A Great American Invention is Endangered and We Must Protect It

 A Great Invention

The United States is the home of one of history’s greatest political inventions. We invented the idea of citizenship as a voluntary commitment. Anyone who comes to this country and accepts the responsibilities of citizenship can be a citizen, and we have no other legal or traditional definition of what it means to be American. This idea contrasts with the ideas of most other countries. Most countries have an ethnic or racial requirement for "real" membership. For example, I could move to the U.K. and become a British subject, but that would not make me an Englishman. The same would be true in Thailand or Mexico. I could become a Thai or a Mexican citizen, but I could not become a Thai or a Mexican. In the United States, a person who becomes a citizen does become an American.

The Invention Was Mostly Aspirational at First

At first, the invention was an aspiration more than a reality, even though it was clearly stated in George Washington's famous letter to the Jews of Newport Rhode Island:

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

In spite of this clear statement, large groups were excluded. Native Americans were not accepted as citizens, and slaves were excluded. The Dred Scott decision said in 1857 that even free Black people could never be citizens. But the idea persisted, and it is fully expressed in the Fourteenth Amendment to our Constitution. Even after the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 said that the amendment did not apply to Chinese immigrants. The Act was not repealed until 1943.

Today, however, anyone can become an American citizen either by birth or through naturalization. No races or religions are excluded. Today, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are members of Congress. Today, James Baldwin and Maya Angelou are recognized as great American writers. When Fiona Hill said at a congressional hearing that she was an American by choice, we all understood what she meant, and we agreed that her statement made sense. Unfortunately, we still have people who oppose the idea that anyone who accepts the responsibilities of citizenship is an American. Those people want to say that only White Christians can really be Americans, but they are a minority, and their ideas have no legal standing. Nevertheless, they endanger one of our most important inventions.

The Invention is Basic to Our Identity

Our definition of what it means to be American is basic, and it applies to every American regardless of race, religion, gender or ethnic origin. That does not mean that we do not have racial, religious or gender-based oppression, prejudice or discrimination. We have all of those things, but most of us never say that Black Americans, Native Americans or women are not Americans. We know that they are.

The Invention is a Basis for Struggles for Equality

Our universal concept of American-ness has provided a basis for the struggles of oppressed groups for equal treatment in our society. Black people say, “We are Americans, and it is wrong for us to be oppressed in our own country.” Our society has tried not to hear their cry, but in the end, we have had no answer to it. They are right. They are entitled to the “equal protection” of our laws, and we should not oppress them. Women have made the same claim, and again, we have had no answer. They, too, are right.

The Invention Has Made Us Strong

We have become a powerful nation in part because we have welcomed people from all over the world. Their labor has built our economy. At various times, German immigrants, Irish immigrants, Jewish immigrants, Italian immigrants, Mexican immigrants, Chinese immigrants and Japanese immigrants have built our economy and defended us against foreign and domestic enemies. (In the Civil War, regiments from Wisconsin had to have German-speaking officers because so many of the men spoke no English. In the Second World War, Nisei units fought heroically to defend our country. ) Agricultural products harvested by Mexican immigrants are a very large part of the exports that keep our economy strong. Native Americans have made a major contribution in high steel construction. Gangs of Mohawk workers built the skyscrapers of New York. Navaho code talkers played a key role in winning WW II in the Pacific.

Black immigrants and their descendents have contributed far more than any other immigrant group. They are a special case because they were forced to come here and enslaved when they arrived, but their enormous contribution to the growth of the United States cannot be denied, and their struggle for equal treatment and economic opportunity has been and continues to be a basic element of our history. They are undeniably Americans, and slowly, they are coming to be treated as such.

The Invention Makes Our Culture Diverse and Powerful

Our idea of citizenship is independent of cultural identities. Mexicans who come here do not have to give up their cultural Mexican-ness when they become citizens, as we can see from the continued vitality of the celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe in this country. We do not even require prospective citizens to learn our language. We do not need such a requirement because every immigrant can see easily that a person who wants to get ahead here must learn English. Most immigrants work hard to learn our language, and they try not to pass their native languages on to their children. As a result, the grandchildren of immigrants to the United States are rarely able to speak the native languages of their grandparents.

Our willingness to separate citizenship from cultural identity has made our culture powerful because it has been able to absorb the cultural contributions of our immigrants. Our literature, our music and our food – which are imitated all over the world - are full of the influences of immigrant groups.  We listen to the blues, and we eat kung pao chicken; we love TV shows like Seinfeld that are saturated with Jewish humor, and we say "Adios" when we leave town. We know that all of these things are American.

The Invention is Threatened

Our definition of what it means to be American is threatened by White Christian Nationalists. They want to say that only White Christians are real Americans, and that other people can never be real Americans. One of the expressions of this idea is the so-called "replacement theory" expressed by Vivek Ramaswamy. The idea that only White Christians can be real Americans would destroy what has made our country great. It is un-American in the most basic sense.  It denies the genius of our ancestors who invented the idea of citizenship as a voluntary commitment, and it denies the most basic facts of our history. We must oppose White Christian Nationalism with all our strength if we wish to preserve the country that we love.