It is best to think of having a national identity as sharing a sense of accountability for the actions of one’s country. To identify as an American means to take some sort of ownership in the collective actions of its people, to understand those actions as in some way one’s own. Whatever defines us as […]
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National Identity and Helping Fellow Americans
If the national community needs people to behave selflessly by giving to charities, paying taxes willingly, and supporting government programs to help those less fortunate, then it is those who strongly identify as Americans and who have an inclusive view of who counts as an American who are the main contributors to the nation’s well-being. […]
The Democratic Lineage of Trump’s Ethnic Nationalism
Donald Trump’s rhetoric and proposed policies are a reminder that America has always had as much ethnic as civic foundations for its nationalist imagination. The year 2016 might become known as a moment of resurgent nationalism. The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union largely based on Euroscepticism, a move that the Alternative for […]
American Anthem: The National Anthem and African American Nationhood
Until the work of racial reconciliation in the U.S. is done, questions will remain and the Star Spangled Banner will fall short of fitting snugly and comfortably on the proud shoulders of those who expect more from their country. In 2016, Colin Kaepernick’s act of kneeling down during the Star Spangled Banner was a symbolic […]
The Mystic Chords Of Memory: Reflections on American Identity II
A pervading theme of Madison’s and Lincoln’s reflections on American identity is the moral and psychological realism that informs both men’s reflections. The second installment of a two-part essay. In Part I of these reflections, I observed that the Founders along with Abraham Lincoln held Americans to be a distinctively creedal people, united in their […]
