what nobody seems to get is that it’s easy for Old World countries, which have a coherent, cohesive culture and a unique ethnic identity - and have had it for centuries - that is “Russian” or “Swedish” or “Japanese” etc. - to say “we are (fill in the blank) and these are our traditions.”
But since we are a nation of colonists/immigrants there is no such thing as an ethnic American. Anyone can be like my friend who is the son of a Welsh-Greek father and a Hungarian-Portuguese mother. There is no American language, there is no such thing as an American last name - it’s a last name from Europe or elsewhere - we have no unifying cultural force field. So we’re not in the same position to say “we define ourselves as (fill in the blank), anyone who dosn’t like it can get out” because we have no definition apat from a legal one on paper. And that can’t be compared to a way of making bread or a national wine or a dance step that everyoe knows. America really is a vacuum when it comes to having a national identity, and that’s what makes us so vulnerable.
Unlike those nations however, we have a Declaration of Independence which is both a mission statement and bold expression of purpose. It's been our failure to teach, reinforce and espouse that purpose. To the contrary, we've made it fashionable to challenge and undermine it.
I don’t think that’s correct. We do have a culture - a culture of striving, of working hard, of succeeding. That’s not it totally, but we do have a common language - English - & anyone who doesn’t learn it will be at a disadvantage. We have a different sense of humor, we are noticeable as ‘different’ when we travel. Europeans love to mock us.
One story for you... I worked at a university & sometime in the ‘80s we had Maya Angelou come to speak. During the Q&A, a black student stood up & asked if Maya thought blacks should go live in Africa for a time to get in touch with their culture (black identity, whatever...) as Maya had done. She had a very interesting comment:
“The only thing you will discover if you go to Africa is that you are an American.”