"Liberal Versus Conservative America

In an important essay entitled "What Does It Mean to be an 'American'?" [16] Michael Walzer reveals that there are two competing understandings or constructs of America: (1) the liberal-pluralist construct; and (2) the conservative-nativist one. The first sees America as a political cum economical arrangement that is culturally, religiously, and ethnically anonymous. [17] On this understanding, America connotes a manyness that is cultural cum religious while denoting a oneness that is political cum economic. To be an American, on this construction, all one has to do is "commit [one]self to the political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism [i.e., representative government.]" [18] For the liberal-pluralist, the true meaning and value of America resides in the right and duty to live in peace with all other Americans, "by agreeing to respect social manyness." [19] As far as religion is concerned, America as a political arrangement is either unqualified by religion or qualified by so many religions as to render it free of any one of them. [20]

The conservative-native understanding, on the other hand, invests more heavily in the notion of America as a melting pot. Like liberal-pluralists, conservative-nativists see America as a political cum economical arrangement. But unlike pluralists, nativists perceive a certain danger in cultural/religious manyness. The latter, they fear, threatens the kind of political integrity and allegiance that is essential to the country's welfare. To nativists, not only is there a positive correlation between cultural oneness and political unity, there is also a clear advantage (if not necessity) in converting the cultural pluribus into a uniform national unum. This for nativists is the very meaning of E pluribus unum("From many, one"), at least regarding those who qualify on the basis of whiteness. Undergriding this perspective is the belief that a very particular cultural genius brought forth the miracle of America and that this particular culture must be preserved, promoted, and reproduced. Those who hail from or identity with "other" traditions must be assimilated into this unique and seminal "American culture."

-Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection by Sherman Jackson, pg. 138-139