by Zach Bigalke

Created on: March 20, 2007   Last Updated: April 30, 2007

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who come here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

-Theodore Roosevelt, 1907

My mother recently sent me this quotation from the twenty-sixth president of the United States that effectively sums up the international animosities currently felt toward this country. When a political leader demands assimilation (in this case meaning to alter one's behaviors and conform to the popular societal trends) from an immigrant he denies that immigrant his basic freedoms: freedom of speech (in any language of choice), freedom of expression, freedom from persecution. Basically, Roosevelt said to immigrants - while the chief executive of the nation - that one can either become a carbon copy of what an "American" should be... or GET THE HELL OUT!

This philosophy, if it can be referred to as such, is overbearing and petulant. It is this misguided principle that causes Americans to feel self-righteous and vindicated in every action, good or bad. It is the reason that, rather than enjoying the pleasures of travel and the intricacies of another culture, we pine for the extravagant creature comforts to which we have become so attached and which are so unnecessary to sustain life. It is why the government gives tax breaks to corporations and sweeps its widespread poverty and homelessness under a rug. It is why we feel justified in returning hatred and violence with a greater show of hatred and violence in return.

When I say that I work on being less "American" each day, I simply mean that I work on reducing and eliminating these boorish, desultory traits within myself. I will always, at a elemental level, be American. There are many blessings that go hand in hand with an American birth and existence. I grew up in one of the world's most beautiful landscapes, Grand Teton National Park. I have seen

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