Well, I think Mr. O'Hannigan reasserts the proposition nation
thesis again here but more softly. The idea or the creed or the
proposition or whatever may be a part of the overall culture
that we share. A love of freedom is more characteristic of
America than it is of some countries where order and authority
are more valued, for example. (This is often true
sociologically of colonial countries vs. the motherland from
which they sprang, and open frontier countries vs. densely
populated ancient cultures.) Europe thinks we are crazy for
resisting socialized medicine and gun control for example. But
the idea cannot be the defining characteristic. It is a part of
the overall cultural milieu.
For example, people often celebrate the fact that America has
religious freedom but treat it as incidental that America was
almost entirely Christian. Which is more important, the
particularly Christian nature or the religious freedom?
Christians should have no qualms about answering the former.
And if they answer the latter I think they need to seriously
examine their priorities.
And on a related note, America did not have "organic diversity"
except the Indians whose land we were expropriating and the
African slaves we brought here against their will. The vast
majority of Americans at the Founding were of British Isle
stock. (See John Jay Federalist #2). Our present diversity is
the result of immigration since the War for Independence,
immigration which is now, contrary to the related nation of
immigrants dogma, at unprecedented rates.