What Makes Us American?

My daughter wrote a blog about my maternal grandmother who emigrated to this country when Grandma Anne was 16.  When she was 78, she traveled back to Norway to visit a sister she had not seen for 62 years.  Her sister told her that Anne should stay in Norway now.  Grandma Anne didn't even hesitate: "No, America is now my home," she said.

That sort of thinking on the part of my grandmother started me thinking about what makes us Americans.  Are we Americans because we believe in freedom?  Hardly!  There are many people in the world in other countries who believe in freedom.  Is it that we are born in America?  No, because then my grandmother would not have been American.  Is it that we speak American-English?  No, because many of the early immigrants did not speak English when they came here.  Is it that we have relatives here or family here?  My grandmother said America is her home; her family is there.  Yet she still had family back in Norway.  That is not what made her American.  Well, what makes us American?

There is only one answer.  An American is one who takes an oath to live under the Constitution.  The legal immigrants go through a process to prepare them to take a public oath to support and live under the Constitution of this country.

Granted, speaking a common language, American-English can be extremely beneficial in our daily tasks and our relationships, business and personal.  But there are many people who may speak American-English and still are not American.  People from many other countries have been taught our language, but are still citizens of their home countries.  There is only one characteristic that makes us American and that is committing ourselves to living by the Constitution.

But what does that say about Nancy Pelozi when she ridicules the question of whether the Constitution allows Congress to create and pass a certain bill?  Sounds like she is not American.  Or what about BO when he makes it known that he doesn't care what the Constitution or Congress say; he is going to do what he wants?  He doesn't sound American.  Or what about the California state government passing a law to not use the electoral college any more?  Doesn't sound very American.  Or what about our Congress in WDC passing Obamacare even though it contradicts the Constitution?  Those officials must have forgotten they are American.

So, what do we do about those officials, the President, the Representatives, the Senators, the bureaucrats, the czars, etc who show bold disrespect for our Constitution?  Well, if we can we educate them.  If they refuse to submit themselves to the Constitution, we remove them from their office because they have violated their oath of office and we elect others who will submit themselves to what makes us American, our commitment to the Constitution.  Oh, this will not happen overnight or in one election.  It will take longer than that.  But we must keep up the effort because if we give up seeking to live by the Constitution we stop being Americans, no matter if we have family here, if we speak American-English or we work here, live here or anything else.  It is the Constitution that shows us freedom and it is the Constitution that protects that freedom.  Without the Constitution we are nothing by serfs and slaves of the political ruling class.

LONG LIVE THE CONSTITUTION!!!!