In the summer 1776, members of the Continental Congress from throughout all 13 Colonies, from Georgia to New Hampshire, met in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. This was during the American Revolution, where the American Colonies were trying to separate from the might of the British Empire. Many delegates were inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment, which stated that, governments have to be responsible to the people of their nation or else rebellion against the said government would be justified, but, also, more importantly, all peoples are equal, and are entitled to unalienable rights, rights that can’t  be taken away by a ruler, such as life liberty, and pursuit of happiness. So, when in the hot July of 1776, the Continental Congress met to draft a Declaration of Independence, they decided to create a new nation, a nation ruled by, not a king, but a republic, where the people rule. However, while drafting this document, they decided to make a bold step. Most nations back then were mostly united solely by having a king, especially those in Europe, but those that didn’t were united by nationality, ethnicity, or language. However, the members of the Continental Congress decided to make a nation united not on those things, but on an idea, an idea to preserve liberty and freedom in the United States. 

This made the newly born United States very unique, as already said before, nations were united by the rule of a king back then, and now under ethnicity and language. Nations aren’t united solely by ideas! This is important, because nations need to have something to unite their country, not only for bragging rights, but because it is important for making a nation function, which I outlined in “What makes a Nation?”. In it, it says that nations are usually united by ethnicity, nationality, or language, and it must be that way for the nation to succeed.

This is important because a nation has to be united for it to be integrated. If a nation is united, that means it can economically succeed, as it can mean that supplies and items can be delivered across the country, which can make goods be produced faster, and transported more easily. If a nation is internally integrated enough, people can travel to all corners of the country. Even more importantly, it makes sure that the nation is able to enforce it’s laws, and prevent rebellion. But, more importantly than those examples is that a nation being unified will prevent internal instability. This is because, either A, the nation is united enough that there won’t be so much division that it will affect the whole nation, or B, more likely, the nation is internally integrated enough that it can enforce the laws of the nation and can prevent rebellion. For example, Japan is one of the most internally integrated countries in the world, and is one of the most prosperous too, as it is linked internally enough to the rest of the country, is an economic powerhouse that can easily make manufactured goods, and can provide national unity. Meanwhile, the DRC is one of the least internally integrated countries in the world, as it has little paved roads, is not internally linked to the rest of the country, and has several armed rebel groups fighting against the government.

Usually, the most unified countries in the world are those that are united by something that can’t change, such as language or ethnicity. This is shown to work extremely well, as in, going back to Japan, the country is almost completely ethnically homogeneous, while in the DRC there are 200 or so ethnicities, with the biggest only comprising ~8% of the population. So, those are the best ways to unite a country. On the other hand, usually, it is a terrible idea to unite a country solely on shared values and ideas. For example, after Yugoslavia was liberated(If you can call it that) by the Partisans, they decided to unite the multi ethnic, multi cultural country based on the ideas of communism and love of Tito. However, Tito died in 1983, and, due to being the only person to be able to unite the country being gone, and the collapse of communism, the nation split along ethnic and sectarian lines into brutal civil war. This has happened countless other times in countries that tried to unify solely on shared ideology or ideas. There has been one exception to this: America. America, despite struggles, has been unified for 250 years, and unified only around shared values and ideas. There is not one single major ethnic majority, as the largest ethnic group is German Americans, which only constitutes 14% of the population. This is what makes America unique this way. The United States is still united by the values and ideals of freedom, liberty, and democracy that the Founding Fathers put into place 250 years ago.

However, as I said before, it is not good to just be united around ideas, as it could lead to state collapse if those values get sidelined for something else, as was shown in Yugoslavia. If a nation’s only source of unity is shared ideas and values, although it could bring success, it is dangerous. So, we need to find something else for America to unite around. Basically, we need to find out what is an American.

So, what is an American? Well, according to liberals and leftists, an American is someone who lives in America, and/or has dreams and aspirations(Some representative actually said this, look it up). Now, this would literally mean anybody, as, even people like Osama Bin Laden would be considered an American as he had hopes and aspirations on destroying the infidels in America. So, that obviously can’t be it. However, just living in the United States doesn’t make you an American either. Think, do the Somali fraudsters with their “Quality Learing Centers” in Minneapolis count as Americans? So, just living in the United States does not make you an American, it just makes you a resident of the United States, and so is the same with citizenship, although it is a bigger start. 

So, what is an American? It is a citizen of the United States who believes in the American values of the Constitution, and vows to defend it when needed. It is someone who, even if they are an immigrant and can keep their cultures, but has also assimilated into the United States. It is someone who is an American before all other nationalities, and vows loyalty to the United States. It is someone who appreciates American values of freedom, liberty, democracy.  That is what a real American is, not someone who lives in America or is an American citizen, but someone who believes in the values that made our country great.

However, this might soon change. Recently, hundreds of thousands of people have been imported into the country illegally, and have started to change the demographics of our country, while also complaining about our country and trying to ruin it. Meanwhile, our nation has increasingly become divided and partisan, as both sides have skewed further and further away from each other. We have been losing things that were supposed to unite our nation, from ethnicity and nationality, to religion, to even our borders, and most recently our language. Worst of all, people are ignoring the values that have made our country great, that we have had for the past 250 years, that have turned our nation from a footnote in history into the greatest superpower in the whole world. And, if we do nothing, we will lose the values of liberty, freedom, and democracy that our Founding Fathers put up for us 250 years ago. We will have lost what made our country great. We can never let that happen, and this is why we need to start rebuilding our American identity with the 250th anniversary of our nation. We need to again begin to appreciate our values. We need to create something that can unite our nation. And, most importantly, we need to re imagine what it is to be an American, and what is an American, no longer focused on diversity and what makes us different, but what makes us the same, the same values and shared heritage we have as Americans. And when we have done that, we will truly have made America the greatest country on earth. 

Happy 4th of July, and Happy 250th!

Go Team USA!