27-04-2025
Opinion: America, who are we?
America currently faces an existential question: Who are we? Recent attacks on individual liberty put the health and soul of our nation in jeopardy.
Liberal democratic republics like the United States are founded on a commitment to individuals. The commitment to individuals is plain in The Declaration of Independence, with its assertion that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.'
Government founded on an inviolable commitment to individuals signified a new type of government — one that was restrained and could not idly compromise individual rights for the whims of a ruler or even the good of the whole. If it worked, it would mean citizens could pursue their interests without fear of tyrannical or capricious government intervention. It was a bold idea. Would it work?
The question raised by many observers was whether such a government could sustain the cohesion of society. Would commitment to individual rights lead to chaotic fragmentation?
The French sociologist Emile Durkheim did not think so. He argued that liberal democracies are held together by their shared commitment to individuals. He described this commitment as a kind of religion, in which society takes the individual as something sacred: 'Whoever makes an attempt on a man's life, on a man's liberty, on a man's honor inspires us with a feeling of horror, in every way analogous to that which the believer experiences when he sees his idol profaned.'
Thus, Durkheim argues, whoever 'defends the rights of the individual, defends at the same time the vital interests of society; for he is preventing the criminal impoverishment of that final reserve of collective ideas and sentiments that constitutes the very soul of the nation.'
Let us suppose that we fail in this endeavor. This is not difficult because our own history is replete with both successes and failures. America's founders secured liberty for many but not for the enslaved (4 million in the South during the Civil War). Constitutional protections did not protect Native Americans who were forced from their lands. During World War II, Americans bravely fought the Axis powers, while forcing Japanese Americans into internment camps. Given our mixed record, is it any wonder we are a divided nation?
If we fail in our sacred commitment to individuals, what holds us together, and what do we become? The answer is sobering. We become a nation without shared values. We become a nation that believes in freedom only for some. And who are these fortunate souls? Those who hold power. They use their power to protect their own while allowing the rights of others to be compromised whenever convenient.
If this sounds dramatic, consider the writings of non-white Americans for whom the promise of liberty was only a dream. During Jim Crow segregation, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote, 'the democracy which the white world seeks to defend does not exist. It has been splendidly conceived and discussed, but not realized.'
In a similar vein, Langston Hughes lamented that 'America was never America to me.' For these Americans, America was a splendid yet unrealized promise.
Today we see the executive branch attacking individual liberties. Legal residents are being deported to international prisons without just cause. International students are having their visas revoked for exercising their First Amendment Rights or minor violations like speeding or fishing without a license. American citizens are being arrested by immigration officers, despite committing no crime. To top it off, the president has floated the idea of deporting American citizens who commit crimes.
Thus, as Americans, we again face the question: Who are we? Are we a people who truly hold our founding principles sacred, or are we a nation of egoists who will tolerate injustice as long as we get ours? Now is our opportunity not only to correct injustice, but to heal our nation by reaffirming our shared commitment to the sacred ideals which hold us together. Let us be the America worth believing in.
