Diversity is Division

America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming... Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians - into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American. -- Israel Zangwill

I hear that melting-pot stuff a lot, and all I can say is that we haven't melted. -- Jesse Jackson

The question invites itself. In what sense are we one nation and one people anymore? For what is a nation if not a people of a common ancestry, faith, culture and language, who worship the same God, revere the same heroes, cherish the same history, celebrate the same holidays, and share the same music, poetry, art and literature? Pat Buchanan

The article by Pat Buchanan prompted more thought about the nature of America. I grew up understanding America as a country where all people were and are created equal. All with unalienable rights, among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It seemed like everyone I met along the way had the same idea. That people should be allowed to choose their paths to happiness, and we were good with that. All our neighbors, black, white, arab, asian were like that too.

As time went by, I would find discontinuities in this simple landscape. I find for example that my right to pray in school, my right to pledge allegiance to this country in the venue of my choice, and even my right to call out a liar in the chambers of congress are challenged. Somewhere along the way people came along to poison the land with their ideas of conflict and oppression. Those who would restrict my rights are now all around us, indeed may even outnumber us. These are not Americans, nor do they want anyone else to be.

Whereas Americans respect the rights of other individuals to live their lives, those who would require others to buy health insurance, or to subsidize cars for their neighbors, can not rationally be referred to as Americans, except by virtue of their birth certificates (if that).

We invite immigrants to share in our freedoms every day and in large numbers. We only ask that they respect our laws, respect our institutions, and respect our fellow citizens. We have no problem if people want to celebrate a 1966 manufactured holiday called Kwanzaa, even though its intent was to undermine and marginalize Christmas. Go, have your party, but let us have ours, too.

We don't really mind if people speak their native tongue in their own homes; but only those who would keep them from being Americans would suggest that they be taught their primary studies in any language but English.

We celebrate diversity. What does that mean? We celebrate black people, white people, asian-americans, arab americans, jews, syrians, austrians and australians. It's a good thing. Polish people are proud, and with good reason. So it is with those whose heritage is important to them.

So why is everybody here? I will tell you. Everybody is here because it is the best place in the world for everybody to be. We want people to have the blessings of this society, yet we ensure that they are forever locked out by calling attention to their differences. Can we celebrate diversity without fomenting division? Perhaps not.

Diversity is Division.

Instead of arab americans, why aren't we just americans. Instead of african-americans, why not simply americans? Does any american wish he were back in africa? As irish americans or german americans, do we wish we were back in Ireland or Germany? Do we have one foot in each country? No, we choose and have chosen to be Americans. Why do we need special categories for people? It only emphasizes how we are different. Not how we are the same.

Only our similarities can define us as a nation. Fortunately, those similarities are vast, and the most important one is we love freedom. We share the belief that this is the best culture in the world of which to be a part. What more unification do we need than that?

If we don't start thinking about our "sames" instead of our "differences", people will continue touse it to divide us. They will say that the antidote to Bush is Obama (cue laugh track). They will say that government has to create equal results, because equal opportunity doesn't work. Americans, easy enough to spot, know this is not true.

And at some point, we need to talk about what's right for Americans. Not what's right for democrats or republicans. Not what's right for socialists or libertarians. Not what's right for progressives or conservatives, rich or poor, belly button in or belly button out. It's time to reject the politics of division, of race, of ethnicity, of ideology, of all kinds. It's time to rise up for what's right for Hoosiers, for Michiganders, for Americans.

It is what brings us all together here.