The Americans elected Donald Trump. Real estate billionaires are flawed, but when politicians on the left and right were calling the country sexist, racist, lazy and qualified, Trump called Americans to Americans I did. Make America great again.
Now, as Trump's second term begins with an impressive start, most of his supporters feel relieved that he has a president who loves the country he has in office. However, his early success raises greater questions. Greatness is tied to what Aristotle called it Telling – The ultimate purpose or end. To make America great, we must first answer the decisive questions of the times. Who are we?
If conservatives retreat from this debate from coronavirus, they will find themselves living in a world shaped by the enemy of ideology.
Trump's election explicitly rejected several ideas about national identity. Americans don't want to be “global citizens.” They want a clear and sovereign state. They don't want to live in a multicultural patchwork of segmented communities that speak different languages and celebrate different identities.
Americans reject the idea of acting as police around the world, sacrificing their son and national resources, imposing a global order that places their country at the end. They don't want the US to function as an office park or an economic zone. Instead of maximizing arbitrary economic measures like gross domestic product, they want a government that prioritizes the happiness of its people.
The American people are tired of leaders who disparage them for wanting a real country. It values citizens who surpass abstract economic statistics and globalist ideals. The Americans clearly rejected a progressive vision of identity, but the problem remains. Is there a unified identity that they can accept?
Unrecognizable world
It is not enough to simply reject multiculturalism, globalism, and economic essentialism. To make America great, conservatives and right-wing leaders must present alternative identities. This gives the nation a unity and a clear purpose.
This realization unsettling many conservatives who are conditioned to avoid identity debate for fear of being labelled as extremists. That fear is understandable. Identity is strong. It can inspire both great and terrible behavior. Do not take it lightly. But conservatives can't afford to abandon this conversation to the Democrats and the political left. question Who are we? Answered – either by those willing to engage or those who want to completely redefine America.
If conservatives retreat from this debate from coronavirus, they will find themselves living in a world shaped by the enemy of ideology.
America is just a dream – an unattainable goal that the nation is constantly striving for? Is it a set of ideas that anyone can adopt and accept from anywhere? For decades, conservatives have promoted the idea of a “propositional state.” It is built on compliance with a set of principles rather than sharing culture or heritage. Many people are now trying to return to this framework as the multicultural globalist vision failed.
The problem is that this definition cannot withstand scrutiny.
Liberia Test
If America is merely an idea (a collection of abstract principles that anyone can adopt) is merely an idea, then any society should be able to replicate those ideas and achieve the same results. Location and population are irrelevant, so immigrants do not need to physically come to the United States or integrate with those people. Because only principles are important.
However, history suggests that this is not the case. Liberia, for example, was founded as an African Republic for freed slaves and free-born black Americans. Its constitution reflects the US system and incorporates a separation of power, checks, balance, and a Bill of Rights. On paper, Liberia should have thrived under the same principles.
But reality tells a different story. Despite adopting the American founding framework, Liberia has experienced enduring corruption and instability, ranking among the world's most corrupt countries. That struggle challenges the core assumptions of the propositional state and raises important questions: If America is merely an idea, why can't it be easily replicated?
The idea of propositional states falls apart when applied to American domestic politics. This argument suggests that anyone who believes in American founding principles should be welcomed as a citizen. However, this claim rarely follows logical conclusions.
Consider Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a Somali immigrant who serves Congress, frequently criticizing the United States. Omar repeatedly describes the country that recognized her exile as racist and oppressive. She often spoke to Somali supporters and promised to prioritize the interests of Somali immigrants.
Media reporting Omar's second husband is actually her brother and is said to be part of an immigration fraud scheme. Nonetheless, there was no serious effort to remove her from the office or revoke her citizenship.
Who forces the idea?
If American identity is based solely on compliance with establishment principles, Omar's open mindedness to those principles should disqualify her from political leadership. But even proposing alteration to her alleged immigration fraud, not to mention rejecting American values, even from many conservatives, to encourage accusations of racism and fascism.
Those who promote the idea of a propositional state are not going to implement it. To do so, we need a totalitarian state where citizenship depends on ideological conformity. Such a system is much more like actual fascism than the bogeymen that progressives would like to evoke.
So, if America is not a proposition, what is it? What defines it as a nation? The same factors that shaped the nation through human history: shared language, history, heritage, tradition, religion, culture.
in “Who are we?“Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington argued that it is far from right-wing extremists — America's core identity is rooted in the Anglo-Protestant tradition. Huntington, as a left-wing man, did not advocate for limiting American identity to Protestant Christianity or British ancestors, but he recognized the need for a core culture. He believed that new members of the country would remain assimilated and intimate with this cultural foundation.
Without a well-defined cultural heritage for new arrivals to accept, the country risks leaving it to a fragmented, multicultural patchwork. Principles and ideas are important, but not abstract concepts separated from those who support them.
American proposals emerge from certain people, the American nation, and cannot be implanted elsewhere in anticipation of the same outcome.
For America to regain its greatness, it must do so within the context of Anglo-Protestant heritage.
question Who are we? It could be answered whether conservatives are involved or not. It is essential that they propose a shared national identity. It celebrates America's past while embracing the incredible achievements people can achieve together in the future.
