The Shining City on the Hill

The Fourth of July is, as we all know, a celebration of our Declaration of Independence. It’s also a commemoration of this nation immigrants created—not because we were a common people but because we held a common idea.

Immigration isn’t just as American as apple pie. It’s a global phenomenon. Over the course of human history, people from all over the world have assertively sought opportunity elsewhere. Or those from oppressive, tyrannical, or war-torn nations have sought peace and freedom.

Whatever the cause, the modern global record on immigration is mixed.

Europe is experiencing an immigration backlash after opening the floodgates to millions of immigrants, many from the Middle East. European cultures are so deep rooted that immigrants don’t assimilate easily. And some immigrant cultures choose not to assimilate.

In Asia, countries with even deeper-rooted histories like China, Japan, and South Korea bring immigrants in for work; but, like Europe, there’s no expectation that immigrants will assimilate. No one really wants to immigrate to the Middle East or Africa. These have been very harsh environments for immigrants.

And then there’s the United States.

From day one, the United States has been a nation of immigrants. A nation born from that first collection of colonies, which were built on the idea that people from different backgrounds could come together to create something new. Unlike older nations rooted in shared ancestry, America was founded on shared ideals.

America’s pull has always been about individual freedom, rights protecting that freedom, and the chance to build something for yourself. People fleeing poverty or oppression come here because they believe in what this country stands for. And many don’t just hope to fit in—they want to fit in. Becoming American means more than getting official citizenship. It’s about pursuing the American dream and the pride of calling yourself an American.

So strong is the lure of this opportunity that people will risk life and limb to cross our borders. They will leave families behind, work tirelessly to earn more than they could at home, and send money back to their families so even they may benefit from a slice of the American Dream.

Why does this successful story of immigration almost exclusively belong to the United States? Why have we been so open to immigrants, and why have they been so attracted to us? What’s our secret sauce, the sauce that almost no other nation has been able or willing to replicate?

Most countries are built on thousands of years of expanding and contracting empires, deep and proud cultural histories and traditions, and wars fought to spread and preserve their cultures. By contrast, our culture is an idea, one that was entirely novel to the world when it was introduced— the idea that anyone can come from anywhere and join our culture of freedom and opportunity. The requirement is not that you give up who you are but that you agree to believe in and passionately pursue that uniquely American idea.

In recent decades, there’s been a war on the American idea. It began in the ivory tower, with roots that trace back to Marxist and postmodern ideas, aimed at dismantling societies in pursuit of utopias that never arrive. Using levers like multiculturalism, identity politics, and victim culture, these concepts spilled out of classrooms and into corporations, government, institutions, and most every facet of public life. Along the way, and by design, they have sown division, weakened our sense of national unity, and are threatening the very thing that made us unique to history.

Of the many American ideas in our current culture war’s cross hairs, immigration and assimilation has been a prime target. The culture warriors enabled millions of illegal immigrants to flood in—unvetted in all senses including a desire to embody the American idea. The process of assimilation was almost completely abandoned.

Once seen as a cornerstone of American success, legal immigration and assimilation have been labeled oppressive and even racist, yet one more extension of white supremacy. These clashing tensions are fracturing not just our country but also the fragile yet vital ideals that unite us and make our country work.

This isn’t the first time America has faced deep tension over immigration. And if history is any guide, it won’t be the last. But if we want to survive this stretch, we need to return to one of our founding ideals.

The melting pot, once central to our shared identity and to the unprecedented success of our nation, must be restored to its rightful place. Not a melting pot of different cultures with different values, but a melting pot of different cultures with the same values that made this country what it is—the shining city on the hill for all the world to see.