Who Are We?

The United States of America has always been a melting pot, of sorts. But we have also always maintained a large portion of our population which opposes the melting of the pot. One group (rich white people, to call them out) has always stood on the backs of others despite our lofty goals like liberty and justice for all. We are a nation build on violent oppression, which simultaneously espoused values that seemed to contradict the very nature of our founding.

Lately, I've been wondering about what defines America today, and similarly what defines Americans. In 2024 150 million Americans voted, and almost 90 million eligible voters did not. Devastatingly, Trump won the popular vote with 76 million, just 3 million more than Kamala received. Given this, do his voters define Americans? Around 245 Americans were eligible to vote, and only approximately 31% of those voters went for Trump. More people abstained from voting, either intentionally or by voter suppression, than voted for him. As much as it seems like Trumpers have taken over the country, they do not define us as a whole. The 29% of eligible voters who voted for Kamala will spend the next four years fighting tooth and nail to be heard over Trump's beating drums. 40% refused or were unable to cast a ballot for either candidate. Do those people define Americans?

America is a country of vast wealth disparities; Americans live lavishly and in poverty. It is a country with a complicated relationship with religion; Americans can worship any god they like, but the government bases decisions on a twisted version of Christianity. It is a country of opportunity as well as oppression; of class mobility and class warfare. We are a country of contradictions. We have Donald Trump and Mitch McConnel and Mike Johnson, but we also have Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders and Alexadria Ocosio-Cortez. And those are just well-known officials - Americans run the full gambit of the political spectrum, sometimes displaying a confusing range on an individual basis. There isn't one singular political ideology which defines our country, despite the results of the 2024 election. Even among the non-voters, despite being the largest percentage of eligible voters, there were countless reasons someone may have chosen not to vote at all. Fatigue over the two-party system, skepticism of election integrity or of whether their vote matters, even individual issues neither candidate appealed to like Palestinian sovereignty and self-determination. There isn't one ideology which can define this group either.

So what does define us? If asked 10 years ago, I would have said values of independence, personal freedoms, and a general desire to strive towards a more equitable society defined American culture. But so many Americans throughout our history have tried with varying levels of success to block access of those values for others. I don't know if it would have been an apt description 10 years ago, but it doesn't seem like a very apt description in 2024, given a third of Americans voted for someone who may well be the most bigoted and authoritarian-minded president in modern history. He certainly has the least respect for personal freedoms and equity of any US president in modern history.
I don't want America or Americans to be defined by the likes on Donald Trump and his groupies. But, in truth, I don't know what else could. I can only hope that a resolve to fight for what's right becomes an American trait in response to the hatred and ignorance that is sure to come to a rolling boil over the next few years.