For a number of years now we have been hearing about the dissolution of our distinctly American euro-centric culture, and the high value of “Cultural Diversity” in our lives today. Most of this spiel seems to be coming from the liberal left, so I of course will take the statement with a grain of salt In part at least, I’ll agree that our American culture is coming apart at the seams, but I certainly don’t agree that all this diversity is a good or desirable thing. In describing our American identity, author Samuel P. Huntington attempted to reject the concept that America is “a nation of immigrants.” He gets a bit picky with sematics, claiming that America's founders were not immigrants, but settlers, since our origional forebearers came to North America to establish a new society. Well, Okay, but I’ll bet the Indians that met the Mayflower would dispute that statement. Later peoples joining the origional colonists were indeed immigrants according to Mr. Huntington. To avoid a literary donnybrooke with assorted left wing English professors, I’ll give Mr. Huntington the point, but I still doubt the Indians will!
I’ll further agree with his claim that the political and legal institutions created here in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were in large part based on the legal practices of England’s sixteenth and seventeenth century. These included the concept of the law being superior to the government (which England inherited from the Romans), the division of executive, legislative, and judicial functions within the government, a two-house legislature, the responsibility of legislators to their local constituencies, and a reliance on militia rather than a standing army for defense. While abiding with that, any new immigrants were expected to become law abiding, english speaking citizens, no matter where they came from, what the color their skin, or what religion they happened to follow. For well over two hundred years that system served us well.
By the 1960s our uniquely American identity had begun to disappear as a result of several mildly interconnected factors. The beginning of economic globalization and the easing of the Cold War reduced the importance of a national identity. Candidates for political offices began to stress ethnic conflicts in an effort to win over particular groups of voters. There was (and remains today) a strong desire among the various ethnic leaders to enhance the status of their particular group, and thus their personal status within that group. There was and remains the problem of legal (and quite loose) interpretation of Congressional acts, that lead to their execution in ways not necessarily what their framers intended. The feelings of “sympathy and guilt” for historic “wrongs” is taught by self-proclaimed academic elites and intellectuals, while assorted ethnic appologies are encouraged, and severe changes to our immigration laws are demanded. To that I’ll add that our drug induced utopian “counter culture” hasn’t helped things either. Huntington further considerd other ways in which America’s identity has weakened, including the denationalization of business, professional, intellectual, and academic elites, and the influence of intense non-english speaking immigration. By “denationalization” Huntington means that “new” Americans do not think of themselves citizens of the United States, but merely as temporary residents. Huntington further proposes a solution to these problems, arguing that unless Americans “participate in American life, learn America’s language, history, and customs, absorb America’s Anglo-Protestant culture, and identify primarily with America rather than with their country of birth”, our once proud nation won’t be here much longer.
Apparently this general idea has been around for quite some time. During the 160th anniversary year of the signing of the U.S. Constitution, then Attorney General Tom C. Clark presented President Harry S. Truman with the idea for a nationwide display of our nations greatest treasures, something that was eventually called the “Freedom Train”, that would travel around the country carrying historical documents and artifacts for all Americans to see. Envisioned as a way to reawaken Americans to their taken-for-granted liberty in the years following WW II, President Truman approved the idea, and the Freedom Train was soon (1947 – 1949) visiting every state in the union, spreading the “Spirit of ’76.”
Never before had any nation contemplated sending on tour its treasures and national symbols. For 413 days the train was the temporary home of America Iwo Jima flag. Among the 127 documents and six historical flags on board, the train carried many treasures that were the earliest inspirations for American liberty. Some were from a distant and oppressive age, when there was little or no consideration for the rights of ordinary men, such as an original copy of the Magna Carta, written in 1215 as the first guarantee of the Rights of Englishmen, much of which became part of our law as well. Other documents included the first guarantees of individual rights to freedom of speech and of religion dating from Colonial days. Others proclaimed women’s rights, and racial equality. Many of the displays aboard the train had never left Washington D.C.
When the train made its stops, organizers urged visitors to recite the “Freedom Pledge” and sign its scroll. While most Americans know the Pledge of Allegiance by heart, not many of us are familiar with this lesser known Freedom Pledge:
The Freedom Pledge
I am an American. A free American.
Free to speak – without fear.
Free to worship my own God.
Free to stand for what I think right.
Free to oppose what I believe wrong.
Free to choose those who govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold,
for myself and all mankind.
While this proud pledge was quite meaningful to our citizens in the late 1940s and early 1950s, most Americans today have no idea of what it means. Our educational system certainly doesn’t appear to be teaching Americanism, and today’s parents don’t seem to be making much of an effort either. We have I think, lost our way both as a nation and as a people. Perhaps it’s time for another “Freedom Train” carrying the meaning of “America
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