Thanksgiving embodies the central place of gratitude in the
American tradition — gratitude for the extraordinary achievements of our
country. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the founding of a unified
nation dedicated to a set of guiding principles, we can marvel at how we have
stumbled, persevered, and ultimately risen to become one of history’s most
remarkable societies. Our past includes dark and destructive periods, yet time
and again we have managed to renew our commitment to those foundational principles
and preserve our republic.
But what now? The 21st century has brought profound
challenges to that code — challenges that reach beyond America itself to the
broader framework of Western Civilization, which has in many ways been built
upon the American model. As America goes, so goes the West. Will it come to
that? We can only hope and pray not. Much depends on whether enough Americans
remain willing to defend these principles in the face of an unlikely but
increasingly assertive alliance aligned against them.
One part of this alliance is radical Islamism, whose
explicit goal is to replace Western Civilization and who will employ any
means—including infiltration, intimidation, and violence—to advance that aim.
The second is its unwitting support system: the “woke” enablers who, misled by
a decades-long, well-funded campaign, have come to view the Islamist cause
through the lens of victimhood and anti-colonialism. They have been persuaded,
wrongly, that Western institutions are the oppressors and thus believe they
must stand in solidarity with those seeking to undermine them. Historians may
someday study the surprising success of this strategy; we can already identify
at least one contributing factor: the decline of K–12 and higher education,
particularly in teaching the meaning and value of the American code.
This is why universal school choice is long overdue. Yet
even if such reform were miraculously enacted, it would not, by itself, set us
back on course. Restoring our bearings will require a renewed political
orientation across the board. Both major parties are confronting challenges
from their own extremes—forces similarly hostile to America’s founding
principles. Both parties should undertake initiatives to bring their members
back within the framework of the American code and to reject those who refuse
to affirm it.
For this reason, I propose a well-publicized
250th-anniversary affirmation by all elected officials and party members —
something along these lines:
“I affirm this truth as sacred: that all people possess
the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and private property, with which to
peacefully pursue their happiness.”
A national recommitment to the core principles that made us
great — and that can drive our continued progress — is essential.
Which brings me to a particularly troubling dilemma. America
was built by immigrants — by our unmatched ability to welcome and integrate
millions from diverse cultures, each generation bringing new energy,
creativity, and enterprise. These immigrants came with the desire to become
American in both action and attitude, even while preserving what they cherished
from their own traditions. A thousand flowers bloomed.
But today we may, for the first time, be facing a
significant immigrant group credibly committed not to joining our system, but
to replacing it with their own. How should we respond to this threat — from
those already here, from those abroad, and from those seeking to immigrate? I
do not have a clear answer. I remain convinced of the immense benefits of
peaceful and open immigration. Precipitous enforcement action risks discarding
the very qualities that have defined our success. The recent actions of ICE are
the result of opportunistic abuse, not of the real threat to which I refer. It
is, indeed, a painful dilemma.
