New Nationalism was Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive political philosophy during the 1912 election. He made the case for what he called the New Nationalism in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, in August 1910. The central issue he argued was human welfare versus property rights. He insisted that only a powerful federal government could regulate the economy and guarantee social justice. Roosevelt believed that the concentration in industry was not necessarily bad, if the industry behaved responsibly. He wanted executive agencies (not the courts) to regulate business. The federal government should be used to protect the laboring men, women and children from what he believed to be exploitation. In terms of policy, the New Nationalism supported child labor laws and minimum wage laws for women. Roosevelt supported graduated income and inheritance taxes, workers' compensation for industrial accidents, regulation of the labor of women and children, tariff revision, and firmer regulation of corporations.

Read Teddy Roosevelt's profound speech.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Council on International Personnel issued a report Aug. 11 highlighting the importance of highly skilled foreign workers and blasting arguments made by the AFL-CIO in favor of a commission to determine the future flow of guestworkers.

According to the report, titled Regaining America's Competitive Advantage: Making Our Immigration System Work, the “admission of high skilled foreign nationals provides significant benefits to the U.S. economy and much of the criticism levied at such foreign nationals and their employers is misplaced.”

Part of the chamber's report focuses on rebutting a study  released in Dec. 2009 by AFL-CIO's Department for Professional Employees that found that employers who use the H-1B program often abuse the system, by claiming false labor shortages to justify importing workers who then are intimidated and forced to work for low pay.

“Closing the door to highly educated individuals who allow U.S. companies to remain successful and competitive will weaken, not strengthen, our country's economy,” said Randel K. Johnson, senior vice president of labor, immigration, and employee benefits for the chamber. “The best policy for the United States is one that sides with freedom and innovation, not restriction,” he added.