Immigrants are America

First, I am taking the week off, for various personal and professional commitments. So, since this is the Fourth of July week, I am going to be all mushy and shit and praise immigrants.

America is a not a piece of land. I know that most countries stake their claim to legitimacy based on some combination of geography and culture. We are Irish or Japanese or whatever because our people, the people who do things in the way we do them, have always lived here, for some definition of always and some definition of here. You hate the people from over the hill because they do the things you do in the wrong way and have always been annoying wrong doers, for some definition of wrong and some definition of always. It is a pretty stupid system. Fortunately, America has a better one.

Citizenship in the United States is based on an ideal. All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights etc., etc. etc. It does not matter where you are born — if you adhere to these principles, you can be an American. And that is what immigrants prove, every day.

Now, at this stage, I am supposed to launch into some monologue about how hard immigrants work and how much value they bring to the economy. And all of that is true, but it is also completely irrelevant. Merely by coming to this country and adhering to its fundamental values (and no. Fundamental values does not mean WASP values. It means only a belief in individual dignity and democratic government. Having exactly the same tastes as other people is not required. All men are created equal; not all men must be the same) immigrants prove the value of those ideals. That everyone can and does follow those principles proves their value and universality.

To be anti-immigrant, then, is to be anti-American. It is to reject the fundamental understanding of this country, an understanding that stretches back to the Founders. No, they did not live up to those ideals in many, many, many ways. But their true genius was not the rather rickety and fragile method of government they left us. Their true genius was an understanding that the values they failed to personally live up to still applied to all people. Rejecting that, claiming that being born on a particular piece of dirt makes you special, that the ideals of the country can only be applied to or expressed by people based on the random chance of the location of their birth is as full a rejection of Americanism as you can manage. And it is one we defeated before, though not as full as we needed to.

The Confederacy was born out the principle that some people cannot be Americans. By the accident of their birth or the color of their skin or the genitals they possess or who they choose to love, they cannot be real Americans. This is a lie, the same lie kings and tyrants and wanna be rulers have told form the start of time, to convince you that to be a part of a nation, a collective, you had to hate the same people the leaders hated. It is the fundamental evil baked into mankind, and it is one that America explicitly rejects. To steal from one of my favorite musicals:

John Adams: That little paper there deals with freedom for Americans!

Edward Rutledge: Oh, really. Mr. Adams is now calling our black slaves "Americans!" Are they, now?

John Adams: Yes, they are. They are people, and they are here. If there's any other requirement, I haven't heard it.

Americans believe as Adams does here, about all people, not as Rutledge does. If you find you are siding with the men who would slice and carve people into in groups and out groups, people deserving of freedom and those who are not? Well, son, I think you’ll find that decent people will know you for what you are.

Any way. If you are an American, have a great 4th of July, enjoy the fireworks, and try not to blow up any limbs belonging to you or people you like (You can blow up Jim’s limbs. He knows what he did.). If you aren’t American, enjoy the weekend. The bit about not blowing people up probably still applies, unless you are really inventive about it.

Have a great week, everyone.