The Republican National Convention took a break from the normal partisan beat of a convention to highlight one of the greatest American events that doesn’t get talked about enough, as five immigrants became naturalized United States citizens.
“Today, America rejoices as we welcome five absolutely incredible new members into our great American family,” President Trump said. “You are now fellow citizens of the greatest nation on the face of God’s earth.”
The increasingly popular view on the Left is that America is a uniquely awful country, one that forces itself on the rest of the world while subjugating its own citizens back home. The U.S., the Left claims, is deeply and systemically racist and sexist, and it will never truly accept many of its own natural-born citizens, let alone those who come here from across the world.
But America is a melting pot, one where first-generation immigrants can find themselves completely accepted into society with no caveats. President Ronald Reagan once relayed a letter he received that captured just how unique this country is, “You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won’t become a German or a Turk. … Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.”
According to the Pew Research Center, around 25% of the population of the U.S. is made up of first- and second-generation immigrants, a number at its highest point since the 1940s. People still flock to this country, with the Washington Post reporting last year that 2018 marked a five-year high in naturalizations of new citizens.
The U.S. remains a shining beacon, one that people will cross shark-infested waters to reach. It’s a country that symbolizes freedom worldwide, as Hong Kongers showcased in their struggle to resist the totalitarianism of the Chinese Communist Party. The stars and stripes stand for a set of values that transcends race and nationality, and that’s a message we should take with us into the heat of an election year and beyond.
