Mrs. Wypoxic loves classical music (I’m more of a Grateful Dead guy myself 😬). So yesterday evening, we went to see an outdoor symphony performance of patriotic American songs celebrating the 4th.
Yesterday’s Patriotic Symphony Somewhere in the Inter-Mountain West
As the Color Guard of elderly veterans marched out for the National Anthem, and the symphony began to play, it got me thinking about what America means. What defines true American patriotism.
Side Note Hot Take: America the Beautiful would be a much better National Anthem than the Star Spangled Banner.
In essence, what do I think about when I stand for the national anthem to “honor America”?
Allow me to turn that question around and start with what I don’t think about. I don’t think about people. I don’t think about white people. Or brown people. Or any other people of color. I don’t think about religion. I don’t think about Christians. Or Jews. Or Muslims. Or any other of the thousands of religions on planet earth.
As I stand and look around me, my thoughts reflexively got to two ideas: opportunity and, yes, freedom. I’m thankful that I grew up in a country that allowed me the opportunity to choose the life I wanted. To work hard towards goals I desire to achieve.
But opportunity becomes problematic without freedom. Freedom to think and say what I want. Freedom to live the lifestyle I choose. Freedom to associate with the people I want to associate with. Freedom to choose my religion, or no religion at all. Freedom to pursue “life, liberty and happiness”. All free from government interference or “guidance”
Disclaimer: Let me be very clear. I understand that our country was founded with the original sins of native conquest and slavery and that we have never truly rid ourselves of those twin scourges. I understand that we have never lived up to the founding ideals. I understand that certain “classes” of people are still strongly discriminated against - simply for the color of their skin, their gender identification, their culture. I understand that, as a white male, I had a head start and certain privileges that others in our country don’t. We are human and therefore imperfect in so many ways. We are not a “perfect union” and never will be. But we should never stop striving towards that goal. It’s why I chose to run for federal office in deep red territory. It’s why I still strive to this day.
Yet - America has historically succeeded because on balance we have continued to strive - and make progress (but not necessarily linearly) to those ideals. That striving led to a period when America was the envy of most of the world. Not because we were white or Protestant or male-dominated; because we stood for opportunity and freedom.
Opportunity + Freedom = America.
Neither of those values are associated with, or have anything to do with, blood and soil. Nor with skin color, religion or ethnicity. These are the things that never enter my mind while standing during the National Anthem.
Because opportunity and freedom know no color or race or religion or gender.
Believing that somehow - because one’s ancestors came here earlier than others - one’s citizenship status is higher than other more recent immigrants turned citizens is perhaps the most un-American view one could possibly hold based on the ideas and ideals that form the foundation of our country.
Take Vice President JD Vance for instance (formerly James Donald Hamel formerly James Donald Bowman). I’ll let Greg Sargent point out Vance’s views:
“Indeed, in delivering these lines, Obama likely had in mind not just Trump but also recent claims from JD Vance. The vice president—a self-imagined MAGA philosopher-king—has declared that “America is not just an idea.” Citing his own ancestors’ burial on a “mountainside in Eastern Kentucky,” Vance suggests that the “source of America’s greatness” is the “ancestral” bond Americans feel with the “homeland.” Vance mocks the “creedal nation” by insisting that its logic leads to an unacceptable conclusion: that all foreigners, everywhere, might instantly have a claim to U.S. citizenship merely by mouthing agreement with our founding ideals.
Few if any prominent Democrats or liberals believe anything like that last bit. The idea, rather, is that immigrants do have a claim to becoming Americans—they are “Americans in waiting”—provided they clear certain civic hurdles, including adherence to the nation’s founding ideals. Their rates of admission, and the conditions that shape their arrival and assimilation, are agreed upon democratically by our elected representatives in Congress and subject to revision over time. But yes, in the liberal vision, the idea that immigrants do have a conditional claim to belonging is fundamental to American identity.
Vance’s big claim, by contrast, is that fealty to our founding ideals cannot be the basis for American national identity. Blood and hereditary attachment to the soil are, to him, essential ingredients.
True, Vance takes care to praise immigrants and is married to a daughter of them. But he has also mocked immigrant Zohran Mamdani for mildly criticizing the United States, insisting Mamdani should be thankful for his admission here and thus self-censor. As Jamelle Bouie notes, put all this together, and Vance’s vision of citizenship involves “tiers of belonging,” in which those with long ancestry—“heritage Americans”—hold a superior position in an imagined national hierarchy.”
Absolutely. Unequivocally. Un-American.
Seems to me that Democrats and progressives - while not diluting their main message of “It’s the Corruption, Stupid” - should make some noise regarding Vance’s and this administration’s desire to replace the founding American ideals of opportunity and freedom with “those who got here first and who happen to espouse white culture are more American than anyone else”.
Let’s define them and make them defend the undefendable.
Happy Day After.
America the Beautiful
