HugNation archive - Liberty Edition
Here is a clip from today’s HugNation where I talk about patriotism, apple pie, and Independence Day. (The holiday, not the Sci Fi film)
I argue that America is neither THE BEST IN THE WORLD! nor a Pathetic Broken Empire.
Maybe somewhere in the middle. And we need to learn to embrace the good and fix the bad.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
The “I’ll move to Canada” thing is fascinating to me. After hearing it so much in 2004, I started responding with “go ahead and try.” The US may be limiting immigration more and more but it is still more welcoming of potential new citizens than any other developed nation. And I hope it stays that way because immigrants are such a big part of this country.
I think that one of the defining characteristics of Americans is CHOICE. WIth the notable exceptions of the African American and (depending on your beliefs) the Native American communities, every other American’s ancestors chose to come here. The only difference is of degree, not kind: some people’s forebears chose earlier than others’.
I think that choice is a big part of who we are as a nation, but that this aspect of our identity has fallen by the wayside. It seems to me that, these days, there’s a movement to actively choose the US again. I think this is a very good thing.