Courtney Martin notes that when The Atlantic explored "the future of the idea of America" for its 150th anniversary this month, the magazine (predictably) asked primarily older men to contribute. So she offers her own take on the American Idea:
Generation after generation, Americans strive to be truer or freer or smarter or richer or perhaps just happier than their own parents were. This is why immigration is such a quintessential part of our national character. America is the sum total of millions of children trying to either make their parents proud or prove them wrong, sometimes both. Some of these parents have traveled across great distances to bear or raise their children in a land where they know progeny is expected to progress much further than its source.The American Idea is seeing what is and wanting more. Sometimes we mistranslate this into "things" -- gadgets, designer labels, vacation homes -- when, in fact, it means more authenticity. More joy. More fulfillment.
Read the rest here -- and leave your own thoughts on the American Idea in the article's comments section. --The Editors
