Mein Gott! America is the new Germany

The Times (U.K.) ^ | 06/21/03 | Matthew Parris

[FITZ]

It is important to remember that at the time most "Germans" immigrated to America, there was no Germany.

Also I doubt there are any "pure" German people in the US, anyone with German blood has plenty of other blood and has no German identity, it's just a big part of the famous melting pot.

[Dan from Michigan]

Don't confuse him even more.

[Paulus Invictus]

Lessee now, Cherokee, Irish and Welsh, with some German. Does that mean that you may have a tendency to cry after hikes, drink at wakes, and join a choir anytime you meet other Welchmen and sing German army marching songs?

I'm part Scot, part Danish and part Engish with a touch of French. Does that mean I like blue body paint and fight anyone who takes offense, eat a lot of ocean fish, hate the Scots and refuse to fight in wars? Naaaah! What I really inherited from my nearest ancestors, my four grandparents, is an unbeatable tendency towards obesity, nearsightedness and a funny nose.

[danmar]

I'm an American Mongrel but am pretty much of 1/2 German - 1/2 Italian extraction

That makes two of us; knackwurst over basil pasta never tested so good!

[McGavin999]

Mmmmm, this guy has missed the whole point of America. America is just about every country on the planet all rolled neatly into one. We've taken the best qualities of each and strive to make that our goal, and we've been working on getting rid of the worst. We're everyone, from everywhere, and the only thing we have in common is the desire to look to tomorrow instead of looking back at yesterday. We believe in ourselves because we all come from sturdy stock who fought the frontiers of this wild land, or those who fought the oceans in ships barely kept afloat. We come from people who refused to submit. Whether that be German, Irish, English, french, African, Cuban, Latin American, Jewish, whatever, we all decided we love this country and we love each other enough to go forward together.

[danmar]

We certainly didn't get our optimistic outlook from the Germans, and optimism is what separates us from the Europeans.

You will be surprised what real "freedom", does to people.

[DPB101]

The first Speaker of the House of Representatives, Frederick Muhlenberg, was born in America but received his ministerial education in Germany . It was during his term that a petition from Germans to have Federal laws printed in German as well as English was defeated. When Muhlenberg was Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, he cast the deciding vote which defeated a proposal to make German the official language of Pennsylvania. Frederick's brother, Peter Muhlenberg--who was also a minister, is best known for a sermon he gave in January of 1776. At the conclusion of the services, Muhlenberg tore off his clerical garb to reveal the uniform of an officer in the Virginia militia.

From the Muhlenbergs to the Germans who came to America in the early 1900s and fought Germany in 1917, Germans have never had a tradition of dual loyality.

[FITZ]

We think of ourselves as Americans and really don't care where great-grandpa and great grandma came from.

Many Americans are lucky if they even get it right where their great grandparents are from. I think most American kids today have only the vaguest notion of which country their ancestors might have come from. I've heard people say 1/3 Irish, 1/3 German, 1/3 French or list more percentages than add up to one. For most of us, it really doesn't affect us one way or another if one ancestor came from Poland instead of Germany or Ireland or Italy. Who cares.

[MattAMiller]

Trust me, you are far better off with Italian food than German food.

I love German food, even Sauerkraut. There's a place here in town that makes a great schnitzle.

[July 4th]

Does this mean Milwaukee is America's new capital?

[plusone]

Anal expressive? Please don't go into details...

[Little Bill]

Truman was English, what ever happened to the English non elites as opposed to those that oppressed the working class, who is the more honest man a South Boston Irish theif or a limey socalist, I will take the Irishman on a bet.

[tet68]

"Raise high the banner........"

[fourdeuce82d]

I thought this article was excellent, with many pull quotes:

They learnt to see themselves as Americans rather than look back.

They learnt to see themselves as Americans rather than look back.

To Beinart’s list I would add the work ethic and energy

German-Americans have been so ready to forsake a separate identity, assume a new one, and push on

the work ethic, perseverance/determination/brains, plus Scotch-Irish cussedness (which moved DH Lawrence to write "the essential soul of America is cold, isolate, stoic, and a killer. And it has never yet melted.") make for a very, very dangerous opponent.

For all his demuring, I suspect the author is not as enamored of our purported qualities as he suggests- I, however, am. I think we rock.

[bribriagain]

In this case you are wrong. And so is the article. Over 54% of whites in this country have some German background. They have made America great.

[Dan from Michigan]

I will take the Irishman on a bet.

I would every time....but my bloodlines are 3/4 Irish. :)

[Prodigal Son]

when I sing it to myself (which is not often)

D'oh Bart!

Having gone back and reread the thread, I would like to make clear to everyone, I don't sit around and sing the Horst Wessel Lied to myself... The way my post sounds, it is like perhaps every tenth day I devote a little time to this song... This, of course, is not the case. Once you have learned the Horst Wessel Lied, you can go directly into marching and saluting... (natuerlich is das ein Witz! hahaha!)

[Little Bill]

English, Irish, and Scots myself, small inbred group. In politics if you get an Irishmans attention, and he agrees, that is the hard part, two Irishman, five political parties, you have the vote for five generations.

[Dr. Frank fan]

In this case you are wrong.

about what?

[bribriagain]

"Germans have never had a tradition of dual loyality."

Hear that?