All Americans share heritage of freedom

Is there a hierarchy of Americanism? Many National Conservatives and other on the populist Right appear to think so. Using such terms as “legacy Americans” and “heritage Americans,” they distinguish citizens whose ancestors arrived in the United States before the 20th century from those whose ancestors arrived more recently, or who are themselves naturalized Americans.

The former group, the populists suggest, are more authentically American and have more of a right to shape the laws and customs of the United States than the latter groups do.

I reject this distinction outright. So do my fellow signatories to the Freedom Conservatism Statement of Principles. FreeCons believe that every citizen of the United States, regardless of his or her ancestry, is equal under the law and equally entitled to participate in America’s political, economic, and cultural life.

“The United States, as a sovereign nation, has the right to secure its borders and design a rational immigration policy — built on the rule of law — that advances the interests and values of American citizens,” we wrote. But we also observed that “America is exceptional because anyone — from any corner of the earth — can seek to live in America and become an American.”

For decades, my colleagues and I have criticized the use of racial preferences, arguing that they were illegal, unconstitutional, and counterproductive. Thanks to robust argument and successful litigation, such abuses are receding. We’ve moving closer to evaluating prospective students, employees, and contractors according to their own skills and actions, not crude racial or ethnic categorization.

Should we now abandon the principle of equality under the law for some blood-and-soil hierarchy borrowed from abroad? I say no, as do my fellow Freedom Conservatives and most other Americans.

A recent episode demonstrates the wisdom of our position and the perils of ethnic grievance. The increasingly unhinged Tucker Carlson invited racist podcaster Nick Fuentes onto his show. While Carlson remains perfectly capable of mixing it up with his guests, as exemplified by a spirited debate in June with Sen. Ted Cruz, he didn’t challenge Fuentes when the latter called for President Trump to arrest Democratic mayors and governors, decried the power of “organized Jewry in America,” and praised the murderous dictator Joseph Stalin.

Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, calls Carlson a close friend and prominently features him in promotional and fundraising pieces. After the Fuentes interview aired, online sleuth Jason Hart noticed that Carlson’s name had been removed from a Heritage donation page. Roberts then posted a video denying any effort to distance the think tank from the Carlson or his program. Arguing that Christians can criticize Israel’s policy choices without being antisemitic, a truth not actually in dispute, Roberts thundered that conservatives “should feel no obligation to reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington.”

In fairness, Roberts did say he disagreed with, and even abhorred, positions espoused by Fuentes. But “canceling him is not the answer either,” he insisted. “When we disagree with a person’s thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas in a debate.”

The ravings of bigots ought to be challenged aggressively. On that point, I agree. But Carlson did no such thing, and has himself “become America’s leading purveyor of antisemitic ideas,” according to a thorough and devastating cover story in the conservative magazine National Review.

Roberts did his institution tremendous reputational damage. I say that as a former visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Who was the other visiting fellow that year? A much-younger, much-wiser Tucker Carlson, as it happens.

Our fascinating, sprawling country has long been home to a variety of peoples and folkways. What has bound them together is a shared commitment to the republic’s founding principles. Only by broadening and deepening that commitment can we hope to renew and preserve American greatness. And only by championing that vision can American conservatives hopeto win consistently and govern effectively.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books Mountain Folk, Forest Folk, and Water Folk combine epic fantasy and American history.