E Pluribus Unum only works if America remains a melting pot. It doesn’t work if America becomes just a “tossed salad.” I use the latter term because it is a metaphor linked to two politically-correct ideas that have become increasingly consequential in American discourse since the early 1990s. One idea is diversity, and the other is multiculturalism. Neither concept is ever defined in detail or with clarity in mind. Politicians and intellectuals use these words rhetorically to virtue signal or to garner support from various minorities that are race, class, or gender-based.
Our National Motto
E Pluribus Unum is a Latin phrase that means “out of many, one.” This phrase was adopted as our national motto in 1776 and placed on the Great Seal. The meaning behind the words was the creation of one nation, the United States of America, out of the Thirteen Original Colonies. The Colonies had a common language, English, for the most part, and a commitment to ideas and ideals that were unique to America. The Colonies were different in religious beliefs, however, as well as in certain traditions, customs, and commercial activities. Each of the thirteen colonies was either agrarian-based or manufacturing or trading-based. Still there was much commonality.
The ideas of diversity and multiculturalism directly contradict E Pluribus Unum. We can only have a united America if we have one American culture that rises above all others. E Pluribus Unum also demands a common language with which to communicate national priorities and goals. The English language serves that purpose well and binds us together in a way that no other means can.
the Melting Pot In The 21st Century
In the last decade of the 19th Century and the first decade of the 20th Century, over 12 million immigrants came to America from Eastern and Southern Europe. These immigrants came in search of opportunity and the American dream. Many of them lived in ethnic neighborhoods and retained their respective heritage by establishing Italian-American clubs, German-American clubs, Polish-American clubs, etc. But, in mind, heart, and spirit, they became Americans in due course. The melting pot worked superbly well in those decades and it can work its magic again in the 21st Century. We have only to rekindle the fire under the melting pot and inspire all current immigrants to take the road to E Pluribus Unum.
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