accordingly, while liberals begin with an abstract value (eg. freedom) and conceive their theories around that—conservatism is bottom-up, liberalism is top-down.
For example, both Aristotle and Plato wrote about what the ideal government would look like. Plato began his inquiry, The Republic, with an assertion of values that the state must conform to. From these values he crafted his vision of a utopia—which, of course, was something that had never existed before, nor could likely exist. Many later political philosophers have fallen prey to Platonic idealism, from Rousseau to Marx.
Aristotle, on the other hand, began his Politics with a historical inquiry into what types of states exist, and have existed. He then looked at the characteristics of each type of government, and weighed the merits and drawbacks before arguing that the Polis (city-state) was the best form of government—since it provided men, on average, with the best chance for fulfillment.
In a way, Aristotle is the father of political conservatism, while Plato is the father of political radicalism (of which liberalism is a subset).
Meet Our Writers
Spencer P Morrison
JD student, writer and independent intellectual, with a focus on applied philosophy, empirical history, and practical economics. Classical conservative. Nationalist. Mercantilist.
Author of America Betrayed, The Land of (Rancid) Milk and Honey, and Bobbins, Not Gold—all of which deal, to some degree, with America’s economic collapse, developmental economics, and economic history. He is currently working on a fourth book called The Garden of Hedon: How Civilizations Fall—the topic is self-evident.
In addition to being the Editor-In-Chief of the National Economics Editorial, Spencer is a regular contributor to American Greatness, the American Thinker, and Constitution.com.
His work has also appeared in the Daily Caller, the Libertarian Institute, the Foundation for Economic Freedom, and Real Clear Politics.
You can reach him at [email protected]
Scott Brown
Law student, writer, and political commentator. Political views are amorphous yet coherent; governed by the (non)doctrine of pragmatism—a realistic chance of success is infinitely more valuable than ideological purity.
John Whitaker
Journalist, trader, classical conservative.
My work focuses primarily on Europe. I don’t do social media, but you can reach me through the editor’s email.
Submissions
Article submissions should be sent to the following email with the subject line “SUBMISSION”:
In your email please provide your name and a sentence or two outlining your article’s topic and argument. Attach your submission as a word document, and be sure to include a brief bio (with links to your website or social media handles). You may include a head-shot as well.
While we are not strict when it comes to editorial style, form, or length, we do ask that you carefully note your sources—links are strongly preferred over footnotes.
If this is your first time submitting, we recommend an article length of ~800 words. You may suggest headlines, although we reserve the right to modify them as we see fit. We don’t pay for submissions: you get glory, not money.
You retain all the literary rights to your piece, and may publish it elsewhere—although we humbly request attribution as the original publisher. Will we enforce this? No. But it would be polite.
We publish on a wide-range of topics, but use common sense. Don’t send us an article on astro-biology, we probably won’t publish it. However, if you’d like to submit a piece from a different ideological perspective, we will consider publishing it in our Devil’s Advocate section—we support free speech and do not want to become an echo-chamber.
Donations
This site is primarily reader-funded (ad revenue helps cover our technical costs). If you’d like to send us a one-time donation, send it via paypal to the email:
Many thanks.
