America is Awesome

“The true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals, Democracy, Liberty, Opportunity, and Unyielding Hope”
-Barack Obama


A profound change has come over my perspectives in the last six weeks. I realize now that my intellectual development occurred over the last four years and that these four years have created my bias. My ideas and political alliances were formed due to the misguided politics of an American President who lost the trust of the world. The failure of an education reform, the denial of an environmental crisis, the deceit of an administration, and the cruelty of an expansionist policy all led me to a loss of faith. Through the prism of my cynicism, I saw America as controlled by the intimidating fervor of the few. The presence of vocal evangelicals unabashedly displaying their bigotry against homosexuality, religious fanatics continuing movements against the well-established theory of evolution, and a populous blinded by Nationalism, unaware of its own atrocities, forced me to regrettably sympathize with anti-American sentiments In Europe, Asia and around the world. From the extermination of the Native Americans, to the fire bombings of Tokyo to the human rights violations at Abu Ghraib, Americans seem intentionally ignorant of their own historical evils. But I am not writing an Anti-American rant; my perspectives have changed.

Though all of these unfortunate realities persist, I have become proud of America, happy to be an American citizen, because the Ideals of America are worthy of adoration. I have now been in India for six weeks and have realized an aspect of the Indian outlook on society inherently different from my own. I could be in India for twenty years and I would still be considered a westerner. I could have been born here and raised here but I would still not be an Indian. There is no possibility for any white person to be considered Indian. The reason is quite simple, to them, Indian is an ethnicity and each individual is either a part of that ethnicity or not. This ideology is inherently exclusive. This outlook is certainly not unique to India but rather the opposite. In Europe, strong anti-immigration sentiments and long-standing racial prejudices reveal the same basic perspective. In Africa, the new generation of white people never knew the world of imperialism but they will never be looked upon as true citizens of that society. Their ethnicity separates them.

America is unique in not sharing this ethnocentric outlook. Other than the small minority of Native Americans, all Americans are immigrants, no one original or entitled. Whether by choice or force, people came from Europe, Africa and now the entire world. We are a nation of immigrants. If someone of the Indo ethnicity was born and raised in America, they are American. They are just as much of an American as I am. I feel that even the racists would agree that African-Americans are still Americans. America is multi-ethnic and therefore cannot define itself by an ethnicity.

Our political system and ideology has developed around this multi-ethnic identity. A system of democracy allows a multitude of voices to be heard, while an ideology of liberalism protects the fundamental rights of the minority from the potentially tyrannically rule of the majority. Liberal democracy has become a religion in the United States; its tenants are unquestioned. I, as an American, feel to my core a sense of pride in the system we have created. While many injustices are still occurring, the system, our system, is best suited to fix these problems.

Only two days ago, Barack Obama was elected the President of the United States of America. Obviously, his election has profound implications for all aspects of American politics and I hope that he will bring tremendous change within my country. But to me, he has become the embodiment of the American Ideal. With his father from Africa, his mother from Kansas and a childhood in Indonesia, Obama represents the multi-cultural/multi-ethnic nature of America. Obama is a symbol to the world of the ideals that all Americans know and love; America equals opportunity for any culture and any ethnicity. This promise of opportunity is one of the most powerful ideas of humanity. While Barack Obama will create change, he represents the return to what makes America great, the return to the Ideal. Today, I feel a long lost sense of patriotism. I am filled with an immense hope in the promise of America. I think it can change and that it will change, because the ideals that exist at the core of our society are good and just.

In the words of Ethan Case: “America is Awesome”

-Patrick