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Posted on 12/29/2025 7:58:07 AM PST by Rummyfan
As it's our final show of the year, I'd like to keep it a little more focused than usual - and concentrate on the existential question now facing some of the oldest continuous states on earth: what is a nation? At AmFest and in The New York Times, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy returned to his contention that America is an "idea" and, if you're onboard with the "idea", you're as American as anybody else. One might formulate the "idea" as a "dream", as Vivek does:
It is called the American Dream for a reason. There is no Canadian Dream. There is no British Dream. It sounds kind of goofy to say it. There's no Chinese Dream, okay?
There is, however, a Somali Dream - of moving to Minnesota and opening a state-funded daycare.
On the right one can find opponents of all this dreaminess, but Vivek has no time for them and is reading them out of the movement:
I think the idea of a heritage American is about as loony as anything the woke left has actually put up. There is no American who is more American than somebody else.
So a Daughter of the American Revolution is no more American than the daughter of a Minneapolis daycare owner. This would come as news to the fellows who wrote the Preamble to the US Constitution in order to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity". Which, oddly, seems to be how the Somali fraudsters look on it, if you substitute "Blessings of Public Funding" for "Liberty".
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
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We are definitely a country with our own culture & national characteristics. But part of those is the ideals established by our founders & our freedom to dream. So I don’t have a problem with people who say America is an idea, or a dream.
Years ago I saw Maya Angelou speak at a university. A young black woman asked if blacks should go to Africa to live in an all black culture. Maya replied that the only thing she would discover by going to Africa is that she was an American. What a great thing to say.
Never a fan of Angelou but she was dead-on there.
Isn’t she the one who wrote “Now I Know How The Caged Bird Got Its Groove Back”?
Yeah, something like that.
Presumably we have assimilated and are part of the American culture.
Relatively few of us can trace our ancestry to Plymouth Rock or Jamestown.
People who come to America and do not assimilate are a problem.
and, if you're onboard with the "idea",
And then Steyn says:
So a Daughter of the American Revolution is no more American than the daughter of a Minneapolis daycare owner
Shameful, shameful, shameful.
Someone who only came here to bilk daycare tax dollars isn't onboard with the idea. It's sad that Steyn sunk this low.
Which, oddly, seems to be how the Somali fraudsters look on it
Facts not in evidence.
Nothing "seems" like the Somali fraudsters looked at it that way. They only looked for free gibsmedats money. Not the American Dream. (Which is a left wing phrase anyways, but I'm not going there right now)
Agreed 100%. Progressives have made it one of their prime focal points to erase any knowledge of it that they could so that they could replace it in their own image.
Not every native-born American cares for American culture.
Kinda seems like Steyn fell for it here, its sad to see.
I think you are badly confused.
Steyn is being facetious here - it is Ramaswamy who is saying heritage makes no difference. Steyn is disagreeing with Ramaswamy - it’s the whole point of his article.
I don’t think so. Comedy only works if it’s partially true. Otherwise it’s just bad comedy receiving less claps than Jeb Bush.(and slow clap at that) But here’s the thing.
Did Vivek Ramaswamy assimilate?
Can you name the top three countries VR promotes the most highly? I can only name one.
I think he assimilated, but maybe I’m wrong. (Yes, I know where he was born. That is NOT evidence of assimilation)
I agree, and we even have a problem with people who are second/third generation born here in the U.S. who didn't assimilate either.
But it does seem to me that Vivek Ramaswamy did in fact assimilate. It is fair to ask if VR did or did not assimilate I think.
Type in ‘Somali’ on job searches in your area. See what you get.
You are full of it.
You are making even less sense than before.
Then you should be able to provide proof that VR did not assimilate.
Mark Stein remains incorrect.
You need to go back and read what Steyn said - this time more carefully.
He’s not questioning anyone’s ‘assimilation’ - that’s your straw man - Steyn never even mentions the word.
Steyn’s entire critique is summed up by this rhetorical question:
“So a Daughter of the American Revolution is no more American than the daughter of a Minneapolis daycare owner.”?
He then adds “This would come as news to the fellows who wrote the Preamble to the US Constitution in order to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.
So, why don’t you answer that question?
Do you agree with Ramaswamy, that the progeny of the Founders, builders and defenders of this nation - existing Americans - should have no say regarding which newcomers and how many can partake in the American Dream?
To put the rights of would-be newcomers on par with the rights of multi-generational American families - is to raise a giant globalist open-border middle finger at existing Americans.
.
Ramaswamy is correct. America is an idea, it is NOT heritage. If it was heritage, then people like Elizabeth Warren, John Kerry, Gavin Newsom, Bernie Sanders, and I could give you a long list if you like, the Clintons, the Bushs, the McCains,
Would be more American than lets say Cubans who escaped with their lives from communism and assimilated into America because they want to be free. We could mention individuals as well, Yeonmi Park, Thomas Sowell, and Elon Musk all apply who are not of a particular heritage but have in their heads and hearts the American idea.
Steyn’s entire critique is summed up by this rhetorical question:“So a Daughter of the American Revolution is no more American than the daughter of a Minneapolis daycare owner.”?
The question is GIGO as constructed because it doesn't contain enough information and is also pigeonholed into uselessness.
A communist Daughter of the American Revolution is no more American than anybody agreeing with the ideals of Thomas Sowell, Friedrich Hayek, and the Founding Fathers from some country in the middle east or africa. I would say that the native born communist is the lowest form, actually.
He then adds “This would come as news to the fellows who wrote the Preamble to the US Constitution in order to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.So, why don’t you answer that question?
This is especially where Steyn falls apart. The Founding Fathers addressed this very thing. Samuel Adams, the organizer of the original Tea Party said:
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
So much for heritage, if you don't agree with the American ideal then leave and go home. The idea is more important, you can have your heritage right at home over there. Give me a Cuban who fled communism and understands liberty any day of the week over Elizabeth Warren who is clueless about the American idea.
I said assimilation because it sums up his discussion accurately in one single word. A Cuban who fled communism and became an American is more American than Senator Pocahontas. She did not assimilate and she has lived here her entire life.
You keep setting up these straw-man arguments that are easy to defeat - as though that is what Steyn was saying - but it’s not.
His point was that existing members of a community have the right (and responsibility) to decide which newcomers can join and how many. The would-be newcomers have no such right to decide.
Give me one example of a community group, club or nation where that is not the case.
Of course, a particular newcomer may wind up being a valuable member - perhaps contributing more than a legacy member. Of course, legacy members were all newcomers at some point. No one is arguing those points.
Is anyone welcome to move into your home just because they want to, or is that up to you and your family to decide? Why should a nation be any different?
You can take your globalist open-borders mentality and shove it.
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