In a recent speech from Joe Biden – on the weekend of Independence Day – he defied anyone to tell him what constitutes an American.
I like a challenge, so let’s analyze his statement a bit.
“I’ve often said that America is the only nation in the world founded on an idea,” Biden said. “Every other nation in the world is founded on the basis of either that – geography or ethnicity or religion. You can define every – almost everyone else based on those characteristics, but you can’t define America. I defy you to tell me what constitutes an American. You can’t do it. We’re an incredibly diverse democracy.
“But there is one thing that does define us as a country: We were founded on an idea that, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal…endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…Life, Liberty, [and] the pursuit of Happiness.’ We’ve never fully lived up to it, but we’ve never, ever, ever walked away from it.”
Biden is correct in saying that America is not founded on ethnicity. For that, we can all be glad. He is also correct in saying that America was founded on an idea. He is correct that we have never fully lived up to our founding ideal.
Furthermore, I hope that he is correct that we’ve never walked away from it either. I currently have my doubts about that.
It’s pretty simple to see the errors in this common way of thinking. Most nations across the globe have been based upon geography. Being born in a nation made you a citizen of that nation, but it also made you a subject.
What’s different about America is that it also requires intellectual agreement with a principle of God-given liberty. If you remove the endowment of rights from God, you are left with a nation like any other in which you will be subjected to the powers that be.
An American must be defined as someone who is a citizen of the United States and who believes the principles found within the Declaration of Independence. For instance, if one does not believe the idea that all men were created equal and that they were endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, then that person has fallen short of the American ideal.
I would struggle to call anyone thoroughly American who rejects the premise that we have a Creator and that we were created with rights that precede government. That person may be nationally an American but they are not an American in their beliefs.
My point is simple: Joe Biden is wrong.
We live in a country with borders. We also live in a country that needs religion. Anyone who was born in those borders – or who has lawfully immigrated within them – is nationally American.
Hopefully in the coming years we will see a revival of people who are also American in spirit and who believe that we have been endowed with liberty from our Creator.
Anything less will end in tyranny.
Jeremy Wiggins writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, jeremywiggins87@gmail.com.