What does it mean to be an American when half the country no longer shares the creed?

What does it actually mean to be an American?

This question sits at the center of the right and left’s diametric opposition on matters of immigration and citizenship. But the divide wasn’t always this sharp. For decades, says BlazeTV host Nick Freitas, the idea of an “American” was essentially “creedal.”

“It’s the idea that ‘well, if you kind of believe in the general idea of what America is, well, then you too can be every bit as much an American as anyone else,’” he explains.

But as the country becomes increasingly ideologically divided on national identity, the question of “what is an American?” demands a real answer.

On this episode of “Making the Argument,” Freitas provides exactly that by outlining the three things that decide who is an American — and how that differs from a true countryman.

“This is going to be controversial,” he warns.

Freitas highlights JD Vance’s recent speech, in which he argued that a creedal definition (i.e. “agreeing with the principles, let’s say, of the Declaration of Independence”) is an insufficient standard because it’s both “over-inclusive and under-inclusive.”

Freitas agrees. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) doesn’t share the founding principles of the Declaration, he points out, and the Democratic Socialists of America aim to “overthrow the United States Constitution as it currently exists,” but that doesn’t mean their candidates and voters are not technically Americans. At the same time, there are foreigners who genuinely support America’s creed, but that also does not make them Americans.

So what does? Freitas highlights three determining tests.

1. “Legally, you’re an American if you have U.S. citizenship.”

2. “Historically, you’re an American if you’ve actually been in this country for any period of time and you can actually draw roots back to it, which actually signifies some sort of continuity within the same place and the same traditions.”

3. “Creedally or culturally, you’re an American if you actually appreciate the various social, political, economic, and theological underpinnings of what created the United States and what has sustained it.”

Combined, these standards, Freitas argues, determine if someone is “comprehensively American” — but it’s the third that ultimately determines who true “countrymen” are.

“The people that I really see as my countrymen are the ones that have come to fully understand what it means to be an American, loves the principles and the philosophies and the traditions, and wants to advance them into the future,” he says. “That’s my countryman — whether you came here yesterday or your family came here 250 years ago.”

“Making the Argument with Nick Freitas” is available on BlazeTV+, YouTube, and major podcast platforms.

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