IN COLLEGE, I joined other American students for a semester abroad experience in China. Because I was born there and had visited relatives before, I knew how to conduct myself waiting for a bus or train—when the door opens, rush in! But my American classmates were flummoxed. They would wait respectfully for those stepping off and then try to find some semblance of a line to follow. There was none, only the chaotic surge of the crowd.
My sweeping generalization of Chinese social values would be this: If you’re kin, you’re in. If you’re not, fend for yourself. Back in the United States, I always have a strange sense of pride going through the customs line at the airport. People of so many different origins can somehow agree to a set of norms that respect people beyond those in their inner circle. The French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville noted in the mid-1800s that voluntary associations for shared purposes were the genius of a budding American democracy. He called us “the most democratic country on the face of the earth” and asked, “Does this result from an accident or could it be that there in fact exists a necessary relation between associations and equality?”
The idea that all people have equal rights isn’t universal. Ancient Greeks had no problem enslaving conquered populations. In India, the caste system is still deeply entrenched. Journalist Leighton Woodhouse recently noted that the idea of universal human rights comes straight from a Judeo-Christian understanding that all humans were created by God. As much as the United States hasn’t lived up to the “liberty and justice for all” ideal, it’s been our north star. If I could support any “Christian value” that the U.S. stands for, that would be it.
But even lip service to this value is crumbling. “America First” and anti-immigrant sentiments pervade our halls of power. This isn’t about ensuring American prosperity; it’s about fear of white people losing power. As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said at the 2026 World Economic Forum, a rules-based world order “is fading.”
That isn’t the only story, of course. In Minneapolis, Chicago, and other cities terrorized by federal immigration agents, neighbors are helping one another and embodying human decency. Groups are organizing to protect voting rights and put forward candidates at local and state levels who will fight for vulnerable populations.
Hunter Hess, the Olympic skier, is patriotic in all the right ways.
Hunter Hess, the Olympic skier criticized by right-wing media for not telling the rosiest story about his country, is, to me, patriotic in all the right ways. He loves this country enough to be honest, to call it back to its best self. As much as I lament where we are now, I still feel pride in those all around the country who are working to restore due process and democracy, who extend their circle of regard beyond those who look and think like them. This is the America I love.
Will these efforts be enough? I really don’t know. But that won’t stop me from practicing my Christian values and joining with all I’ve got.
Liuan Huska is the author of the children’s book My South American Classroom and Hurting Yet Whole: Reconciling Body and Spirit in Chronic Pain and Illness. She works as director of communications for A Rocha USA.
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