Thursday, January 20, 2005
American Identity Defined
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“It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old, a story of a slave-holding society that became a servant of freedom, the story of a power that went into the world to protect but not possess, to defend but not to conquer.” and “America’s faith in freedom and democracy was a rock in a raging sea. Now it is a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.” and “If our country does not lead the cause of freedom, it will not be led.”
Who said that? This was George Bush’s 2001 Inaugural Address more than 7 months before 9/11, which changed me forever, but seems only to have galvanized George Bush. He believes America has an identity, a specific identity, to spread the cause of freedom around the world. What animates this idea? He pointed to two things: The Declaration of Independence, and that all men are created in the Image of God.
“From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights and dignity and matchless value because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and earth.” George Bush, Jan 20, 2004
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
And there you have, in the second excerpt, the documented formation of the first nation of it’s kind, founded on the same principals which we fight for today, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...why? Because all men are created equal, even if they lived under Saddam Hussein.
If you want to contrast that idea to those of our enemies, take a look at the former Afghanistan. Women were forbidden to learn to read, were shot in broad daylight if they exposed their faces, children would witness the execution of their parents. Islamic totalitarianism seeks to subjugate the world under Islamic rule with no promise of happiness. They have their vision for the world, we have ours. Providence has dictated we pick a side, however flawed the lesser evil is, so which is it? Islamic totalitarianism or liberty? These are the two ideas in combat in the 21st Century of which I side with the America of 1776 and 2004 under the leadership of George W. Bush. He made that more clear in 2004 than he did in 2001, thanks to 9/11, the first open prosecution of a war against Islamic Totalitarianism in the history of the civilized world, and the democratic freedom of not one, but two Middle Eastern countries. These are bold moves, this is a bold President, we are a bold nation.
During the inauguration, I heard NPR news record protesters jeering “People are dying, that’s ok, just drink your champaign and celebrate...people are dying!”. These are unhappy people. It’s not “dying people” that infuriate them, if that were true that we’d hear them shout “people are dying” when referring to the genocide in Sudan led by the Islamic Janjaweed militants, or the people tortured and killed under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, or the women oppressed and killed under the old Taliban in Afghanistan, or when Israeli civilians were blown up by "Shahid's", (Islamic martyrs) who Saddam Hussein promised a $25 thousand reward to family members per hit. Do those deaths matter also? I believe these people don't hate Americas foreign policy errors, which we will always have, but America’s identity and mission. When proclaiming that “every man and woman on this earth has rights and dignity and matchless value” it was in the next sentence when the President said “Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation.” That’s who we are collectively, that’s our America.
Whether you agree or despise the emergence and refining of this American identity, this is what George Bush reintroduced on Jan 20, and history will remember it. I not only believe this is vital to our security, but to our happiness also. Just ask people who have no identity -- people who stand for nothing -- if they are happy? An identity is exclusionary, a word the Left hates to hear, but that’s what an identity is. If I’m white, that means I’m not black, red or yellow. If I’m a Christian, that means I’m not an Atheist Jewish or Islamic. If I’m an American, that means I’m not Asian, European, or Mexican. The Left doesn’t like identities because they exclude...they want unity at any cost. When John Kerry voted against the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice, he charged her as one of the “principal architects” of foreign policy actions that “have alienated much of the world [France]”. John Kerry and Barbara Boxer, who’s votes agree, don’t want America to have a distinct identity detached from Europe. But if our national security depends on it, I’m with the President on this one, and am happier and more secure for it. What makes me proud to be an American is what the Left finds despicable, but you don’t see any of them running off to live in Iran.
George Bush and yours truly are back at work, and here to stay.
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