What Does It Mean to Be an American

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What does it mean to be an American? The United States is immigrant nation consisted of different racial and religious people from all over the world. The diversity continues to increase in recent years with the growing portion of Latino and Asian. Each of those has one major thing in common; they are Americans. Many people wonder what it takes to be an American, while, that is probably not a simple question to answer. In the eye of law, American is who holds a citizenship of the United States. Government also set up political standards for immigrations to obtain citizenship. Basic knowledge of American history and government is expected, followed by the language requirements. But being an American doesn’t mean only to live within the boundaries of the United States or simply holding a U.S. citizenship. American people are not defined by “blood and soil” but more likely as Teddy Roosevelt said” Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul.” As a diverse country, what unite the disparate people who make up our country are common constitutional principles interpreted by the political culture, which is defined as broadly shared value, beliefs, and attitudes about how the government should function. American political culture emphasizes the values of liberty, equality, and democracy, and that is what sets our country apart from others. As David Miller, a leading liberal nationalist, emphasizes, a shared sets of characteristics constituting a national culture is a necessary feature of national identity. “ As with many other nations in the world, America has to bear the brunt of national identity erosion in the face of globalization. The scope and reach of government has changed dramatically over time, but the fundamental spirit, the belief in freedom, liberty and diversity, is manifested in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, the Bill of

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