Don’t Give Up on America

Happy belated birthday, America! This summer, through barbecues, fireworks, America250 signs, and a whole lot of op-eds, we’ve reflected on what makes America really worth celebrating. In the midst of it all, I found myself reflecting on my own American identity. I was born and raised in New York City, which, though part of America, has always been fiercely unique. New York lacks many of the aspects that are integral to American identity elsewhere (like tractors—no one has those here, and everyone in the rest of America is probably offended by this sentence). But despite that disconnect, I feel wholly American. 

I’m proud of the many great things America has created, a few of my favorites being country music, jazz, air conditioning, the American musical, and jeans. But my favorite thing about being American is that I am guaranteed the right to free speech. We take this for granted, but we ought to remember that many people around the world are punished for their opinions, and we are lucky that the freedom of speech is a foundational pillar of our government. It is a part of our everyday life, even if we don’t consciously think about it daily. I am free to engage in civic discourse, I am free to write this op-ed and say what I believe, and my peers are free to come up to me in the halls and tell me this is a bunch of garbage. At the end of the day, I love America.

That might sound crazy to you, readers of The Spectator. You live in New York and must be used to hearing people declare that they’re ashamed of being American. I’ve heard it everywhere, from people with all kinds of political beliefs. If you are someone who feels this way, I ask you to reconsider.

I am well aware that America is imperfect, but remember that we weren’t promised perfection; we were promised a country that would do its best to serve us, and we have the power to protest. I understand why you may feel uncomfortable living in America, and why it’s difficult to be tied to a country that does things you may not agree with. A lot of the time, I share the same views as you. Being proud of your Americanness in a time when it feels like our leaders are betraying American ideals might feel hypocritical. I’ve been told that doing so makes me an accomplice to injustice. I disagree. That is not what American patriotism means.

Florence Luscomb, an activist who was heavily involved in the women’s rights and civil rights movements, once said, “Patriotism demands not the losing of one’s eyes to the faults and misdeeds of one’s country, but rather the fighting and ending of them, so making America better.” American pride does not entail willful ignorance of American issues. I have been told that patriotism is naive, but that argument assumes that patriotism must be blind. Patriotism brings unity and a sense of civic duty to a country, resulting in a communal desire to improve society.

Consider feminists, like Luscomb and many others, whose demand for equality was fueled by their desire to fulfill the American promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Remember the Vietnam War protesters, who directly opposed the America they lived in and protested to protect the ideals they felt America should stand for. Activists of the civil rights movement engaged in civil disobedience to illuminate how the injustice of American law contradicted the foundational words of our country that “all men are created equal.” None of these movements involved abandoning the possibility of a better America. What happened to fighting for the country that we were promised? Today, we spend more time aiming to defeat the opposing party than we do problem-solving. What would happen if we all worked for one united American agenda?

An American agenda is a complicated idea, and I can’t tell you exactly what that would look like, because I am only one of more than 340 million people whose opinions should count towards it. But let us start creating one by learning about our country’s problems through news and education that does not aim to sway us one way or another. Take facts, and build upon them by thinking critically to form opinions, as the Enlightenment thinkers who influenced our founding documents would have encouraged. Destigmatize deviating from one’s party. Every person’s political beliefs are the product of their experiences, and no two people are the same. Instead of shutting down that dissent, try to understand it. Then, let us recognize that no party or campaign has all the solutions. Anything productive must come from compromise. An American agenda should not be defined by the specific policies it entails, but the fact that it is created by the people as a whole. 

I am not asking you to submit to the agenda of a leader you disagree with. I am asking that you disagree civilly and use your Americanness as power. All men and women are created equal, so every American opinion matters. To declare yourself ashamed of being American because of the actions of our leaders or disagreement with other citizens is giving up on our country. In letting go of whatever love you have for America, you allow the people you disagree with to take it from you—but this country belongs to us all. Yes, America’s imperfections may make it easier to disassociate yourself, but the easier choice is rarely the stronger one. 

Do not give up on a country and a culture that is yours because it is hard to hold on. Like it or not, you are American. Choose to be proud of it.