Not too long ago, I was interviewed on a radio show.  Shortly before my interview ended, and before I could really say much more, one of the two hosts affirmed the conventional, bi-partisan orthodoxy that America was founded on an “idea.”  Presumably, this idea is the “self-evident” principle famously enshrined in the Declaration of Independence that all human beings are in possession of “unalienable rights” that they’ve derived from their “Creator.”  For lack of a better term and for the sake of economy, this doctrine regarding America’s genesis I will henceforth refer to as “Americanism.”  Unfortunately for its rightist adherents, it has some rather unsettling ramifications.  

From the very same Christian perspective that many on the right hold, Americanism borders on blasphemy.  As far as the Christian is concerned, there is but one Incarnation, and it occurred when the Eternal Logos, the Light of the World, Christ, stepped into the current of history by assuming flesh.  At once God and man, timeless and temporal, transcendent and immanent, Christ—the Anointed One, the Messiah—redeemed the human race.  The conventional narrative of Americanism is modeled on this Christian template; the only problem is that the latter has been divested of every vestige of the true Christos in favor of a new Messiah to the world: America itself.

Since the idea upon which America is allegedly founded and which it is said to embody is a basic or self-evident principle or proposition, it is a priori—prior to all experience.  This in turn means that it is transcendent, timeless, and universal.  But America as an historical entity is concrete, temporal, and particular.  Thus, the logic is inescapable: America is this idea “made flesh” or incarnate.  

Proponents of this narrative may object that the principle of which America is the world’s first expression, deriving as it does from God, is not intended as a substitute for the latter.  America is the new Israel—the New Jerusalem—not the new God.  There is at least one insuperable difficulty with this line of reasoning, though.

On a standard reading of the Bible, the New Israel arrived long before America came into being: its name was Jesus Christ.  The author of the book of Isaiah describes Israel as the Lord’s “Suffering Servant,” a title that Jesus later affixed to Himself.  Furthermore, Israel is often characterized as a “light to the Gentiles”—but only until the advent of Christ. 

To put this simply, this objection only strengthens the charge of blasphemy.  It is one thing to believe—as I believe—that America is a gift, a blessing, from God; it is another matter entirely to render it an idol.  This, however, is exactly what happens when America—or any historical society—is conceived as the embodiment, however imperfect, of an eternal moral truth.

Conservatives have distinguished themselves as the enemies of all utopianisms.  Indeed, it isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that, at bottom, it is just his vehement resistance to all such fantasies that makes the conservative who he is.  While the following three reasons for this opposition are mutually distinct, they are mutually complimentary.

First, insofar as utopian dreams are dreams of a perfect world, they are inherently unrealizable in the here and now; so, the utopian visionary is a fool for thinking otherwise.  Second, because the zealotry with which he pursues his goals inevitably entails profound losses for flesh-and-blood human beings in the real world, the visionary is reckless.  Finally, the utopian’s monumental hubris, coupled with his invincible resolve to remake the world into his own image, exposes him as blasphemous.

In declaring America to be the first and only society in all of human history to have been erected upon a universal and timeless moral truth, a principle of the “equal rights” of every human being, today’s “conservative” proves himself committed to utopia. Only his utopia, the Kingdom of God come to Earth, is America.  

There are various difficulties with Americanism as I have defined it.  And I will write about these at a future time.  For now, however surprising and disturbing it will doubtless strike many as being, our verdict is clear: Americanism is utopian and, thus, blasphemous. 

Jack Kerwick, Ph.D.