I’m an American, and will die one, because — in full knowledge of the ups and downs of this country, our laws and our rights, our flaws and our fights, and the ideals with which this nation was founded and strives toward — I would never choose to be anything other than American. I’m an American because I actively choose to be every single day. With no ethnic or blood ties to this nation all we have are words of volition and vows of endless idealism to show we have chosen this country as our homeland.
The vast majority of Americans — right, left, center, or situated in some weird 4th dimension of politics — love this country. And I mean really love it. Most of us would never trade in our American birthright for citizenship anywhere else. And most of us would never trade the American system of governance for any others. We’re Americans because we choose to be.
But to those who forget, sometimes, why they’ve chosen to remain Americans thus far, some reminders from Democratic presidents of yesteryear (this is a partisan blog after all!):
- To those who would doubt the American ability to reform and renew no matter what the obstacles:
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.” -William Jefferson Clinton (D)
- To those who speak of America as if it has turned away from them:
“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” -Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D)
- To those who doubt American exceptionalism:
“Sometimes people call me an idealist. Well, that is the way I know I am an American. America is the only idealistic nation in the world.” -Woodrow Wilson (D)
- To those who feel disillusioned, who feel the “American Dream” has failed:
“For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.” -Lyndon Baines Johnson (D)
- To those bitter Americans who’ve given up hope:
“The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly” -John F. Kennedy (D)
- And, from the same man, some words for those who’ve just plain given up:
“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.” -John F. Kennedy (D)
- To those who blame the Republicans exclsively for the failures of America:
“The buck stops here” -Sign on Harry S. Truman’s (D) desk
We’re all in this together, no matter what the political differences. Democrat, Republican, Green, Independent, all of us who’ve chosen America. We may differ. We do differ. But we’re a nation and we’ll work it out.
We have been independent from England — and the institutional tyranny of monarchy — for 229 years, but we’ve never been more dependent on each other. Don’t you give up now, don’t you let us down, and don’t forget that each day you have to choose to be an American all over again.
