Helen Roy

Helen Roy is a lifestyle editor at Blaze Media. Helen has worked as an intelligence analyst, research assistant, and writer. She earned a B.A. in Chinese from Wofford College and a M.A. in National Security from the Institute of World Politics. As an undergrad, she received the David L. Boren Scholarship for study in China through the National Security Education Program.

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What is your current position? 

I’m a lifestyle editor at The Blaze. 

What inspired you to choose this career path? 

I started my career in the national security apparatus of the federal government, doing a lot of writing. I think Americans habitually think about national security in terms of external threats: foreign nations, terror groups, Central Asian geopolitics, etcetera. After reading Samuel Huntington’s Who Are We? I began to question this reflex. What does it matter, for instance, if the Chinese government takes de facto control of the Panama Canal if American cities are subject to the anarcho-tyranny of a justice system that refuses to imprison violent criminals? The Chinese also didn’t open our borders to the men who killed Mollie Tibbetts, Laken Riley, or Katie Steinle. Of course, external threats will always matter, but where there is no door, no one can enter. America is more likely to lose its legitimacy by its own hands than by Xi Jinping’s. Our internal threats – total lack of law and order, open borders, the plummeting value of wages, a collapsing birthrate, discord between the sexes – should all be understood as national security issues, because they are indeed existential, albeit internal, threats. 

The etymology of “national” is especially revealing. From the Latin nat-, which pertains to birth, nation implies shared heritage. Birth is something that happens invariably, in case we need reminding, in the body of a woman. The left has taken ownership of women’s issues for the past century, but I don’t believe that women inevitably “belong” to the Left. I think we have a real opportunity, as conservatives, to recapture the narrative about women, sex, and the family. In an age of total depravity, cynicism, and broken families, there’s also the opportunity for conservatives to promote unity and mutual respect between the sexes. That’s what I hope to accomplish, by writing about the American way of life. 

What are you currently working on?

A collection of guides to help homemakers create a family culture of self-government. 

How did you hear about the Claremont Institute? 

A beloved teacher. 

What is your fondest memory of the Claremont Institute? 

During my Publius fellowship, I was heavily pregnant, and it was the summer of the simultaneous Covid and George Floyd psyops. Finding myself ensconced in beautiful San Diego with likeminded, interesting, and intelligent people was an amazing gift. In particular, the women in my class were so lovely and have all done incredible work in the meantime. 

There are all sorts of educational programs out there for current and rising conservative professionals. What do you think makes the Claremont Institute’s Fellowships unique? 

General seriousness and commitment to freedom of speech. Claremont has an exhaustive reading list.  

Who would it be, why, and what would you discuss, if you could have a conversation with an American Founder, or any great thinker? 

I’d like to speak with George Washington strictly about horsemanship. I’d also like to speak with Abigail Adams on the virtue of entertaining.  

What would the artifact be, if you could hold one piece of history from the early founding of our country and why? 

In his collection, Glenn Beck has the compass Washington kept in his pocket his whole life, from the early cartography and land speculation days through the war. There is an indentation where his thumb would have rested from years of pensively fidgeting with it. I can’t think of anything cooler, except maybe one of Abigail Adams’ tea sets. 

What do the words “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” mean to you? 

These days, it’s painful to reread the Declaration, the Preamble, or any of the Federalist Papers because we’ve clearly fallen so far from our former ideals. Still, the words speak, beyond their legal implications, to the American spirit: energetic, enterprising, and ever hopeful. 

What qualities do you believe will make outstanding statesmen/women in this century? 

Courage, prudence, and a sense of clarity about the stakes of the present moment. 

What do you believe has led to our established culture redefining itself in the 21^st Century? 

To bring it back to Huntington, no culture can sustain itself that does not fundamentally know what it is, and who constitutes it. I don’t know if we can say the culture redefined itself, but rather, was redefined to accommodate the interests of an elite class that prioritized profit over people. What led to that? Hubris, greed, disloyalty. 

What do you believe are the three greatest challenges the USA faces in its relations with China? 

Every example I will name reflects the point I made earlier; most American vulnerabilities could be patched up if only we could allow ourselves to act out of a sense of sovereignty. Most of the fentanyl killing Americans every day is manufactured by Chinese companies operating through the cartels that control our Southern border. American arms manufacturers employ Chinese nationals who have stolen intellectual property on behalf of their homeland. Finally, China continues to expand their influence across the world per their Belt and Road Initiative, solidifying their dominion over world manufacturing. Decline is a choice! 

Recently a Chinese defector immigrant has warned of parallels between what is now happening in America and what Mao did in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Namely three strategic ideologies are in place:  Demoralization, Disorientation, Crisis, and 

Normalization.  What are your thoughts on how close the USA is to this redefinition of our Constitutional Republic?   

I totally agree. Cancel Culture is Mao’s Red Guard, respawned. Whether we can let ourselves admit it, the stakes are exactly this high. The rhetoric is exactly this genocidal. As fellow Claremont fellow Jeremy Carl has pointed out in his recent book, The Unprotected Class, middle class whites are the new kulaks. As we discussed on my podcast recently, “white” has become a pejorative. This should concern people more.  

What are the main differences between the boomer generation and the millennial/Gen Z generation? 

We’re not as different as we may think. What comes to mind first is a common answer, but it’s true: the internet has transformed the way people go about living. This is true for both, but to have had such access from an early age has had a profound effect on the social life of young people. Many things boomers once took for granted, like the ability to meet someone casually in public, or to ask for their number, feel like a faux pas to zoomers. 

What book, speech, or movie has left a lasting impression with you and why? 

Sally Read’s Night’s Bright Darkness: A Modern Conversion story. 

What books are you currently reading? 

Rome & Persia: The 700 Year Rivalry by Adrian Goldsworthy. 

Do you have a favorite quote?  Why does it resonate with you? 

Flannery O’Conner said, “Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.” It basically confirms my bias for swimming upstream. I also love the Kipling poem “The Female of the Species:” 

She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast 
May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest. 
These be purely male diversions—not in these her honour dwells— 
 She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else. 

What is the most distinctive attribute/character of the people in the state where you grew up that you genuinely admire? 

South Carolinians love to have a good time. No one can beat our band parties. Life is sweeter, however slower. 

At the end of a stressful day what brings you peace of mind? 

My hope is in Christ. 

And just because …Where do you see yourself in ten years? 

Great question. With three kids three and under, it’s hard to see past next week. Maybe I’ll have three more. I hope my family is happy and healthy. I hope my work will have helped other women improve their lives, too, and the state of our nation by extension.