What does it mean to be an American?
Let me begin with a warning to the reader that some additional reading may be in order to fully understand this post. If you have not yet read the collected works of Mencius Moldbug, my only question is…what, you don’t have an extra six months of free time? Seriously though, the man has insight. The insight here regards his remarks on the troubling lineage of Calvinism, Mainstream Protestantism and Progressivism, and his concept of Ultra-Americanism. If you are familiar, proceed. If not, report to Unqualified Reservations for your Red Pill.
This post occasioned mine. Read it through.
Was it touching? Did it stir your patriotic side? A story of hardship and discrimination, of overcoming great odds. For most Masons, I have no doubt that they were filled with civic pride. Perhaps you thought of the “tired and poor,” or of the words of the Jewish fellow, living in England, who coined the term “melting pot”? Funny how the creations of foreigners can so profoundly influence how we think of ourselves.
But did it stir any other feelings? Was there something slightly disquieting about it? A sort of sleight of hand in the article too? Surely not! We do love an underdog after all.
Clearly the author is a tolerant and compassionate individual, and one who has worked hard. But to call oneself a “better” American, especially when the author is admittedly and objectively not an American? I can scarcely imagine showing up in another country and declaring myself a better ________ than my hosts (maybe parts of Britain, since they’re so cucked – but Brexit. So maybe not). Further, since when is it a rating? It’s my nationality. You are either American or you’re not. But I think I know where this poor USian went wrong.
We Americans make so much fuss over someone receiving citizenship, but we never distinguish between and American and a citizen. I remember when I first read a question posed by a much greater thinker Than I, that if one has to become “American” (meaning citizen), is it not proof that they are not, in fact, American (nationality)?
But surely that is wrongthink. America is an idea, after all. I have heard this from so many people, including many libertarians. International libertarians are almost as crazy as international socialists. If you hang around any libertarians, make sure they’re the nationalist variety.
Nation or State?
One of the greatest benefits of the English language, compared to most languages today, must be its precision. In our Western Civ classes, we hear much of city-states and nation-states. Are these mere redundancies? No. There is a difference between a nation and a state.
But no, we are told that America is an idea. It is a great experiment in self-government. What if that is wrong?
No my brother; America is a nation. She is the daughter of England, and the only person before whom a President ought to bow, or even incline his head, is to the rightful Sovereign of the Mother Country.
That the American Nation has, over the centuries, let in many who are not and will never be a part of its fabric is inconsequential to its lineage, even if deleterious to its survival. Crossing an ocean, or even an “arbitrary line in the sand” does not make you American. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you. Being brought to this country, even at a young age, does not make one an American, though with enough government schooling, it will probably make you an Ultra-American.
Our moral duty to allow people in
Whence come this idea? This post languished as a draught for quite some time. During its larval stage, the great Steve Sailer coined the term “Zeroth Ammendment.” I could never have written anything better:
It’s been evident for some time that the the dominant ideological logic is trending toward making it inevitable that all 7 billion noncitizens on Earth be assumed to have civil rights to move to America.
Call it the Zeroth Amendment.
It is one thing to allow free entry (from civilized nations) and special entry to others from less civilized places for a time, to work and visit. It is quite another to mint new citizens, with full privileges thereof, as a matter of course. Even the most fervent believer in the wisdom of mobs (democrats [small d] or demotists [more accurate]) must acknowledge that your share of governance is diluted when millions more get the vote. And somehow a worldwide brotherhood means much less when the whole world shows up to live in your neighborhood. This is especially true when those neighbors are given to crass identity politics.
Immigration has been an issue for well over a century. Each great wave has taken its toll. Each wave crashes slightly higher upon the Anglo-American Foundation, gradually wearing away, piece by piece, the original soul and spirit of this great project. Few are those who lament it’s passing. No doubt the Founders would be confused to find this Nordic Son defending their own position against that of their own WASP and Progressive progeny. But hey, man, they owned slaves and shit. Why should we care what the Founders think? Equally troubling to me is the thought that those Founders were links in the chain that Moldbug traces from the Reformation to modern Progressivism. But I suppose, in a few ways at least, they are closer to the Old World that we reactionaries to admire.
This is not a call to deport people, at least not a lot of people. But it is a call to distinguish a resident from a citizen. To cherish that which is your birthright, native son, and to not give it away lightly or haphazardly, as (or for) so much pottage. Especially to those who would castigate you and call you less American, whatever that means.