Benjamin Grant

    

Benjamin Grant
Image of Grant in 2016
Leader of the San Francisco Royalist Party
Incumbent
Assumed office August 20th, 2014
Preceded by	Jackson Albert Lee
Minority Leader of the San Francisco Provincial Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office August 10th, 2015
Preceded by	Jackson Albert Lee
Member of the San Francisco Provincial Assembly for the 71st district
Incumbent
Assumed office August 10, 2005
Preceded by	David Wilson
Personal details
Born	(1970-03-28) March 28, 1970 Riverbank, Santa Clara, Kingdom of Sierra
Nationality	Sierran
Political party	Royalist Party
Spouse(s)	Faith Grant (m. 1998)
Children	4
Religion	New Anglican
Military service
Allegiance	Kingdom of Sierra
Branch/service	Sierran Royal Army
Rank	Sergeant
Unit	19th Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	Syrian Civil War

Benjamin Thomas Grant (born March 28th, 1970), commonly known as Benjamin T. Grant or Ben Grant for short is a Sierran politician who has served as Leader of the Royalist Party of San Francisco Minority Leader of the Provincial Assembly since 2015 and has served as a member of the San Francisco Provincial Assembly for the 71st district since 2005.

Born in the province of Santa Clara in the town of Riverbank, Ben Scott grew up in the Styxie, but was raised in a community that was made up of the region's visible Jacobite minority. As a result of growing up a conservative area of a largely center-left to leftwing province, Grant grew up in a religious and pro-monarchist household which influenced his development and alter his political views and choices. In 1988, he enlisted in the Sierran Royal Army and rose to the rank of sergeant in 1994. He retained the position of officer and was a commander during the 2004 Anglo-American invasion of Syria where he served as part of the 19th Infantry Regiment. He was stationed in Syria until his honorable discharge in 2006 and subsequent retirement from the army in 2007.

After his time in the army, he and his wife, Faith, moved to the province of San Francisco and settled in a settlement outside of San Francisco City, though they bought a second home there after Ben Grant got involved in politics and became a spokesman for the San Francisco Royalist Party. In 2014, he ran for the position of party leader and was sworn into office and succeeded Jackson Albert Lee. Since taking over, he's been described as the conservative voice of San Francisco due to his outspoken criticism of governor Terry Scott and his support for "traditionalizing" the heavily left-leaning province from what he perceives as "moral perversion" from the policies of the provincial senate's Progressive Coalition.

Grant ran for the Royalist Party's nomination for the 2015 San Francisco gubernatorial election and secured it, though he would go on to lose the election winning over 31.2% of the vote. Despite this, he has remained popular amongst the Royalist Party's base in San Francisco and has served as their de-faco spokesperson in the left-leaning province, someting he has taken personal honor in and has been described as the "voice of the silenced minority" by many conservative outlets.

In 2016, Grant gained attention for his ideology of Traditionalization, which calls for the repeal of all progressive policies, legislation and agencies and seeks to replace them with conservative alternatives. This caused controversy in San Francisco as it's been called an assault on the province's values, but has been popular amongst Royalist voters in and outside of the province and has been part of the San Francisco Royalist Party's platform since its inception.

Grant's conservative politics in contrast to San Francisco's liberal progressive political culture, system, and policies has garnered him significant attention, reaching national attention in 2016 when he spoke at the 2016 Royalist National Convention in support of Daniel McComb for the federal election late that year and has appeared at other national-level political conferences and events since then. In 2023, Grant declared his candidacy for the 2024 Sierran Senate election in San Francisco against incumbent Democratic-Republican senator Ellen Chao in his first run for federal office in his career, securing the party's nomination on November 10.

National politics

2024 Senate campaign

Main article: 2024 Sierran Senate election in San Francisco

Political positions

Benjamin Grant is a known conservative political known for his outspoken opposition towards the province's left-wing culture and politics. He's opposed the dominate Progressive Coalition in the San Francisco Assembly and has been the leader of the provincial opposition, the Provincial Conservative Alliance. He's a known monarchist and supporter of the monarchy and holds hardline traditionalist stances on social and political issues. His adherence towards traditional conservative policies and principals has been labeled under the umbrella term of "Traditionalization" and has been his overall platform as leader of the San Fransisco Royalist Party.

Social issues

Ben Scott has been conservative on social issues ranging from same-sex marriage to drugs and abortion. On the issue of abortion, he identifies as pro-life and has opposed the provinces loose restrictions on abortion. In 2012, he opposed Scott's decision to loosen abolition restrictions beyond 21 weeks, a policy Grant is in favor of, and accused him of "defiling" infant life. He has a 100% rating from the National Right to Life Foundation and has spoken at events hosted by the foundation. He recognizes cases that would require abortion to be needed and stated he would allow them, but favored restrictions past 15 weeks and has also called for people to have greater "moral understanding" when considering whether or not they want an abortion. Grant has stated his support for traditional marriage and was critical of the province legalizing the practice in 2009, but said that he wouldn't do anything to overturn the decision stating that it was "now law and there's no need to imprison thousands over who they marry". In 2013, Grant supported the proposed Religious Freedom Act of 2013 which would allow businesses to refuse service towards LGBT customers if it violated their conscious, but it was stricken down by Scott and the progressive coalition-lead government.

Healthcare

Grant has been a vocal opponent of single-payer healthcare and has been credited as the leading politician in San Francisco opposing any single-payer healthcare program in the province and has accused Governor Scott of threatening to put the province into deep debt. In a 2013 interview, Grant said that Scott's healthcare plan would "plunge San Francisco to the brink of bankruptcy and would ruin us". He also cited living costs and poverty in San Francisco City as evidence of the province not being able to afford such a plan.

Education

Grant has been vocal in his support for private and charter schools and for supporting "community schools", homeschooling done in individual communities by various parents. He's been critical of Sierran education policy and has accused public schools of being "cesspools of degeneracy, ignorance, and intellectual failure" and has supported a complete overhaul of public education in Sierra and has called for a complete re-evaluation of all textbooks and other material in public schools.

Marijuana and narcotics

Grant has been on the record as opposing the legalization of marijuana claiming that marijuana itself was a gateway drug and would lead to higher rates of drug usage. In a 2014 speech during the Royalist Party leadership election, Grant claimed that his opponent was weak on the issue of drugs and blamed him for "putting countless San Franciscans at risk of drug usage and abuse" due to the lack of action against marijuana legalization. Grant is also opposed to the legalization of other drugs such as heroine and is opposed to narcotic legalization. His anti-drug stance was noted and was accused of having "deluded and outdated" views on drugs according to a Social Democratic official and was in favor of restricting the access to drugs. In a 2015 interview, Grant said that he would favor mandatory rehabilitation for drug users as a substitute for imprisonment, though such actions have caused controversy, though he still defends his position.

Foreign policy

Grant himself has pushed for a right-wing foreign policy direction which includes a greater emphasis on Sierra's role in international affairs and promotes the idea of Anglo-American hegemony globally believing that it has brought general order and political stability. Grant is on the record as supporting Israel and has pushed for a pro-Israel foreign policy including opposing any restrictions on trade with Israel as well as advocating for more pressure on the Palestinian Authority into agreeing to Israeli demands on the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Deal. In 2014, Grant opposed Scott's bill regulating trade with Israel and forbidding provincial businesses and companies operating in the province from doing business with Israeli companies operating in the West Bank and the decision to boycott Israeli goods coming from the settlements. Ben Grant accused the bill of promoting anti-semitism and Scott of submitting to the will of Palestine's "monstrous tyrants". Grant has opposed any attempt to withdraw Anglo-American troops from Iraq or Afghanistan and believes that it's the moral obligation of Anglo-America to protect and promote democracy around the world.

Monarchy

Grant is an outspoken supporter of the monarchy and the House of Columbia. He has opposed and been critical of the pro-republican culture of San Francisco and of the Styxie by extension and accused anti-monarchists of being "naive and misinformed" on the issue of the monarchy. Grant defended the monarchy in 2017 interview saying that it was a "vital component and the beating heart" of Sierra and claimed that the nation would collapse without the monarchy. He believes that the monarch holds significance in Sierran society as a symbol of the nation's moral character and position in the world. In the same interview, Grant said that if the monarchy was abolished, there would be a "wave of terror" against the nation's traditions citing violence committed by radical republicans during both the Sierran Civil War and the Disturbances. Grant himself has hosted many events celebrating the monarch's birthday, a rare site in San Francisco, and has attended royal gatherings throughout his career. Grant said in 2018 that his support for the monarchy intensified in response to the rise of dissident republicanism in the Styxie, though his reluctancy towards condemning the acts of violence committed by radical monarchists has caused controversy.

Republicanism and Landonism

Ben Grant has been the loudest and most prolific opponent of Sierran republicanism and Landonism, both of which are dominate and well-accepted ideologies and thoughts within San Francisco and in the Styxie, especially in the contemporary era. Grant's opposition towards political republicanism has been noted multiple times and has defended his stance by citing the various acts of violence committed by radical republicans in the name of political republicanism such as the Jacobite persecutions during the Sierran Civil War and acts of violence and terrorism during the Little Civil War of the 1930s and during the Disturbances. In a 2014 interview, Grant accused political republicanism of being dangerous by saying "political republicans have sought to end the monarchy, seize its belongings, and magically redistribute them among the people. This all sounds good in theory, but has ended in violence and terror". Grant also said how the abolition of the monarchy would be a blow towards the Sierran union and could result in its dissolution. He's also been opposed towards landonism and accused it of being inherently tyrannical, violent and prone to causing political terror and famine citing violence committed by republicans during the civil war and historic crimes committed by various communist regimes.

Personal life

Grant is a Master Mason and was initiated into the Sinai Lodge No. 54 of the United Grand Lodge of Sierra in San Bruno, San Francisco on February 12, 1989. He is a practicing member of the Church of New England and was baptized and confirmed into the Church as a child.

See also

• Traditionalization