Seeking America’s National Identity
Sociologist, Elias Cannetti, believes that every country has a symbolic national identity. Recognizing the British naval tradition, he suggests, “The Englishman sees himself as a captain on board a ship with a small group of people, the sea around and beneath him.”
The Dutch see themselves as a dike withstanding the sea. They are a human wall opposing the ocean.
The traditional German identity is wrapped up in an army of forests. The German has a deep feeling for both the military and the woods. The upright, sturdy forests fit the German self-image. The forests, “fill the hearts of the German with a deep and mysterious delight…he feels at one with the trees.”
The most powerful symbol for the French, writes Canetti, is their revolution and the storming of the Bastille, the single moment when the modern country was born. It is their most significant memory; it is who they are.
How about the Swiss? It has to be the mountains. “It is always before their eyes, unshakeable, and impregnable…” The Swiss personality is stable, erect and strong – like the mountains themselves.
All of this might be no more than fanciful musing, but let’s play the game and speculate as to what the American symbolic identity might be. How do we subliminally see ourselves? What are we? Who are we?
One possibility is McDonald’s, a fast, inexpensive, innovative and a successful capitalist enterprise. That sounds like America. Are we secretly burgers and fries?? Not likely. How about the New York skyline, a perfect image of America. New York is arguably the financial capital of the world. The Empire State building, recognizable to everyone, reaches majestically 102 stories. Maybe, but not quite.
I think I know who we are. But before we get to it, consider these observations as I traveled from Hawaii to New York last summer.
Newspapers – I was struck by the ubiquity of newspapers; they are found in the smallest hamlets to the biggest metropolises. Hale Missouri - population 374, has a weekly newspaper/newsletter. Greeley, Colorado, population, 108,000 has an afternoon daily, complete with editorials, sports and classifieds. New York City has the lordly Times. Newspapers have been a common and vital aspect of American life since colonial days, when young Ben Franklin wrote editorials for The New England Courant in Boston.
Elections - As we walked the streets of Hiawatha, Kansas, a hand painted sign exhorted us to “vote Webster for Sheriff.” Across the street, in red, white and blue, was the “Clements for Sheriff” poster. Elections are imprinted on our psyches as a birthright. Every school holds student elections. We the people are the government’s source of power.
Schools – Schools are ubiquitous. Soon after the American Revolution, the Land Ordinance of 1785 reserved a portion of every township for education. Today 139,930 schools dot the country. From Kindergarten through our universities, education is part of the mosaic of American life.
Churches – Also ubiquitous. Over in Hale, Missouri is the First Baptist Church. Denver has the Unitarian Church, Synagogues, and everything else. We saw the Mormon temples of Utah, and cruised past St. Peters Cathedral in New York City. We watched the waves splash over Plymouth Rock. From the Pilgrims to the Charismatics, from Cotton Mather to the Reverend Moon, the concept of religious diversity and freedom has been pervasive.
Information – While driving along the blistering, dry bluffs of Arizona, where the desert stretched before us, parched and studded with growth, the radio entertained us with music and news. We are rarely out of range of the air waves. Cell phones put us in touch with everyone everywhere. This too, is America – the free flow of information.
Motels and Highways – Although we sometimes felt alone driving long stretches of highway, we never worried about finding a bed for the night. Motels are everywhere. Out west in the middle of nowhere, we stayed at a lovely Holiday Inn with a swimming pool. The highways and motels indicate that The United States is vast, open and free. We even call the highways “freeways.”
What then is our national identity? Freedom. And the national symbol is the Statue of Liberty. No other idea is as basic to our identity as freedom. The concept is as solid and permanent as stone. Lady Liberty announces to visitors and immigrants that here they can pursue the lives they want. We are freedom. We are free. We are the Statue of Liberty.
The ubiquity of newspapers, elections, schools, radio and television, flowing information, churches, motels and the vast open highways remind us who we are. If Englishmen are sea captains, the Swiss mountains, and the Germans an army of trees, then we are something different - we are something intangible. We are an idea, symbolized by the physical presence of the Statue. It is the bedrock upon which everything is based.
Although freedom has sometimes devolved into riot and license, as we are experiencing today, the concept is seared into us. We have become one with it; we have psychologically fused with it.
We are the Statue of Liberty.
We are free.
It is etched in stone. It is stone
It is who we are.
Update – In the May 1st posting, about two weeks ago, I lamented the increasing use of the F-word in the media. It’s not only distracting, not only pointless, but is indicative of a negative cultural slide. Yesterday in an interview, Vice-President, Kamala Harris, dropped an F-bomb, then laughed and laughed. It wasn’t a hot mike. She didn’t stub her toe. Perhaps it was an attempt to curry favor with some identifiable voting block. Maybe she thought it would appeal to younger voters. Maybe it wasn’t calculated at all; she blurted it out impulsively. I don’t know.
I miss the days when politicians had gravitas, when they were serious people, mature, worldly, decent, psychologically healthy and even opinionated, but not driven by their egos. When Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower ran against each other twice in the 1950s, these two distinguished gentlemen may have been boring, but they were serious and stable. The current presidential candidates are none of these things. Their language provides a mirror into their souls. That mirror reflects, not only who they are but who we have become.
The next post will be in five days. The Crisis Train has left the station.
This link takes you to the initial explanation for CRISIS