Transcript Competing Visions of Nationhood Continued

Multiculturalism and the American Creed
COMPETING VISIONS OF
NATIONHOOD CONTINUED
The Bradley Project on America’s
National Identity, June 2008
“The next generation of
Americans will know less
than their parents about
our history and founding
ideals. And many
Americans are more aware
of what divides us than of
what unites us. We are in
danger of becoming not
‘from many one’—E
Pluribus Unum—but its
opposite, ‘from one,
many’.”
~www.bradleyproject.org
“A sense of national identity is necessary to
enable individuals to transcend self-absorption
and commit to the common good. Without it,
American can neither perpetuate its institutions
nor defend itself.”
What does it mean to be an
American?
Findings:
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84% believe that there is a unique American identity.
89% believe that Americans are better off than citizens in other nations.
94% reported that they were proud to be Americans.
63% believe that American national identity is weakening.
24% believe that the country is so divided that a common identity could
not be sustained.
89% believed that the country was divided along ethnic and cultural lines
90% believed that colleges and universities should be required to teach
US history and government.
89% of Americans polled believed that new immigrants need to be
Americanized if they are going to participate fully as citizens—this
included learning English and embracing American culture
96% believed it was important to the future of the country and its
political system that all citizens be able to speak English.
The Challenge:
“America is unique among nations in being founded not
on a common ethnicity, but on a set of ideas. A nation
based on ethnicity perpetuates itself by the fact of birth.
But a nation founded on an idea starts anew with each
generation and with each new group of immigrants.
Knowing what America stands for is not a genetic
inheritance. It must be learned, both by the next
generation and by those who come to this country. In this
way, a nation founded on an idea is inherently fragile.
And a nation that celebrates the many ways we are
different from one another must remind itself constantly
of what we all share.”
Multiculturalism
Replacing the “Melting Pot” with the “Salad Bowl”
The Ku Klux Klan
David Duke
George Wallace
“segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and
segregation forever”
Barry Goldwater
Richard Nixon
Watergate
Young Americans For Freedom
“IN THIS TIME of moral and political crises, it is the
responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain
eternal truths.
WE, as young conservatives believe:
THAT foremost among the transcendent values is the
individual's use of his God-given free will, whence
derives his right to be free from the restrictions of
arbitrary force;
THAT liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom
cannot long exist without economic freedom;
THAT the purpose of government is to protect those
freedoms through the preservation of internal order,
the provision of national defense, and the
administration of justice;
THAT when government ventures beyond these
rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends
to diminish order and liberty…
… THAT the forces of international Communism are, at
present, the greatest single threat to these liberties;
THAT the United States should stress victory over,
rather than coexistence with this menace; and
THAT American foreign policy must be judged by this
criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United
States?”
~YAF Sharon Statement, www,yaf.com
The Jesus People Movement
The Religious Right
Phyllis Schlafly
Malaise
Ronald Reagan
The “Great Communicator”
“I think there is a hunger in this land for a spiritual
revival, a return to a belief in moral absolutes.”
“The Left, in and out of government, knows full well that he
who controls culture controls not just how people live but
how they perceive themselves. We are all aware of the Left’s
cultural agenda: primitivism, feminism, radicalism,
multiculturalism, and sexual radicalism. The Left wishes to
use culture to remold man and society on radical lines, with
destruction of individual autonomy and reason followed by
the destruction of every traditional social habit and
institution, including churches and ending with the family.”
~Samuel Lipman, “Can We Save Culture?” National Review,
1991.
“The genius of America lies in its capacity to
forge a single nation from peoples of remarkably
diverse racial, religious, and ethnic origins. It has
done so because democratic principles provide
both the philosophical bond of union and
practical experience in civic participation.”
~Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Disuniting of
America