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Italiano我们是美国人，但生错了地方——祝美国生日快乐
我们是美国人，但生错了地方——祝美国生日快乐
彼得．施拉姆（Peter W．Schramm）
做一个美国人，是血缘、出生地决定，还是个人的选择？什麽叫“生错了地方的美国人？”在匈牙利出生，现为美国Ashland大学政治学教授的施拉姆（Peter W. Schramm）最近出版回忆录《基於原则》（On Principle），讲述了他“选择”做“美国人”的心路历程。加州“克莱蒙研究所”出版的2007年秋季号《书评》，发表了该书片断。在美国独立日前夕，施拉姆在《旗帜周刊》上撰文，讲述他为什麽称自己是“生错了地方的美国人”。——编者按
以下是译文：
这个星期，我从移民局接受了一个叫“Outstanding American by Choice”的奖。这奖的名称非常有意义。它当然是被用来表扬杰出的、归化的美国公民。但自愿成为一个美国人（being an American by choice）的想法却点出了一个重要的事实：当一个美国人并不只是一个快乐的偶然。美国人，不管是自然的或是归化的，必须被训练——他们必须被塑造（made）——并且这些日子我的大部分时间都致力於把那些“偶然出生这里的人”塑造成“美国人”。
五十年前，当我还未过我的十岁生日，在抗俄（共产主义）革命刚失败後，我家逃出了匈牙利。我家的故事就像是许多其他共产主义难民一样，包括亲戚被拘捕，财产被没收，和夜间快速奔向自由。在当时逃脱是一项容易做出（虽然不那麽容易操作）的决定。但我明确的记得当时问了父亲一个问题——“我们要去哪里？”的确，我们能留在欧洲——因为当时德国人会由於我们的德国姓氏而将我们当德国人（Volk deutsche）般的欢迎我们——但那并不是我的父亲的计画。“我们要去美国，”他说。“为什麽是美国？”我问。“因为，儿子啊，我们是美国人，但生错了地方。”
生错地方的美国人？我用了过去五十年大部分的时间想要更加了解这句话的含意。说实在的，大家都知道美国是你可以不受干扰而追求繁荣与自由的一个好地方。但当他说，我们是“生为美国人，但在错误地方”时，我父亲，用他的方式，说明了他了解“美国”除了是个地方，也是一个概念。根本上，美国是一个如果我们能证明我们分享了同样的价值观，就会拥抱我们的地方。我们一心一意要证明它。
由於美国不只是个地方，当一个美国公民跟当其他国家的公民不同。不像其他国家，我们美国人不以血缘或历史当作成为公民的连接。相反的，把我们连在一起的是一个共同认同的原则。这种认同——正如林肯在提到《独立宣言》时所指的“电缆”——将我们跟签署宣言的先贤们像“血中血，肉中肉”般地紧密连结在一起。
由於我们的链结（bond）是原则而不是血液，真正的美国公民是被塑造而不是被生出的。这就是为什麽，也许听来奇怪，我们，不管是出生在这里，或那些根据自己选择来到这里的人，都必须学会当美国人的真正意义。很遗憾地，我们就传递这知识给未来世代的这点做的很糟。举例来看，由“教育进展的全国评估”的最近测验显示，12年级生有73％ 的公民科目不及格，八年级学生的78％，四年级学生有76％。 换句话说，78％ 的八年级学生不能解释独立宣言的历史目的。 这些无知是个悲剧，不仅仅因为它显示了我们教育系统的失效，更因为它牺牲掉的是我们的国民身分认同。正因如此，我发现在我来到这个伟大的国家五十年後，花大部分的时间精力来教育我们大学生和高中老师“什麽是当美国人的意义”，是一件虽讽刺，但却适当不过的工作了。
最近几星期，有很多人谈论移民，但却很少有意义的，关於什麽是美国人（如何塑造美国人）的讨论。是的，我们需要一项合理的政策来接受新移民，并且那政策保证那些来这里的人士是透过合法管道的。但问题是一旦他们到达这里，然後呢？我听见许多关於同化和吸收，包括合法移民在内的失败的例子。那并不是新鲜事。新鲜的是，美国自己的自然公民越来越忘记了美国到底意味著什麽。有些人不知道这个国家的基本原则，还有很多人接受了多元文化思想体系，并且开始厌恶自已的价值体系，以致於他们再也认不出一个事实——那就是美国是一个建立在恒久原则上的伟大国家。如果我们不再了解或相信美国人之所以为美国人的价值，那麽同化整合又有什麽实质意义呢？ 我们终将成为许多分享一个地方的、不同的人民罢了（即“拼盘”），而不是E Pluribus Unum（的“熔炉”）。
我们不可以忘记我们是谁。我们是美国人。这是一个伟大的国家。我们美国人坚持且重视自由和正义、勇气和中道间的关联性。我们认为，平等和自由有其道德和政治涵义，并且，如同我们在我们的历史过程中一再显示的，我们愿意为了人类的自由而战斗到死。我们需要传递这些原则给未来的世代。
我们美国人合理地要求别人对我们权利的尊重，但，要得到那尊敬，我们必须继续显示出我们仍然与它名副其实。我们必须运用我们的智力来继续发展我们的公民理解，以便我们能保存我们的自由和将它未衰减地传递给下一代。如果“民有、民治、民享”的政府要能持久，它的持久只会来自被塑造出来的美国人（不管这里出生，或外国出生）的献身。
【彼得．施拉姆是偶然出生在错误地方的美国人；并为“John.M.Ashbrook Center”公共事务的执行主任，Ashland大学美国历史和政府研究所的主席。】
——原载《旗帜周刊》（The Weekly Standard），中译neocon，译文原载《向右转，向前走》，http://blog.yam.com/neocon/article/10731490
以下为英文原文：
American by Choice
We must all learn what it means to be an American.
by Peter W. Schramm
The Weekly Standard
06/28/2007
THIS WEEK, I am being honored by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as an “Outstanding American by Choice.” This strikes me as an interesting name for an award. It is meant, of course, to recognize selected citizens who were not born in America. But the idea of being an American by choice points to an important, and perhaps unintended truth: being American is not simply reducible to the happy accident of birth. Americans, both natural and naturalized, must be trained–they must be made–and much of my time these days is devoted to making Americans out of people who just happened to have been born here.
Over fifty years ago, when I was just shy of my tenth birthday, my family fled Hungary during the failed revolution against the Russian Communists. Our family’s story was like so many of the refugees from communism, complete with relatives arrested, property seized, and a nighttime dash to freedom. The decision to escape was an easy one to make (although not so easy to execute), but the question I had–the one I distinctly recall asking my father–was “where are we going.” We could have stayed in Europe–and indeed, the Germans would have welcomed us as Volk deutsche because of our German surname–but this was not my father’s plan. “We are going to America,” he said. “Why America?” I prodded. “Because, son. We were born Americans, but in the wrong place.”
Born Americans, but in the wrong place? I’ve spent the better part of the last fifty years working to more fully understand these words. Mind you, everyone understood America to be a free and good place where one might prosper unmolested. But in saying that we were “born Americans, but in the wrong place,” Dad, in his way, was saying that he understood America to be both a place and an idea at the same time. Fundamentally, it is a place that would embrace us if we could prove that we shared in the idea. We meant to prove it.
Because America is more than just a place, being an American citizen is different than being the citizen of any other country on earth. We Americans do not look to the ties of common blood and history for connection as people the way the citizens of other countries do. Rather, our common bond is a shared principle. This is what Lincoln meant when he referred to the “electric cord” in the Declaration of Independence that links all of us together, as though we were “blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration.”
Because ours is a bond of principle and not of blood, true American citizens are made and not born. This is why, odd as it may seem, we must all learn–those who are born here, and those who come here by choice–what it means to be an American. Regrettably, we are doing a poor job of passing this knowledge on to future generations. Looking to just one practical indicator, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that 73 percent of twelfth-graders scored below the proficient level in civics, as did 78 percent of eighth-graders, and 76 percent of fourth-graders. To put this into perspective, 72 percent of eighth graders could not explain the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence. This ignorance is tragic not merely because it indicates a deficiency in our educational system, but because with it comes a loss of our national identity. And so, I find it somewhat ironic and yet very fitting that fifty years after coming to this great country, I spend my days at an institution where my job is to teach college students and high school teachers what it means to be an American.
In recent weeks, there has been much talk about immigration, but very little informed discussion about what it means to be an American–about what is necessary to make Americans. Yes, there needs to be a sensible policy for accepting new citizens, and for ensuring that those who come here do so legally. But what happens once they are here? I hear frequent conversations about failures in integration and assimilation, even among recent legal immigrants. This is not new. What is new is that America’s own natural citizens increasingly have forgotten what it means to be American. Some do not know the basics principles of this country, and still others have embraced the ideology of multiculturalism and self-loathing to such a degree that they can no longer recognize, let alone proclaim, that ours is a great nation built on lasting principles. If we no longer understand or believe in that which makes us Americans, then there is nothing substantive to assimilate into. We become many and diverse people who share a common place, rather than E Pluribus Unum.
We cannot forget who we are. We are Americans. This is a great nation. We Americans insist on holding to the connection between freedom and justice, courage and moderation. We think that equality and liberty have ethical and political implications, and, as we have shown time-and-again throughout our history, we are willing to fight and to die to make men free. We need to impart these principles to succeeding generations.
We Americans correctly demand respect for our rights but, in getting that respect, we must continue to demonstrate that we continue to deserve it. We have to exercise our intelligence and develop our civic understanding so that we may preserve our liberty and pass it on, undiminished to the next generation. If government “of the people, by the people and for the people” is to endure, its endurance can only come from the devotion of Americans–born here and away–who have been so made.
Peter W. Schramm is an American who happened to have been born in the wrong place. He is also the executive director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, and the chair of the Masters in American History and Government program at Ashland University.
2007-07-04
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