Why I put America Last
- John-Michael (Jean-Michel) Valat De Cordova
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
(CHESTERTOWN, MD) – There is this idea that has perniciously infiltrated American society that we are all Americans first. That's about our allegiance to decency, humanity, and morals. We are all (if we fit a certain phenotype) Americans, and should all be Americans first. This author stands resolutely against this archetype promoted by the orangutan in chief and his ilk, who have proliferated throughout society and occupied the highest offices, from the most menial labor throughout the land. I will argue in this piece of opinion that we are all and all should be good first, decent first, and human first, before we are Americans.
In fact, because of all that we may put first before being American, it will define to us what it means to be an American, what it means to be a good person, and what it means to be a patriot. Because while I am certainly an American last, I am proudly a patriotic American, and an American that believe that America can be a good and great nation at some point in time. I will argue that to be a patriot, we must all put America last. And being American, behind even that.
I am by all means an American. I was born to people who, at the time, were both American citizens, even if they were not born with it. I was born in the great state and city of New York, the city so nice they in fact named it thrice (New York State, City, and County)! When I think of what it means to be an American, I think something along the lines of what Lin-Manuel Miranda thought when he wrote the 2015 hit musical Hamilton, “Immigrants, we get the job done”, among other lines, stand out to me about what the dual consciousness that the real Hamilton was simultaneously a founding father and an immigrant to this land who came from away.
With this image, we then see the nascent idea of America, not a country of Anglo-American immigrants (though it was largely populated by these, and the wealthy elites were almost entirely these), but in fact a country of an ideal, the ideal that all its citizens were guaranteed “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and the types of ideas and people that proliferate the world when these rights are the foundational basis of a nation.
This, among other reasons, is why I put my ‘being American’ and ‘American-ness.’ last among the factors of my identity, and last among the things that I care about. When I think about what I put first, I put kindness, humanism, and decency, far before being an American. This idea that we may build a traditional ideal of a ‘legacy American’ is, if you may forgive my frankness, buillshit. Being an American means nothing. Without the ideals that built the Constitution, without the ideas that built our people, we are in fact nothing.
There is no legacy for the legacy Americans without liberalism, humanism, and decency. There is no America, certainly, without immigration from Europe to the lands of the Native Americans. We Europeans certainly were much less kind ‘illegal’ immigrants than South Americans are today when they come for jobs, peace, and security. Essentially, I find that there is nothing behind the word American without putting our values before the nation and the people. It is because America sacrifices for democracy abroad that we may enjoy it so fully at home. And it is because of this sacrifice that we allow ourselves some pride in ourselves; when we lack this, we necessarily lack the pride in being American, and for good reason.
In fact, this author finds that when the Trump crowd attempts to back America first, and being American first, before all else, we lose what it is to be an American. We lose the first and only nation founded, not because of our skin color, ethnicity, or identity, but in fact because we find ourselves and all others endowed with certain unassailable rights, dignities, and liberties for all. When we lose that, we find ourselves losing any civic pride in our civic virtues that we may have once had. In fact, we find that when Trump and his nationalistic know-nothings attempt to put America and being American first, they both come last in the hearts and minds of the people. We lose the moral authority that we were founded with, and find ourselves just another nation and just another shitstained country.
The suspiciously placed brown stain on a piece of underwear of the world, once a great nation with great and good values, now a notion of itself. So this July 4th, when the crowds cheer for the 250th anniversary of American independence, do an exercise for yourself, putting America last. Put America last. Put being an American last. Instead, promote within yourself, others, and governments the idea that we all should be allowed in the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
