“And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA” —Lee Greenwood, 1984
“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-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” —Emma Lazarus, Statue of Liberty
Will America bow to the overwrought minority pressure that all citizens, especially immigrants, embrace the sanctified tribal values of white, fundamentalist, straight, insular, native-born right-wingers? Or will secular values of diversity, pluralism, openness and ethnic richness set the collective path forward towards a more perfect union? That’s ultimately for me what this election is about.
A bully and demagogue, Trump insists that all decent Americans obediently conform to a northern European/English legacy—whether language (anointing English), conventional genders, insular Christianity, Anglo/Saxon culture plus old-time, nuclear families. Restrictive borders, even mass deportations of millions per the RNC placards, Christian nationalism and rejection of “criminal foreigners” drive the Trumpist crusade. That mandates contempt for our “failed” democratic state and palling around with strongman dictators. As Robert Reich summarizes, we have a pitched battle “between democracy and oligarchy, between self-government and tyranny. It is a fight between the bullies and the bullied.”
Which is why, as the likely Harris majority gains steam, it celebrates America as one of the world’s great melting pots, fueled by diverse, culturally-distinct newbies whose work ethic, insights and integrity advance widespread prosperity. Trump demands walls and barriers, exclusion and tribal allegiance to “deserve” full human rights and privileges whereas Dems revere the integration of energies and backgrounds without arbitrary commandments about who deserves to enjoy entering the “golden door.”
The quotes above represent distinct notions, a traditional, patriotic endorsement that (vaguely) invokes freedom and divine oversight, yet honors military sacrifices (beyond Trump’s ken). The other offers patriotism that welcomes high risk taking, hard working folks desperate for economic opportunities and the air of freedom—historically indentured slaves, farmers, artisans, seekers of religious liberty, prisoners/ ex-prisoners, and estranged children/orphans confronting the once life-threatening voyage across an ocean.
Harris confirms immigrant blessings
On point, the finale of Kamala Harris’ extraordinary Convention speech dramatizes a core, often underappreciated pledge to “uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth: the privilege and pride of being an American.” “Responsibility” and “privilege” are revealing contexts, set against assumptions of the entitled thanks to inherited wealth, skin color, background or ancestors. Citizenship here is not a freebie but an active, earned privilege that demands respect for history and the better angels of our nature. Harris challenges that accidental status disconnected from understanding (or empathy) deserves to lord over those with less or newcomers. Good citizens are not about rah-rah America but awareness of how the individual, family and locality readily fit the whole – and the positive ideals proposed by the Founders, especially the inherent worth awarded to every citizen. In short, moral and intellectual legitimacy must be earned and sustained, not only the result of parents or birthright.
On point, last week a Wash Post writer, Matt Bai, succinctly captured the moment, “Tim Walz and JD Vance are having the argument that matters,” and his subhead: “Tim Walz articulated a view of America sharply contrasting with JD Vance’s.” Bai then expounds what matters most, “what’s really being litigated in this election: two sharply contrasting views of what being American actually means.” If you don’t get the big picture, you’ll be clueless about the small, transient ones, like individual debates or voting.
For Bai, Vance articulates “the central idea that animates all forms of nationalism (including the white variety), as well as the Trump movement . . . [promoting] a common American culture, with its own language (English), its own religious ethos (Judeo-Christian) and its own concept of family (heterosexual, with naturally conceived children).” MAGA nationalism, in short, presumes to know all that’s good and special about the American experiment, even if narrowing patriotism to a permanent, isolationist, and exclusive “common ethnic heritage.” That explains how “the price of admission is cultural conformity.” MAGA translates into obeying what one minority holds sacred, absolute in commanding “national greatness” and how to achieve it. Or for many, how to destroy it. There’s no Trumpist “melting pot” because its bottom line is for MAGA gang-sters to rule everything.So much for thinking for yourself or following one’s bliss.
The “political religion” of Lincoln, Obamas
What Walz articulates per Bia is the competing, Obamaesque mindset that says, no, actually “America is very much an idea . . . a collection of immigrants and outsiders, bound together not by any common origin or culture, but rather by a common set of laws and values and institutions—what Abraham Lincoln called our “political religion.” (This is the liberal version of “American Exceptionalism”—the thing that makes us different from everyplace else.)” Liberals and progressives agree, honoring energetic inputs and diverse beliefs that strengthen all by starting new businesses, organizations and communities—and enriching choices. Think of the paucity of ethnic food had we been stuck with English fare.
So “conformity” is good not as a check on self-expression but when obeying majoritarian laws and respecting others’ rights and traditions. One can accommodate earlier settlers without contradicting origins. But no need to bash history: before the English imported English, for thousands of years hundreds of Native American languages thrived. Before Anglos (riding imperial power and industrial might) took New York and became lords of the manor, resident “Americans” ALSO spoke Spanish, French and Dutch, among others. Nothing divinely-ordained here about the MAGA WASP mandates.
Liberal “exceptionalism”
Every meaningful issue—immigration, citizenship, civil, gender, procreative and voting rights, isolationism vs. globalism, who pays what taxes, who gets what benefits, who has full legal status—comes down to whether or not one views America as a besieged, terrified fortress whose identity (even “blood purity”) are jeopardized by new entrants (alas, just like the old days). Thus Trumpism calls for mass deportation of deficient citizen material while Democrats counter that it’s downright unAmerican to glorify arbitrary qualities beyond one’s control (skin color, origin or ethnicity). No party, per Michelle Obama, has a monopoly on what makes a good American, nor justifiably pitches the myth of the US as a Christian state because many Founders identified as Christian. They committed to a secular, open state because they knew all too well how theologically-oppressive England had been.
Dems now the only big tent
Tolerance and the big picture rule Dems. Thus were so many (conservative) Republicans for Harris embraced at the Democratic Convention, not merely for political leverage but Dems understand that majority rule cannot work without majority consensus on values and justice. That means rejecting a career criminal not because he truly typifies evil, but because disruptive, even insurrectionist impulses jeopardize progress. Self-reliance and willful independence have their place but not as selfish defenses for abusing others.
So once the laws and procedures, say, on elections, are set in stone, only treacherous villains try to change the rules as the game ends (and they lose). Pernicious lawbreaking of tested law, indeed reveling in the mayhem, undermines how democratic mandates must work for the whole to thrive. Chaos, dumping on America, and bashing rules devastate any complex society, ruining what is truly great about America. That makes Trump and MAGA disorder treasonous, akin to the most selfish belligerence of the Confederacy. Sectarian self-entitlement (based on outrage, private profit and gain) that refutes “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is just as poisonous as calamitous terrorism, domestic or foreign.
When have we had a clearer, big picture, public decision than between Harris and Trump? When has diversity and openness, that makes America what we are, been on so many ballots? When, at least since 1861, have we ever faced such a relentless, internally-driven threat that impedes our idealistic push towards a more perfect union? The Trump presidency exposed its dead-end cynicism and negativity; a Harris presidency sustains the belief (or idealism) that America is still a functional democracy with a positive destiny. Now that’s worth voting for—not just throwing brickbats from outside the stadium.
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