The other day I drove up to my local car wash and as I waited for a free stall my eye was drawn to one of the pick up trucks in front of me. Painted on the tailgate was a giant bald eagle. Written below the eagle in huge words for anyone who might be following this truck was the following: "AMERICA: LOVE IT OR GET THE *%@# OUT." Such a lovely sentiment could not have been expressed more eloquently. So, of course, this got me thinking.What is more "American" than the Fourth of July celebrations at a public park? I like the fireworks, watermelon, BBQ, hamburgers and hotdogs. But when I go to the park and look around I see a whole lot of people I don't have much in common with. I don't wish to come off sounding snobbish or elitest but I don't get drunk or wasted. I don't wear my scrubbiest clothes in public. I don't swear and use offensive language at high volume. I wouldn't beat and yell at my kids...especially in public. I'm not necessarily judging my neighbors. I'm just expressing that I don't have much in common with many of them. Maybe I'm going to the wrong park. Yet, I usually still enjoy going year after year.
I don't blindly buy everything the government tells me. I can admit America's faults. I'm not intolerant of other religions or recent immigrants. And I certainly don't support the idea that you must support George W. Bush or else you are not a true "Christian American." Granted, I live in a so-called "red state."But these are the attributes I see in great evidence all around me. Besides, I believe this red state vs. blue state phenomenon is greatly embellished by a media that likes simple catergorization.
So, am I American? Obviously yes. How do we define the term American if immigration rates continue to rise? How do we define Americanism if diversity continues to grow? Is there a gold standard? Are we American because of our diversity? Are we American if we love freedom and democracy? The old concepts of nativism will have to change if we are to remain a peaceful nation. I believe nebulous and abstract notions of "Americaness" will cause chaos and tumult. We need clear standards because the old clear standards based on race and religion can no longer be used in a society growing more diverse by the day. I would hope to see values of tolerance, peace, acceptance, thoughfulness, freedom and ethics become the core of what it means to be an American.
I may be cynical but I see the opposite happening. I see an increase in sectarianism and division. Ironically I do not believe the fierce divisions fall so much on racial lines as on ones that are ideological. The media obsesses over labels and catergorization. Since more and more Americans no longer contemplate things for themselves and buy everything the media sells...well, you can follow things to the logical conclusion...we are becoming more divided in many more ways.
Nationalism cannot survive in such a divided environment. We will have to change our definition of what it means to be an American. Unless clear standards are accepted nationalism will collapse (and would that be such a bad thing?). Look to Iraq and the former Yugoslavia as recent examples. Look to the riots in Paris. We must focus on what unites us, rather than what divides. Lincoln, quoting the Bible, said "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I loved strolling through Little Italy or Chinatown in New York among Americans who didn't look just like me. I enjoy teaching students who were born in Mexico but are now Americans. Let's not let such differences seperate us...let's create a new nationalism...based on ideas and not skin color, the majority's religion, or linguistics. Let's bring people in...not tell them to get out. That's the kind of nationalism I'd like to see.
