Shining City on A Hill

According to the Dictionary of American History, 2003, “The term "city on a hill" was initially invoked by English-born Puritan leader John Winthrop. The concept became central to the United States' conception of itself as an exceptional and exemplary nation.

In 1630, aboard the Arbella before the ship's departure for the New World, Winthrop recited a sermon to his fellow travelers. Drawing upon Matthew 5:14–15, Winthrop articulated his vision of the prospective Puritan colony in New England as "a city upon a hill": an example to England and the world of a truly godly society. According to historian Perry Miller, Winthrop believed that this religious utopia would be acclaimed and imitated across the Old World, precipitating the Puritans' glorious return to England. This never happened; instead, as settlements like Boston became prosperous, material success and demographic change undermined the religious imperative.

Nonetheless, throughout American history a secularized variation on Winthrop's theme has expressed the United States' more general and ongoing sense of exceptionalism—the nation's sociopolitical separation from, and supposed superiority to, the Old World. During the 1980s, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, President Ronald Reagan attempted to recover the image of America as "a shining city on a hill."”

Subsequently to the Puritans establishing their hegemony over New England, there were extensive laws passed restricting the civil and religious rights of Catholics, since Catholics, for the Puritans, exemplified the Old World. Since the Puritans perceived themselves as superior to anything having to do with the Old World, it was perfectly all right, and indeed, righteous to prevent the contamination of this wonderful “City on a Hill” which was to be a religious beacon to the rest of the world.

Thus, even though the original religious underpinnings to this concept have been lost, the concept of “American exceptionalism” was established, and since we were so exceptional and superior, it became the right and privilege of America to tell other nations how to run their business.  Particularly any country that had some resource that we wanted, or who simply stood in the way of our achieving what we wanted.  Examples are the corporate control of Central America by the United Fruit Industry in order for American citizens to have a plentiful supply of bananas.  Or the invasion of Iraq so oil corporations would have control of Iraqi oil supplies.

This idea of American exceptionalism has led some in our generation of Americans to the belief that we need to secure our borders to protect ourselves from, as Ronald Reagan called them, “the brown hordes of Central and South America.”  And Reagan even changed the “City on the Hill” to “The shining city on the hill”.  It has gotten to the point that some people in our country are viewing the unaccompanied children who are coming to the United States for refuge, as an invasion!  What are they afraid of? 

So often when people are really afraid of something, but can’t articulate that fear, another false fear is expressed such as that these children carry diseases (not true), these children are terrorists in disguise (too absurd to comment on), the children are carrying drugs (where on those little bodies?).  It is my opinion that what people are afraid of, and are being made afraid for political reasons, is that there will be new and radical ideas brought with these refugees, and that they will somehow dim the shining city on the hill. 

Come on, folks.  We have feared the Germans, the Irish, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Italians, the Blacks, and are still a really great nation.  Not great in the sense of the Roman Empire, but great in the sense that we still have a modicum of belief in our rule of law, and that all people, whether male, female, brown, black, pink, orange, purple or polka dotted, ought to be equal before that law.  This is such a novel concept to some people in our country these days. These brown people are no more a danger to our way of life than former peoples have been. 

The relatively small number of people coming in to our country from the South cannot, will not, and do not want to, dim that “shining light on the city on the hill”.  The only people who can do that are those of us who are already here.  

In my opinion, those people who are demanding these refugee children be sent back to a really violent environment have at least put a lamp shade on the light. To our shame.