NOTE: Text of a speech I gave at a Toastmasters meeting:
I’d like to talk to you today about why you should be proud and happy to be an American. But, before I tell you what’s good about America, I’d like to tell you about some bad things America has done.
The bad things start, of course, with America’s original sin – slavery. Over a period of about 200 years – including 90 or so years after the preamble to our Declaration of Independence declared that “all men are created equal” and entitled to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” hundreds of thousands of Africans – and millions of their descendants – were condemned to unequal, unfree, unhappy lives as slaves in America.
But blacks are not the only minority to have suffered injustice in America. In 1830, for example – in order to make 25 million acres of land available to white settlers – Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the forced removal of Indians from our southeastern states. Starting in 1831, the U.S. military drove nearly 50,000 Indians from their ancient homelands – and marched them hundreds of miles west to the so-called Indian Territory. Thousands of Indians died during those cruel forced marches along what is known as the Trail of Tears.
Another example: In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring virtually all Chinese immigration to the United States – and prohibiting those Chinese already in the country from obtaining U.S. citizenship. With extensions, the Chinese Exclusion Act remained in effect until 1943.
In foreign policy, the United States has a long history of military expansionism and unprovoked invasions. For example, if one of your children ever asks you, “Mommy, (or Daddy,) where did California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and most of Arizona and Colorado come from?”, you can tell them, “Well, dear, we essentially stole all that territory from Mexico at the point of a gun – after invading Mexico in 1846.”
In our more recent history, both the Viet Nam and Iraq Wars started with unprovoked U.S. attacks on small nations that had neither attacked nor overtly threatened us.
We also have a long history of uninvited intervention in the affairs of other countries. For example, we now like to lecture Iran’s government about the virtues of democracy and free and fair elections. Well, guess what! In the early 1950‘s, Iran
did have a democratically elected prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh. But after he nationalized the Iranian oil industry – formerly controlled by the British – Mossadegh was overthrown in a CIA coup – and replaced by an unelected Iranian general.
And then there was Colonel Jacobo Árbenz, the democratically elected president of Guatemala who offended United Fruit Company with some land-reform measures. After heavy lobbying by United Fruit, the CIA engineered a coup that overthrew Árbenz in 1954.
Finally, our government has a long tradition of violating the constitutional rights of its own citizens. For example, the Sedition Act of 1798 made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government. Obviously, “false, scandalous, and malicious” are vague terms that the government reserved the right to define. Twenty-five people – including a member of Congress and newspaper editors favoring the opposition party – were arrested for violating the Act. And 10 people were convicted of sedition, often in trials before judges who were partisans of the party in power.
The Sedition Act of 1918, passed during World War I, forbade “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language regarding the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces.” It also forbade any language that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt. Once again, these were vague prohibitions, left open for the government to define. Accused of trying to impede the draft, the famous Socialist Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to 10 years in prison under this law. Many members of the Industrial Workers of the World union were imprisoned. And hundreds of other people were arrested for speaking out against the draft or the war.
So, if the United States has done all these bad things – and many more, too numerous to mention in eight to ten minutes – why am I saying that you should be proud and happy to be an American? Well, first of all, because I can stand here and say these negative things about our country – without worrying about being arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or executed. For, while some people have suppressed our rights from time to time, we still enjoy many wonderful freedoms in America – including the freedom to vigorously criticize our country and our government. That’s a freedom that people in many other countries don’t enjoy, as you know.
Another reason you should be proud and happy to be an American is that – without intervention by any foreign power – the United States has righted most of the wrongs of which I’ve spoken. Not always quickly, to be sure. And not always fully. But we’ve fixed them. I don’t doubt that America’s population includes the same proportion of tyrants, bigots, imperialists, warmongers, liars, exploiters, murderers, fanatics, and other evildoers as does the population of any other country. And sometimes, unfortunately, these bad people have their way. But, in the end, there’s a fundamental decency written into the laws of our land – and imprinted into the DNA of the American people – that always seems to carry the day.
And here’s another reason you should be proud and happy to be an American: Because, all over the world, people watch our movies, listen to our music, read our publications, and speak our language. Why? Because America’s democracy, tolerance, and free enterprise have unleashed the genius of the common people to create a culture that touches the human soul as much in Naples or Nairobi as it does in Newark.
And here’s still
another reason you should be proud and happy to be an American: Because you’re lucky enough to live where so many other people desperately would
like to live. Over the years, millions of people have risked their lives and fortunes – and bid farewell to everyone and everything that they knew and loved in their lives – in order to come live in our land of freedom and opportunity. These days, about 15 million people every year, in countries around the world, enter a U.S.-government lottery in which the prize is not a $250,000,000 Powerball jackpot, but the opportunity to claim one of 50,000 green cards that allow the winners to live and work in the United States of America.
So be proud and happy to be an American.
Not because America is God’s City Upon a Hill, as some would claim – because it isn’t. America is just another one of those artificial human constructs known as nations; and we have a full complement of human flaws and virtues. And please don’t be proud and happy to be an American in the blind, patriotic spirit of “my country, right or wrong.” Because you have the freedom – and, indeed the
duty – to criticize our country and government whenever necessary, in order to help preserve the good in America – and correct the bad.
No, I don’t think America is perfect. Not even close. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t find something to dislike about America’s culture, government, legal system, educational system ... or whatever. But I still tear up almost every time I hear the Star Spangled Banner. Because, even with its flaws, America is still the greatest nation in the world – economically, socially, politically, militarily, and culturally. And it’s the greatest nation in the world, above all, for the freedom, opportunity, and tolerance it offers its people. That’s why I’m proud and happy to be an American. And that’s why you should be, too.
