I’m a believer in the American creed and the principle of assimilation, but it’s self-evidently true that America’s “lineage,” especially the founding generation, is the vital source of our national strength. Yes, those early Americans designed a system that allowed for assimilation by shared creed—one of their highest accomplishments—but it’s foolish to believe that America could be replicated as a set of abstract principles, without actual Americans. The creed itself is the product of a very particular Anglo-American Christian culture, with no equivalents anywhere in the world. The most basic conservative impulse is to have gratitude for our ancestors and humility regarding our inheritance. This notion of pure creedalism is, by contrast, deeply ideological and, as a philosophical matter, leftist.

Likewise, Vivek’s argument that people are “inherently good” is a leftist, rather than conservative, argument. I’m glad he’s calling out the right-wing racialists, but we should be making this argument on conservative grounds, rather than reverting to a leftist frame.

History shows that ideals are highly dependent on culture. Liberia was founded on the principles of the American Constitution, but failed. Our dream of installing American-style “democracy” in the Middle East turned out to be foolish. Ideals and culture, principles and people, abstract and particular, must go hand in hand.