When Being American Isn’t American Enough…

I’ve got a few topics that really get me fired up. We’re about to get to one of them.
So, I’m reading the news online when I see the following headline on the Drudge Report–IRONIC: Canadian Singer Alanis Morissette Becomes American Citizen. I think to myself, “well, good for her…although it seems odd for someone that’s such a proud Canadian.” Then I clicked the link for the story. What I thought would be a rather interesting article was more of an “oh, wait” story. As in, “oh, wait…that’s not all.”
The story is a mere eight sentences long, and comes from the Associated Press, linked above:

LOS ANGELES – Canadian Alanis Morissette is now an American citizen.
The 30-year-old singer was among some 4,500 people who took the citizenship oath during a ceremony last week at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Morissette isn’t turning her back on Canada — she’s maintaining dual citizenship.
“I will never renounce my Canadian citizenship,” Morissette said in a statement Wednesday. “I consider myself a Canadian-American.
“There was a turning point during the ceremony where I felt connected to this country in a way that I didn’t quite expect,” she said. “America has been really great to me and I have felt welcomed since the day I came here.”
Morissette’s songs include “Ironic” and “You Oughta Know.”

She feels so connected to her new country she is proclaiming herself as a “Canadian-American.” (Someone should point out to Ms. Morissette that Canada is on the North American continent, essentially making her American anyway, yet I digress.) Now while that seems a benign term, it’s indicative of something much larger and certainly more destructive than people realize.
Multiculturalism.
While it’s sold to the general public under the guise of making people more sensitive to the ethnic heritage and cultural backgrounds of the citizens that make up our “melting pot.” While it seems harmless enough on its face, it takes something away from the word American.
Canadian-American. Irish-American. French-American. Spanish-American. Portuguese-American. Russian-American. It’s as if being American isn’t quite American enough anymore. It’s almost as if it’s something that people shouldn’t be proud of.
My Mom, like Alanis Morissette, was born and raised in Canada. Four of my sisters were also born in Canada. Mom, who became a naturalized citizen of this country in 1976, does not call herself a Canadian-American. She’s proud of her American citizenship because not everyone on the planet is lucky enough to live here. When you ask her where she’s from, she says, “I’m an American now. I was naturalized.”
I was born in Massachusetts. I’ve never lived outside of the United States. I’m American. My Dad was American. His Dad was American, and quite possibly even his Dad before that. Why is it that when other people ask me where I’m from my American pedigree doesn’t cut it? To them I must be Irish-American because my great great paternal grandparents stepped off the boat from Ireland. Imagine how much it must really annoy them when I prosecute the argument that I am a native American because I was born on this soil.
All this brings me to a quote from Theodore Roosevelt with regard to multiculturalism:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Roosevelt said that in 1915 and it is still true today. When we hyphenate our nationality we lose something of that national identity–what it means to be American.
What other countries hyphenate their nationality? None. You don’t hear of any American-British, Dutch-Australians, German-Icelanders or Brazilian-Chinese do you? No, of course you don’t. Let’s take it a step further, though, and ask the question a little differently.
Are the Israelis any less Israeli because their country was founded in 1948? Israel as we know it today wasn’t there before then. Are the people that live there not Israeli as a result? No, of course they’re Israeli.
Why are the rules different for Americans, then? Why is it frowned upon to have pride in being American? Generations of people before us were able to respect each other’s heritage without resorting to multiculturalism. If we’re all going to live here and be American, then it’s time we started looking at the single common denominator instead of drawing lines of demarcation around our differences.
That’s what multiculturalism is about. It’s not about heritage, it’s about differences. Differences that distinguish anybody from the white European males that “discovered” and settled America centuries ago. I mean, when was the last time you heard of a neighborhood “Anglo-American” festival? People in this country talk about unity and they talk about putting our differences behind us, but how can they when they insist on that difference being a prefix to their nationality?
Now, I’m not saying to forget your family’s past. Our heritage is a part of who we are. It’s important to be proud of where we’re from and to not lose that part of ourselves. That’s entirely different from what our nationality is, however. I’m immensely proud of the heritage and traditions that make up the fabric of my family on both sides. Our country was forged by people who fled their own countries in order to make a new life here. America represented something new and hopeful to the rest of the world, and still does. People try to come here every day to start a new life and have for over two hundred years.
I’m an American—first, last and always. I was born in the greatest country on the planet and I am fortunate to have been so. Being American is something to be proud of. TR was right. Being a hyphenated American is not an American at all.
You oughta know, Alanis.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com