82 thoughts on “What is an American? Forget the state and just be a child of the nation – but what does this mean?”

1. I think it is hard for some people to shed their culture when they become immigrants and some others will always have an affinity for the countries they left behind, but being an immigrant means assimilating and taking on values of the new country and investing in it. Perhaps it is the children and grandchildren who truly melt in but the landed begin the process even if they don’t actively choose to and I think that making the switch is a choice.

   I still “sound” American though more and more I am picking up very Canadian vowel sounds and I have a different view of the politics and the traditional infrastructure issues because I have a basis for comparison that most Canadians don’t.

   I can’t erase what shaped me but I can choose who I want to be and to whom/what I gift my allegiance.

2. I see what you mean. The problem is that the word “citizenship” tries to do too much. If we separate out the threads we can see that there is citizenship as a formal legal status and there is citizenship as identity. My impression has always been that these two things were one and the same in the minds of most Americans. And yet we can find examples where that isn’t the case. Where, for example, a person is a formal citizen of a country with a passport but does not feel that he/she is really a part of that political/social/cultural community. We can also find examples where people feel to a certain extent some kind of connection with a homeland and that’s part of their identity. My grandmother is a good example. She was a German by blood and to some extent by language and she felt connected to that country on a cultural level. But she did not hold a formal status as a citizen of that country. She never had a German passport or voted or did anything to make herself part of that world. I like what calgary said about “heritage” which is how I would look at it that connection.

   So let’s say that American heritage stays important for some folks who renounce. Let’s say that the idea even catches on because, let’s face it, Americans in the homeland are pretty disgusted with the USG and telling them that we have renounced the gov, but not the people is likely to get a more positive response. I think many homeland Americans would very sympathetic to that position which effectively undermines the concept of citizenship as both identity AND a formal status. It’s an attack on the state and its right to speak for the nation – all Americans. In short, it’s a way of saying that we don’t find the current government desirable or even legitimate but we have no problem feeling proud of and wanting to maintain our connection to the American nation.

   Or maybe I’m full of it. 🙂

3. Good comment, Yoga Girl.

   I can’t erase what shaped me but I can choose who I want to be and to whom/what I gift my allegiance.

   Isn’t that what freedom should be, the very definition? What the US imposes for us is serfdom, the opposite of what the US Government pretends to uphold and sell itself on.

   Especially for the “Accidental American,” there should be a claim to US citizenship if there is a qualification and the responsibility of making that decision knowing all its requirements / benefits. We who were born in the US and now live abroad made our own choices for whatever reasons, among them freedom.

4. Consider this, that losing our US citizenship is how we maintain freedom and liberty. America should be proud of us!

5. Except that govts come and go as do the ideals and the policies. So dumping your country because of a current (or couple ) of administrations to go live someone else and yet continue to call yourself an American isn’t, I don’t think, what is at the heart of it for most emigrants.

   Sure, some people left to escape the draft in the 60’s and others have left for just employment or schooling, but if you take on another citizenship and put down roots, have kids and build lives that preclude returning to the US, you’ve done something a bit different than what the Homeland folk are being led to believe that expats are.

   My grandparents spoke German. Were first/second generation. Gramps loathed the US govt and active sought loopholes in the tax system and kept his sons out of WWII even, but he didn’t consider himself German. He was fully invested in the American dream.

   When you get down to motivation and self-identity, I agree it gets tricky and pretty subjective in a hurry, which is part of the problem. The USG can call me its citizen and say we have a contract but I don’t have to agree with that.

   Look at the Freeman movement in the US and Canada. Citizens who basically reject the idea of state and nation but probably still identify very much with the culture and values of where they live.

   Maybe when asked our citizenship status, we should just say “it’s complicated”.

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7. “Except that govts come and go as do the ideals and the policies. So dumping your country because of a current (or couple ) of administrations to go live someone else and yet continue to call yourself an American isn’t, I don’t think, what is at the heart of it for most emigrants.”

   ….which is why I refer to myself as Canadian.

   Yes, I admit that the US part wants to tag along like a real bad case of herpes. The $2350 cure is indeed, a bitter pill to swallow that I just can’t do right now. (looking for a new apartment for the Mrs. and I) But, I paid the fee, filled out the citizenship application, took the test, and swore the oath. I am what I am by my choice, and no one can take that away. Meanwhile, I can’t worry about things I currently have no control over, because it’s a waste of anxiety. I’ve done that too much, and I refuse to do any more.

   It’s just that now I carry two passports.

   Gotta deal with one problem at a time. It’s all I can say.