The hill, or a fraud disguising oppression as democracy. We’re neither. We’re the world’s oldest, most successful democracy (republic is more accurate) which should take enormous pride in its history and accomplishments, and in its ideals, even if we’ve never really lived up to them.

And we’re also not classless and never have been, and are guilty of terrible wrongs and atrocities, like slavery and oppression of people already here when Europe arrived. Recognizing those things shouldn’t fill us with self-loathing or make us forget all the good binding us together. In that belief, I guess I’m a nationalist. A very different brand of nationalism than Trumpism.

Our journey to dominate this continent, rise to become the world’s dominant power, and to close the gap between our high ideals and actual circumstances should all be embraced together. It’s all part of the same package and in many ways the good couldn’t exist without the bad. If we ever could manage that, maybe one day we’d all share the same national self image, which we never really have. Not too many black people ever thought of the US as a shining city on a hill, because for them, it hasn’t been. But it still could be at some point.