What Is an ‘American’?
Most people who live in America, especially if they were born there, call themselves “Americans.” And while being born in a chicken coop doesn’t make me a chicken, there is a sense in which being born in the United States does make one an “American.” But there is much more to being an American than birth location.
The ancient and pathetic Dan Rather recently went on a Twitter tirade against Donald Trump. “It’s about me, as a patriot, rejecting a cheating, lying, racist, treasonous, fascist, and vile man...” (Rather hated Ronald Reagan, too.) And, in America, Rather has the right to express his empty mind. But America is far more than that. Rather has been a Leftist for a long time, and the Left has a vision for America. But nobody’s “vision” of what they want America to be is what America actually is, unless that vision is rooted and grounded in the principles of what the country was established upon. There are solid values found in historical truth that determine what “America” and “Americans” are. And while America and her people have never been perfect, we judge those imperfections based upon the standard of what America was intended to be. And that is a historical question, not a Leftist utopian vision. Anyone who holds onto America’s historical values is a true American; anyone who rejects them can hardly claim to be a “true” American, born there or not.
What are the values that make a person an “American”?
1. A belief in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, natural rights that come from God. A true American believes in the sanctity of life, in a freedom that comes from God—thus is natural, not government-given—and in the right of a person to pursue their own happiness in accordance with the virtues dictated by God. I cannot “pursue my own happiness” and kill, steal, or rob other people of their right to pursue happiness. True freedom has always been the key element of America. And a person, like Dan Rather, is free in America to believe anything he wants about Donald Trump, or God, or whatever he wishes. We all have the freedom to believe anything we want to. But it is critical to note that some of those beliefs might be very unAmerican.
Some Americans believe in socialism. They have that right. But socialism is a very unAmerican thing, and anyone who tries to put socialism into practice in America is not upholding the values the country was founded upon. Bernie Sanders can be a socialist if he wants to; freedom allows such. And he has the freedom to try to convince the rest of us. But don’t call socialism “American” because it’s not. And don’t call someone a “patriot” who tries to force upon other Americans practices that are the very antithesis of what the country was founded upon. THAT is fascism.
True Americans believe in absolute, unchanging natural rights, not ever-evolving, government-granted rights. Believers in government-endowed rights are denying historical American values. Can we truthfully call them “Americans”?
2. America believes in equality. “All men are created equal...” But, in true America, this is an equality of opportunity, an equality that comes from freedom, not an equality of compulsory results; that’s communism. Equality of results can only be forced upon people, and when something is forced upon someone, that’s not freedom. Every American should have the same opportunities. Racism is wrong and very unAmerican in principle. But it’s Rather and the Left that is racist, not Trump. DEI is unAmerican because it is racist, sexist, and immoral, implying people of color, gender, and perversion are incapable of succeeding on their own, something that has been disproven countless millions of times in American history. Every aspect of DEI is in direct opposition to the cardinal principles of freedom and equality of opportunity America was built upon—true equality and virtue.
3. Limited government. Our Constitution created a very limited government. Totalitarians in America—and they are legion today—are the most unAmerican people in the country. And 99 percent of them are on the Left.
4. America first, not the world. How can an “American” be a freedom-denying “globalist”? America was founded to make America great. By exalting America and being a shining, righteous city on a hill, we can point the way, for all of mankind, to a better life of freedom, virtue, and true equality. There is the “globalism” I believe in. America actually used to do that. But the Left wants to destroy it to create a totalitarian globalist empire.
These are some great principles of America. These are the principles of true Americans. I’m not going to debate whether Biden and the Democrats are “true Americans,” but I WILL insist that what they are trying to do is change America into something different from what the country was founded to be, change the great principles of life, liberty, equality, virtue, and American greatness into some Leftist vision of globalism, decadence, and government tyranny. America believes in freedom, so I suppose Democrats have a “right” to try to transform the country into their warped vision of some future globalist hellhole. But we have the freedom to oppose them, too. And true Americans WILL oppose them.
Mr. Rather, Mr. Biden, don’t call what you are doing “American.” America gives you the freedom to say what you want and do what you are trying to do (or is it treason?), but don’t call the results you are attempting to foist upon the rest of us “American.” When I eat pizza, some of it will leave my body as waste material. I could call that waste material “pizza” if I wanted to, but it wouldn’t be pizza. And what Biden and the Democrats are trying to morph America into will not be America, regardless of what they call it.
True America First. And only.
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