Being “American” Is a State-of-Mind

Talking with an acquaintance recently about what it means to be an “American,” he pointed out that it was more a matter of state-of-mind than a place one was born. As an example, he pointed out that the U.S.-born child of an illegal immigrant family from Latin America, whose first language spoken was Spanish, whose culture was the transplanted culture of the parents’ home country, and for all intents and purposes was raised as a “Mexican” or “El Salvadoran,” complete with the display of their national flag in the home, as well as the celebration of traditional customs and holidays, could hardly be considered an “American” in the nationalist sense. While technically this child would be an “American” due to the de facto interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, in reality he or she would be a “Mexican,” “Guatemalan,” or “El Salvadoran” who just happened to be born and raised in the United States.

So what is the “American” state-of-mind that so defines us in action and outlook? Is there a distinct American culture, complete with a worldview and belief system uniquely our own, that separates us from other cultures? I say there is, and it’s something to be proud of and to hold up as a model for the advancement of Western Civilization.

In World War II, a French civilian saw a column of American G.I.s marching by, not in the goose-stepping rigidity of the fascist Nazi invaders who had oppressed the poor Frenchman for four years, but in the typical, disheveled manner of the American fighting man, uniforms uniquely mismatched to fit each soldier’s personal style, helmets at a jaunty tilt, and full of easy smiles and friendly waves to the locals. The Frenchman commented about the Americans he saw: “They walk like free men.”

Free men! That French guy summed up in two words the rock-solid foundation of our “culture” that can be found in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. “WE hold these Truths to be self-evident…”—got that? Self-evident! There’s no argument. No way they can be discredited, disproved or debunked.
“…that all Men are created equal…”—No one will ever oppress us, enslave us, or subjugate us under a brutal, dictatorial regime!
“…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”—God-given rights that transcend the laws of man, and that no one can take away from us.
“…that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”—Understand? We are a free people, with the God-given right to live our lives the way we want in a manner that may afford us the most happiness.

A majority of cultures around the world, even in Europe, diminish and dismiss the importance and worth of the individual to the needs of the tribe, clan, community, political party, city-state, and government. In American culture, our sense of freedom is defined and epitomized by the “individual”—the self-made man or woman, often from humble origins, who beat the odds and rose above their poor beginnings, to educate themselves and forge ahead, tackling the “wilderness” (literally or figuratively), to rise to the highest office, rank, station, or level of wealth that they could. Often the rugged American would be forced to “go it alone” due to the timidity of others.

Americans’ belief in freedom doesn’t mean do what you want or live by your own rules. Americans have a deep-rooted and almost pious belief in the Law. We freely and willingly vote to elect men and women in whom we trust to pass the laws that we all agree to follow, obey, and enforce, and that we trust in to be for the good of the community. That’s why you would never see the type of lawlessness and depravity here as you’d find in Somalia, Rwanda, Serbia, Chechnya, and other places around the globe, where there is no respect for human rights and law and order. Americans abhor criminals, especially those among us, and we have a tradition of highly respected law enforcement agencies, which we applaud and encourage in fighting crime, chaos, and disorder.

Americans believe in “God and Country,” as corny as that sounds. We are traditionally not a secular people, as many in Europe proudly claim to be. Our ancestors were Quakers, Protestants, Jews, and Roman Catholics, and many Americans attend church services every Sunday, while turning to prayer frequently. With our strong belief in God, comes our strong belief in our country, the United States of America. Americans are extremely patriotic, waving the red, white, and blue from our homes, to our sporting events, and proudly at the Olympic games. We unashamedly believe that our Creator has blessed the United States, and we continue to ask for blessings for our great nation, its political leaders, and our men and women in uniform, in our daily prayer.

Americans believe in “citizenship”—service and civic duty—a proud tradition that makes us stand apart from people in other countries and cultures. From the local level to the White House, Americans believe in participating in the political process, in serving their community on city councils, and in running for state and national office. We believe in participating in community organizations like Neighborhood Watch, the Girl Scouts, PTA, and the Boy Scouts of America. While many Europeans remain suspicious of such activity, as they recall the Hitler Youth and the Nazi Party, Americans are proud of our civic institutions.

Americans proudly serve in the Armed Forces of the United States. We treasure our families’ military heritage and sacrifice in the cause of freedom, the promotion of democratic ideals, and the liberation of oppressed peoples. This is unique to our culture (perhaps the British and their former Commonwealth have the closest parallel). From Europe, to Latin America, and to the far corners of Asia and the Middle East, most people look suspiciously upon their own military forces, as they recall periods of oppression and cruelty perpetrated upon them by these same armies, who were usually composed of draftees and under or uneducated societal fringe elements, criminals, and outcasts.

This is not the case in the United States. Our military forces have never been used to oppress our own people, as they have in places like Europe and Latin America, and have served honorably throughout our country’s history. Our service personnel are all volunteers, who more often than not, re-enlist to return to places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where they believe in what America is doing to bring freedom and democracy there.

There are cynics who’ll claim that our military is a pawn of big corporations, that they are just advancing the nefarious economic ambitions of capitalist conspirators. How wrong they are. They underestimate the intelligence of the average American soldier—remember the individualist? To the American fighting men and women, it doesn’t matter why George W. Bush asked Congress to authorize military action; the combat troops don’t care what Halliburton stands to gain economically from a democratic Iraq. Each American soldier is his or her own general, with their own reasons for fighting. I have talked to many veterans myself, and they have all said the same thing: “I was in Iraq for the elections. To see the looks on the Iraqi men and women who voted for the first time made it all worth it.” Whether it’s a personal goal to improve the lives of the formerly-oppressed Iraqis, or to support the cause of women’s rights, or to just kick some terrorist butt, each American knows why he or she is fighting.

Now I’ve talked a lot about what Americans believe in, and it’s time I spent some pixels on what we don’t believe in. Americans don’t believe there’s honor in losing. We don’t believe in a so-called “nuanced” diplomacy that leaves terror groups like Hizbollah still armed to the teeth. Americans don’t believe in appeasement. Americans don’t believe in dual citizenship, dual nationalities, European Unions, the subordination of our laws to any United Nothings, or the holding up of our service personnel or national leaders to a biased, anti-American International Criminal Court. We don’t believe that the UN or the EU or any other international group of weak-willed appeasers will protect us or look out for our interests. But then again, we don’t really have to worry too much about all that stuff, do we? Because we’re Americans…

Now there will be people who read this and say, Wow, that sounds pretty nationalistic, maybe even jingoistic. Does it? I’d say it sounds like FREEDOM. Guess what? Americans know that freedom isn’t free. And you can’t buy it safely and cheaply at the corner store. You can’t order freedom on-line from the comfort of your own home. You can’t buy it at Wal Mart, or bid for it on eBay. It’s expensive and you gotta get dirty. You want to know what freedom costs? It cost 260,000 Americans killed-in-action in World War II. That’s how much that “freedom bill” cost us.

Americans are the most peace-loving, forgiving, tolerant people in the world. There’s nothing we’d rather do than never have to “send in the Marines” anywhere. If only the world was a better place and everyone behaved. We just want to have picnics, attend weddings, and go to our children’s graduations. We just want to be happy and raise our families, go to work in the morning everyday to become prosperous, and not have to worry about Islamist fascists flying our airplanes into our buildings! Do you get the picture?

So ask yourself this question. Do you consider yourself an American?