what defines an Amercian?

Question

for example, loyalty

Answer 1

Any Man, Woman and Child born and raised in the United States of America, who is FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

If by "American" you mean "citizen of the USA", there is a legal entitlement definition which is being born or naturalized in the USA as some one said above. Then there might be a definition that transcends that. Our tradition is that the Prez swear to "Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States" and similarly those to which we entrust weapons (armed forces). Somehow in very recent history there appeared the misguided idea that, for the rest of us, we pledge allegiance to a flag, which can mean ANYTHING. ALL countries have flags and dictatorships honor flags, and the dictator, above law. Dictator Dumbya took the first pledge and PERJURED himself just then, because his intent was to shread the Constitution. I think if you are solid with the idea of preserving the Constitution, you're on the right track. Down with Dictator Dumbya!!!

Answer 3

I had a great experience when I was an undergrad visiting Germany back in 1996. A friend of mine and I were in Berlin and we ran into a guy on the street, who had been a boxer in Cuba. He defected to Germany when visiting there for a boxign exhibition. HE asked us where we were from. We replied, "the U.S." With a wink and a smile, he replied "I'm from America, too. Cuba."

Considering Canada, Mexico, and several other countries are also North America, it just depends on your perspective in terms of who gets to be "American"

Answer 4

Not the ability to spell, that's for sure.

Probably being a citizen of the United States. It is not necessary to be born in the U.S. to be an American. There are many great American patriots that are not native-born.

Beyond that, we are so different it is impossible to generalize; we are a nation of contradictions. However, I would say that there exist four characteristics that are common to most Americans:

FIRST, a deep and abiding respect for freedom. This does NOT mean the freedom to do what is RIGHT, but rather, whatever you WILL, so long as it does not interfere with another American's freedoms. This means, for example, that any and all free speech is allowed (short of yelling 'fire' in a theatre), including disrespecting others beliefs (so long as it does not interfere with the excercise of their beliefs) and all manner of profanity, so long as it is not judged "obscene by local community standards". Our love of freedom of expression is so great that rarely is anything judged "obscene", except that we penalize broadcasters who would utter one of seven or eight English words deemed "obscene".

SECOND, a deep sense of patriotism that is often blind to reality when we are "at war". In this we are not unlike other nations, whose press fails to report on official misdeeds for fear of being labeled "unpatriotic".

THIRD, we are extremely materialistic. I don't think I need to explain this, except to say that many "live to shop", and we are constantly bombarded with marketing messages wherever we go. We are such great consumers that many of us will work long hours with short vacations, and have little time to enjoy the "stuff" we accumulate.

FINALLY, we are individualistic. This is to say that the individual (together with his rights) is generally more important than the community. Part of this, I think, ties back to our materialistic desires. We don't have universal health care because that would mean some of us would be subsidising someone else's health care. That means less material acquisitions for the one doing the subsidising. Also, if the health care is universal, that likely means one can't pay more to get better service. The premise is simple: the individual's right to the fruit of his labor should supercede any moral right that the community should care for its less fortunate. Those who strongly advocate this position frequently believe the sole purpose of government is to protect rights (in particular, property rights). Others who would advocate against this position frequently believe the purpose of government is to enable citizens to thrive.
Yet, all would generally agree that the individual should have a right to the fruit of his (or her) labor, and that government at a minimum has a duty to protect the rights (and therefore, freedom) of others.

I hope this is closer to what you were looking for...

Answer 5

Freedom to do what is correct and to prevent what is incorrect.