Recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that the multicultural experiment in Germany has “utterly failed.” I’m not sure what she expected. After all, how exactly is a Muslim Turk living in Berlin supposed to define himself? John F. Kennedy may have charmed the world when he made his famous statement, but Idoubt that today’s non-native residents of the city really feel like Berliners. Multi-kulti produced exactly what one would anticipate – a multitude of diverse cultures with certain impenetrable barriers between them. More of a bouillabaisse than a melting pot.
Germany is not unique in its failure to assimilate immigrants. My cousin has lived in Paris for well over twenty years and is still considered an outsider. She may speak the French language and eat French food, but she will never actually be French.
If however, she were to arrive in New York tomorrow, she could proudly claim to be American without ever having eaten apple pie or donning a pair of Levis. I would argue that she could even claim to be an American without having set foot on American soil.
Although the uber-universitized bemoan America’s alleged lack of culture, the reality is that Americans possess something far more profound than a common taste in food or dress or even language that has held us together these past two hundred thirty years. We are bound by a set of principles – life and liberty, justice and equality – that transcend man’s tribal tendencies. Our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are the anthems of a meta-culture that is united by allegiance to ideas, not artifacts.
For all its claims to civilization, Germany, like France and every other European nation, is eminently tribal. Germans possess a German-ness that marks them for life…or until they emigrate to America. While immigrants to Europe may be able to get by for a time living side-by-side with their home-grown neighbors, they will never be able to share a common heritage. They will always be outsiders.
I find it highly amusing that Europeans who are quick to loathe all things American have toyed with the idea of creating an umbrella under which their immigrant masses may huddle. They even created their own “Union” – a promising start – but could never quite agree on one constitution. Instead, they have a 479 page treaty that lays out various benefits and obligations that accrue to member states. Note to the EU…we’ve tried this sort of confederate approach before and it ended badly.
By the way, the preamble to the Treaty of Lisbon that governs the EU begins with the immortal words: “His majesty the King of the Belgians…” followed by the head of state of every other European nation. No mention about people as such, only as subjects of monarchs. Real progressive.
How does ours go again? Oh yeah…”We the PEOPLE.” Not the people of England or France or Spain, but the people of the United States who established this country to do away with artificial allegiances and instead pledge themselves to an ordered liberty that encompasses all who abide by its precepts. Have we formed a perfect union? No. Tragically, our history betrays the human tendency to prefer confederacies that elevate contrived distinctions above unions founded on certain self-evident truths – with disastrous consequences.
Still, I would argue that our union is more perfect because it is founded on the premise that we are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights. You can be born in Ankara and still lay the same claim to the ideas articulated in the Constitution as your neighbor born in Dubuque. Your allegiance to those ideas makes you both equally American.
For the record, the endowed by our Creator part is essential to equality. It is also self-evident, though apparently easily overlooked. If our rights are derived from any human source – i.e., the state or one’s community or a monarch – they will quickly devolve into privileges to be disseminated for personal or political gain. In other words, we would return to King George’s England where multi-kulti failed long before Chancellor Merkel pronounced it dead.
The beautiful thing about America is that anyone who holds to her self-evident tenets can claim her for their own. That is meta-culture and it is still the last best hope of earth.
