In the 21st Century What is an American? - By Rodney Brown

We live in Flint, Michigan. My son, the future politician, has been campaigning throughout the city of Flint. The results of that canvassing has given the view that the people of Flint are less than concerned about grand, metaphorical questions such as “What is an American?” They focus more on the mundane, the practical: “How long will I be able to keep the lights on?”, “Why can I not find a job?, “Can I feed my family for just one more week?” This is their world, this microcosm. It is rare, these days, to find citizens comfortably well off enough to spend time pondering this, to most outside of the city's borders, highly important question “What is an American”. And so I cherish the answers I have been able to obtain, from those who are willing to take the time to stop, sit, and think, and review their role in the history of this nation, not the state, the overarching government, the borders drawn by political actors, but the nation, that imperceptible imaginary community of ideals, thought patterns, morals, and culture.