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Entry: Further Notes on Nationalism Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/further_notes_on_nationalism#23482 Post contents: Thanks to Dan for writing a follow-up piece. I had asked for a definition of the "American nation," if indeed there is one. What appears above, to my eyes at least, is a definition not of a nation but of "nationality." "American nationality is a specific historical compound of cultures, religions, lineages, and geography—just like other nations . . . " I could be wrong, but it seems as if you are shying away from defining the nation per se: Stripped down, it reads "American nationality is a compound like other nations." A nation is a people united in some sense by birth, whereas nationality—in the American context, at least—tends toward the abstract. For there to be the sort of "traditional" nationalism that you suggest, there must be a circumscribed nation, one composed of these but not those. That nation will certainly have particular characteristics (a "nationality") but for a people to be "traditionally nationalist," it must love itself, not a "compound." "Nationalism" that is characterized by love of such a "compound" is itself ideological. Thus, Lukacs in your citation: "The American idea of nationality has been ideological." I see evidence of this in the reference to "our Pilgrim fathers." If I am part of the "American nationality," that means that they are my fathers, at least "mythically." They are not. They are as much my "fathers" as they are the fathers of any illegal Mexican who is willing to love the aforementioned compound. Sent at: 2008 09 07