The "Common Culture" Trope

Ok people. Let’s talk about “common culture”, Christian Nationalism and the link between the two.

If you haven’t seen/read it yet, our benevolent-tech bro-overlord-in-his-mind-only Elon Musk has some ideas.

Here is a screenshot from X (won’t link to that site):

And if that’s not enough, well, how about this?

It goes without saying that the Afrikaner apartheid “superior race” force is strong with this one.

First, I’ll let historian Kevin M. Kruse dispense with Musk’s view that no one fights for multiculturism at this link: Diversity Is Our Strength.

Second, the Americas encompasses North, Central and South America, so the Musketeer needs to broaden his scope and try to find “English-Scotts-Irish origin” in El Salvador and Paraguay.

But let’s set the pedantry aside. In all seriousness, I would argue that, if you want to search for a common American culture, its foundation is in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Imperfect as the men writing these docs were - and they were time-period culturally appropriate in their racism, sexism and “wealthism” (belief that male landed gentry were the people to run the country), they provided foundational cultural touchstones": “All Men are Created Equal” and “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” from the Declaration, and “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty…” from the Constitution.

Over the years, the United States became known as a virtual “Melting pot”, willing to take on all comers. For those who don’t remember the words on the Statue of Liberty, gifted from France in 1884, they read, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!". Pretty clear cultural tone setter, no?

As our country’s “culture” has changed with the times, IMHO, there has been one constant that, to me, is/was the definition of a common American culture (although, just not the one Musk and Christian Nationalists are promoting): the opportunity and freedom in our country to be who you want and build/live the life you want, regardless of one’s origin. Sadly, for Musk, several members of the “Pay Pal Mafia”, and the religious extremists, that culture is blind to race, color, gender and religion.

Enough for now on “common culture”. On to the perversion of religion that goes by the moniker of Christian Nationalism. So, what is Christian Nationalism? This definition is a good start:

Christian Nationalism, as Stephen Colbert pointed out, is a purely political movement. One that promotes political right-wing ideology from the pulpit and instructs its followers to vote for a specific party and specific candidates (against the rules, of course). I simply refer to it as “pseudo-religious extremism” because it certainly does not follow Biblical Christian precepts

As US Senate candidate in Texas James Talarico - who is a Presbyterian Seminarian studying to be a pastor - said in his interview with Stephen Colbert (link: Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislature),

Well said James. And a pretty strong retort to the gun-toting, lib-hating, immigrant bashing, revenge-seeking, prosperity-gospel-touting, race-baiting, my-way-or-the highway “religious beliefs” of Christian Nationalists. These are not really religious beliefs - they are political/policy views wrapped inside of a warped interpretation of their supposed Christian religion.

Now, what do these two views - desiring a common “European” culture, and a desire to be governed by a pseudo-Christian-religious regime and laws - have in common?

They are both fundamentally incompatible with democracy, and the “consent of the governed” mentioned in the Declaration.

The word God, while mentioned in the Declaration, is not found anywhere in the United States Constitution. In my view, this is because theocratic government by religious fiat and the “heavenly laws” (as decided and interpreted by very real earthly people) of an infallible God - by definition - leaves absolutely zero room for democratic decision making by the “consent of the governed”. If God’s law is THE law, then no other conflicting law can be valid, and decisions by the majority of the governed don’t matter if they are deemed to conflict with God’s law by whoever is determining what God’s law means.

Likewise, Musk’s “common culture” composed of a northern European ruling class following northern European values (whatever they may be) leaves no room for the values, input, views, beliefs, policy proposals and input of any “others” in determining the norms, rules and laws by which we are governed. By “others”, of course, I mean non-white peoples. This intersects with Christian Nationalism, because any people who have religious or cultural customs deemed “non-northern-European” by the self-appointed arbiters of that class are, by definition, “others” as well.

Both of these views of how society should be run in the United States of America - Musk’s “common culture” and Christian Nationalism - are antithetical to what this country is all about, from its founding on down through to today. They must be resisted at all costs.

PS - ironically, I found this in my email inbox this morning after I finished writing the post above: Undaunted in Denouncing Religious Hypocrites