America First?

 At 0730 local time the beach is empty, save for a couple sketchy looking RVs in the car park and a small knot of surfers out in the water just off to my left. The previous night's celebration of this country's independence has left behind a mess that state park employees are now cleaning up. Our family also celebrated the night before at my brother in law's house, and now I'm up early taking advantage of a Monday off work (Independence Day fell on a Sunday this year) to get in a quick POTA activation. I had limited success on forty meters starting at 0640, and even more limited success on the AO-27 satellite pass that has just gone LOS; now I'm hoping to hit my stride on twenty meters and make as many contacts as possible before half the population of Southern California wakes up from their Fourth of July hangovers and decides to head for the beach.

After a few CW contacts on twenty, I hear a call sign that doesn't sound right. Surely I've miscopied it. I'm still new enough to amateur radio that my first reaction to any call sign that doesn't sound like it came from the US, Canada, or Mexico is that it must be a case of miscopying on my part, this one especially. It has an IW prefix, which would mean Italy. Working Europe from California—where the signal path brushes up against the sparsely-ionized upper atmosphere of the Arctic Circle—is particularly challenging; going into the morning I only have one (still unconfirmed) contact with a station in Finland. But there's no mistaking it. His signal is just too good. It's IW2NXI. He's receiving me at 599, I'm receiving him at 559, and I have my second ever and first confirmed contact with Europe. Add to that the much weaker signal from Germany that I would work twenty minutes later, the booming signal from Japan that I worked during the earlier effort on forty meters, and the thirty contacts with stations from one end of this country to the other, and it's a pretty successful morning of radio.

As with any time I'm on the radio, I enjoy each QSO, but the DX ones are just a little extra special. That's as it should be. Part 97 of the FCC regulations lists among the purposes for the amateur radio service the "[c]ontinuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill".  For years the ARRL published a book entitled Tune in the World With Ham Radio. A number of editions were published over the years, but the cover art almost always featured an image of the globe or of a Mercator projection of the earth's map. In the 1960s the ARRL released the promotional film The Ham's Wide World, featuring then Senator Barry Goldwater. The film covered all the usual themes—electronic experimentation, emergency communications, even a brief mention of amateur satellites—and in particular spends quite a bit of time talking about the popularity of amateur radio worldwide and the opportunity to work DX. For most of its existence, a significant part of amateur radio's value proposition has rested on the opportunity to forge personal contacts between ordinary people from all over the world.

With this in mind, I found it somewhat surprising to find so much support among radio amateurs in this country for America First policies. Well, maybe not that surprising. America First and amateur radio both tend to draw heavily from the same demographics. It's a classic case of two variables being influenced by the same third variable. But from a compatibility standpoint, it seemed an uneasy combination.

This might be a good time to discuss what I mean by America First. It's not the same thing as patriotism. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but the two have different meanings and, as I will argue later, there is a certain amount of built-in tension between America First objectives and a traditional conception of patriotism. America First seeks to reduce this country's participation in international treaties and agreements, to restrict immigration, and to reduce reliance on international trade. America First is informed by a belief that these and other kinds of interactions with the world outside our borders incur costs and risks that are not offset by any potential benefit, and that to the extent that our resources and our ability to devote attention to solving problems is limited, the focus should be directed largely or almost entirely inward. Patriotism is a little harder to pin down, but for this discussion it should be enough to say that it has to do with love of one's country and a belief in its principles and aspirations. One can argue, as I do, that belief in this country's principles and aspirations would include a healthy respect for the responsibilities that we took on in the post-World War II world order, and for the alliances that we worked so hard to build. One could argue, as I do, that a love of country would mean pursuing policies that are in this county's interests, even (or especially) when doing so involves cooperating with the outside world. Trade is a good example of this last point. Any economist worth his or her salt will tell you that international trade works to the benefit of people and businesses in both the buyer and seller countries¹. Support for international trade can be rooted in patriotism; love of country inspires a person to want to pursue policies that benefit his or her fellow citizens.

We hams and SWLs are, to borrow what has become a term of derision, the original globalists. We've known for more than a century that the world is something to engage with, not something to recede from. We're out there every day reaching out and making contacts and forging the kind of personal relationships that promote mutual understanding, the kind of mutual understanding that in some small way might be part of the reason we haven't seen a third world war. It's a part of our heritage that we radio amateurs—in the US and elsewhere—can rightly take pride in. This is why the amount of America First that you hear on local repeaters or read on social media is so confusing. Experience shows that we're far more connected to the outside world than we give ourselves credit for.

In 2022, a year from this writing, the Fourth of July will fall on a Monday. I'll likely be having a barbecue with family again. We'll sit down to a dinner of ribs and coleslaw and cornbread, and a dessert of homemade ice cream. We'll light off safe and sane fireworks while I bust out my playlist of Sousa marches on a Bluetooth speaker. Maybe I'll get up early that morning and head out to a local state beach and try to sneak in a POTA activation before the beach becomes too crowded. I'll enjoy each QSO, but the DX ones will be just a little extra special. To all my radio friends out there, whether you're from the good ol' USA or anyplace else on this big blue marble, 73.

1. That said, the United States' manufacturing sector has spent the last twenty-five years reeling from the displacement caused by both foreign competition and automation, with attendant social costs. We should really do something about that someday.