Biden Includes Insidious Lie About America in His Farewell Letter
President Joe Biden issued a farewell letter to the nation on Wednesday.
That letter, as one would expect, had many lies. Just to name a few, our outgoing commander-in-chief claimed that his policies led to a robust economy while overlooking the role his weak presence on the global stage played in disastrous foreign policy outcomes.
But the most dangerous lie in the entire letter resided right beneath the surface and, like most pernicious lies, was coated in a veneer of truth.
Biden claimed that the United States of America is an “idea,” which sounds reasonable before one considers what exactly is meant by that claim. Biden called America an “idea” no less than five times.
“America is an idea stronger than any army and larger than any ocean. It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world,” Biden said. “That idea is that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“We’ve never fully lived up to this sacred idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either,” he continued. “And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.”
“History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands.”
Biden’s language sounds patriotic, and he even included a nod to our founding documents.
America was indeed made possible by revolutionary “ideas,” but defining America as an “idea” is woefully insufficient. America is a nation, not a mere set of propositions, and those who believe otherwise actually show deep contempt for the people we love and the place we call home.
Such people, by the way, can be found among the Democrats and the Republicans alike. In many cases, the notion that America is nothing more than a “propositional nation” is simply assumed, even by people who call themselves conservatives and truly do love this country.
If America is merely an “idea,” then anyone can become an American simply by adopting a set of those ideas, usually vaguely related to freedom, opportunity, and democracy.
That means the illegal immigrant from Guatemala who climbs over the border wall can be considered an American despite having no deep-seated love of America, our way of life, or our values.
One can see why our political elites love to claim that America is an “idea.” Our people and our home can be subjected to all sorts of abuses if such a notion is affirmed.
But if one looks at how the founding generation defined this great nation, they did not boil her down to a mere set of propositions.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay wrote in the second of the Federalist Papers that America is a “people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.”
In other words, the men who founded this nation shared a history rooted in Europe, a religion molded during the Protestant Reformation, and a political philosophy formed by the English Civil War. They also shared common language and customs, and as mentioned by Jay, they had bled and died together in a War for Independence against the mightiest empire on the planet.
Those sorts of bonds are not created haphazardly. Someone from a place like Guatemala can most certainly become an American, but that does not happen overnight.
Such a process requires true assimilation into our way of life and everything that entails, not merely a mental assent to a set of “ideas.”
Vice President-elect J.D. Vance detailed that truth last year in a speech at the National Conservatism conference, rebutting the notion that America is a “creedal nation.”
“America is not just an idea, though we were founded on great ideas. America is a nation. It is a group of people with a common history and a common future,” he explained.
Vance made reference to the fact that his ancestors are buried in Eastern Kentucky and how the people of that part of the country love America “not because it’s a good idea, but because in their bones they know that this is their home, and it will be their children’s home, and they would die fighting to protect it.”
There is no comparison between that vision and the “propositional” America espoused by Biden and most of our elites. The latter cannot cause a swelling in your chest or a lump in your throat.
But America, the nation, most certainly can.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
