What we believe, where each idea comes from, and the standard we use to judge every policy and every candidate.
Preamble
We believe the United States is the greatest republic in history, and that its government owes its first loyalty to the American people. A nation should be strong enough to defend its hemisphere, prosperous enough to keep faith with its workers, and confident enough to say who it is. We join together as the Monroe Society to make that case and to elect leaders who share it.
Pillar
The Foundation
One test for every decision.
IArticle I
The Sovereign Interest
America first, judged by one test.
Every policy, treaty, trade deal and use of force faces the same question: does it leave the American nation stronger, more prosperous and more secure? If the answer is no, it does not have our support, whichever party proposes it.
American sovereignty belongs to American citizens and is never handed to foreign bodies.
Elected officials serve the people of the United States before any other country or cause.
We judge candidates by what their policies do for Americans, not by party label.
“Let Americans disdain to be the instruments of European greatness!”
Lineage · Hamilton, Washington's Farewell Address, Monroe, Jackson
Pillar
Strength Abroad
Guard the hemisphere. Avoid wars that weaken us. Lead from strength.
IIArticle II
The Hemisphere Doctrine
The Americas come first.
The Western Hemisphere is home ground. We oppose military, economic or political footholds here by rival powers, whether Beijing, Moscow or Tehran. Cartels and the regimes that shelter them are national security threats, and we will treat them that way.
No hostile foreign bases, ports or surveillance networks in the Americas.
Cartels and narco-states are security threats, not only police matters.
Limited, decisive action inside our hemisphere is the Doctrine working as designed.
Trade, energy and supply chains should run through hemispheric partners instead of distant rivals.
“The American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”
Lineage · Monroe, Polk's 1845 restatement, the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904, Bush in Panama, 1989
IIIArticle III
No Entangling Wars
Stay out of other people's wars.
Monroe's message had two halves. The second half promised that America would stay out of the wars of distant powers. We hold to that. We oppose open-ended wars of choice that spend American lives, money, munitions and attention while our real rivals grow stronger. When force is needed, it should serve a direct American interest, have a clear objective, and have an end.
Every use of force needs a direct American interest, a defined objective and an exit.
Munitions, ships and attention spent on distant quarrels are taken from deterrence closer to home.
Congress decides when the nation goes to war, as the Constitution requires.
“In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do.”
Lineage · Washington's Farewell Address, John Quincy Adams, Eisenhower
IVArticle IV
Power in Full
Diplomacy and force, both kept sharp.
A great power needs every tool. That means a military no rival wants to test, diplomats who can win without a fight, and the economic and cultural pull that makes other nations want to work with us. We believe in the handshake and in the big stick, and in the judgment to know which one the moment calls for.
Peace through strength: a larger Navy, a rebuilt defense industrial base, and the lead in space and cyber.
Diplomacy works best when it is backed by real power.
American science, enterprise and culture are strategic assets.
“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
Lineage · Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln, George H. W. Bush
VArticle V
Alliances on American Terms
NATO, when it multiplies American power.
Washington warned against permanent alliances. The Cold War showed that a well-run alliance can multiply American power. We take both lessons. We support NATO and our other alliances as long as allies carry their share, follow American strategic priorities, and add to our strength instead of drawing it down.
Every ally meets its defense spending commitment, in full and on time.
Alliance strategy follows American priorities.
Partnerships that raise American standing are worth defending. Ones that pull us into others' quarrels should be renegotiated.
“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”
Lineage · Washington, Franklin Roosevelt, George H. W. Bush's Gulf coalition
Pillar
Prosperity at Home
Make things here, pay workers well, and build big again.
VIArticle VI
Economic Nationalism
Make it here. Protect what matters.
A country that cannot make its own steel, ships, chips and medicine is not fully sovereign. We support strategic tariffs, bringing critical industry home, and an industrial policy that rebuilds the places that used to make things. Trade should serve American workers and American security.
Targeted, lasting tariffs that protect strategic industries and answer rivals who cheat.
Domestic supply chains for semiconductors, medicine, critical minerals, energy and ships.
No industry vital to national defense should depend on an adversary.
“Not only the wealth, but the independence and security of a Country, appear to be materially connected with the prosperity of manufactures.”
Lineage · Hamilton, Henry Clay's American System, Lincoln, McKinley
VIIArticle VII
Economic Populism
A square deal for working Americans.
When the economy works for most people, radical movements lose their audience. Franklin Roosevelt understood this. We believe government should build roads, power lines, ports, water systems and housing, and that a working family should be able to buy a home, raise children and retire with dignity. Concentrated power, corporate or bureaucratic, should answer to the public.
A generational investment in infrastructure, energy and housing.
Policy that rewards work and grows the middle class.
Strong enforcement against monopolies and cartels that rig markets.
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
America is a nation of builders. Edison, the Wright brothers and the engineers of Apollo showed what American ambition can do, and today's founders in rockets, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence are showing it again. We honor that achievement and want it tied to the national interest: the defining technologies of this century should be invented, built and controlled in the United States.
American leadership in artificial intelligence, space, energy and advanced manufacturing is a security priority.
Abundance over scarcity: permitting reform, nuclear power and every serious source of energy.
Merit and excellence in schools, government and the professions.
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.”
Lineage · Lincoln's railroads and land-grant colleges, Theodore Roosevelt, the Apollo program
Pillar
One People
A shared identity and a government that cares and works.
IXArticle IX
One People, One Inheritance
No hyphens. A real people with a real history.
America is more than a list of ideals anyone can recite. It is a people, formed by a particular history on a particular continent, and you can recognize an American by how they talk, dress, eat, worship, celebrate and carry themselves. That people has strands: the English who planted the colonies, the Scots-Irish of the frontier, the Germans who settled the Midwest, African Americans who built the South and have been here as long as almost anyone, the Native nations whose land and spirit run through the country, the Spanish who gave the West its cowboy culture, and the Irish, Italians, Japanese and others who added their own. Each strand belongs to the story in proportion to the part it actually played. No single strand is America. Together they are.
No hyphenated Americans. Everyone who joins this nation becomes simply American.
Teach American history and demography honestly and in proportion, so citizens know who they are and where they came from.
Define the American people concretely, by a shared inheritance of language, history, customs, land and kin, not only by slogans.
The boundary of who counts as fully American has always widened. The Irish, Italians and Catholics were once treated as outsiders and are now simply American. Hispanic Americans are on the same road. That is how the New World works.
When the nation is reduced to platitudes, people retreat into sub-identities. A real shared identity makes hyphens unnecessary.
Immigration at a scale and pace that lets newcomers grow into this inheritance.
“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.”
Before 1492Native nationsThe land itself, thousands of place names from Massachusetts to the Dakotas, the first American farming, and a spirit of independence that runs through the West.
1492 onwardSpanish and Italian explorersColumbus and Vespucci, who gave the continent its name. Spanish settlers from Florida to California, and the vaquero tradition behind the cowboy's saddle, lariat, rodeo and words.
1607 onwardOld Stock EnglishThe English language, common law, town meetings, colonial self-government and the Protestant habits of work and thrift.
1619 onwardAfrican AmericansHere about as long as anyone. Built the South, fought in every American war, and shaped American music, faith, food and speech more than almost any other group.
1624 onwardDutch New YorkThe first New Yorkers: commerce, a habit of tolerance, and words like boss, cookie and Yankee.
1710s onwardScots-IrishThe Appalachian frontier, a fierce independence, country music's roots, and a backbone of the American military.
1680s onwardGermansPennsylvania and the Midwest. Farms, engineering, brewing, kindergartens, Christmas trees, and one of the largest ancestries in the country.
1840s onwardIrishDug the canals and laid the railroads, filled the police and fire departments, and built the Catholic parishes, schools and city politics.
1880s onwardItaliansCities, food, music and film, and a style and swagger that became part of how Americans carry themselves.
1880s onwardJapaneseFarmed and built California and Hawaii. The Nisei of the 442nd became one of the most decorated units in American history.
1848 onwardMexican and Hispanic AmericansThe Southwest's ranching, food, architecture and faith, and today one of the fastest-growing parts of the American story.
OngoingLater arrivalsEach new group adds to the inheritance as it becomes American, the same way every group before it did.
XArticle X
Compassion and Competence
Conservative values, governed well.
A strong nation takes care of its own. We believe in compassionate conservatism: strong families, churches and civic groups, care for veterans, and a safety net that helps people back to their feet. We also believe the country deserves serious, experienced leaders who can unite it as well as win arguments.
Families, faith communities and civic groups are the first source of social strength.
Those who served in uniform come first.
Experience and competence matter in public office.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all.”
Lineage · Lincoln, George H. W. Bush
The Monroe Test
Five questions for every policy and every candidate.
Before the Society endorses anyone or anything, we ask the same five questions. Party labels don’t enter into it.
Does it keep us out of wars that weaken us?Art. III
Does it put American workers and industry first?Art. VI, VII
Does it build a stronger, more united nation?Art. VIII to X
Where we stand
The Articles applied to current questions
Supported
Removing Maduro
Maduro ran a narco-state in our hemisphere that hosted America's rivals and pushed drugs and migrants toward our border. Removing him was limited, decisive and inside our sphere. It made America stronger.
Article II
Opposed
War in Iran
A war far from our hemisphere with no clear end. It burns through munitions and money, pulls ships away from the Pacific and the Americas, and leaves China and Russia better off.
Article III
Conditional
NATO
We support the alliance as long as allies pay their share, it follows American strategy, and it adds to American power instead of costing it.
Article V
Do you hold these Articles?
Then you may already be one of us. Apply to join the founding cohort.
