Amazing Quotes 26: Huntington's Who Are We?

"Who are we?" is the last, and arguably, most controversial book of Samuel P. Huntington. This book discusses the nature of American identity. Some accused Huntington as racist because he doesn't care about political correctness and pointed out that illegal immigration is illegal, and dangerous for American identity. I disagree with some part of this book, nevertheless, it still contains tons of thoughtful quotes such as:

We have to know who we are before we can know what our interest are.

-- page 10

Historical experience and sociological analysis show that the absence of an external "other" is likely to undermine unity and breed division within a society.

-- page 18

Competition and conflict can only occur between entities that are in the same universe or arena. In some sense, as Volkan put it, "the enemy" has to be "like us."

-- page 26

To describe America as a "nation of immigrants" is to stretch a partial truth into a misleading falsehood, and to ignore the central fact of America's beginning as a society of settlers.

-- page 46

The Protestant emphasis on the individual conscience and the responsibility of individuals to learn God's truth directly from the Bible promoted American commitment to individualism, equality, and the rights to freedom of religion and opinion.

-- page 68

While the American Creed is Protestantism without God, the American civil religion is Christianity without Christ.

-- page 107

Americans created the term and the concept of Americanization in late 18th century when they also created the term and the concept of immigrant.

-- page 133

The Americanization movement began with private organizations at the grass roots.

-- page 135