On America’s 250th Independence anniversary, Susan Kokinda argues that this moment is more profound because Donald Trump and his administration are reviving the “American System” of political economy after it was suppressed following President William McKinley’s assassination in 1901 -
tariffs to promote domestic industry
manufacturing and
internal improvements
She contrasts the American System with the “British System,” citing Henry Carey’s warning of 2 opposing systems, and says the nation’s economic heritage was replaced by free trade, consumerism, and institutions like the Federal Reserve.
Kokinda connects the Declaration’s appeal to the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God to economics, quoting Lyndon LaRouche on a state shaping a nation’s relationship to the physical universe.
She highlights speeches by Jamieson Greer and Scott Bessent on production over consumption, and J.D. Vance’s call for a Hamiltonian approach grounded in human dignity, linking it to the Declaration’s “pursuit of happiness” over “property.”
Chapters
00:00 The Saturday Wrap-Up - Intro - July 4, 2026
01:59 The Weapon the British Took From Us
05:42 The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God
11:27 Happiness, Not Property
