Right-Wing Influencers Don't Understand America as a Creedal Nation.

Mark Rogers

by Mark Rogers, Facebook, April 11, 2026- Reason wades into the debate over the true nature of America with a rousing defense of Justice Gorsuch and his comments about America being a 'creedal' nation. That is to say, America is based on certain propositions such as 'Equality,' 'Inalienable Rights,' and 'self-rule.' It is, in this view, not about race or religion, or land or language or culture. 

I do take some issue with Justice Gorsuch on the question of 'culture.'  I think that while America was not based on one specific culture, that has more to do with the diversity of cultures within the nations that first came here from Europe. The English brought the cultures of various peoples from the city of London to the moors of Scotland and the forests of Wales and the green fields of Ireland. (For more information on this, read Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer.) 

Germans came here well before the Revolution from the various states of that area, bringing their own cultures. French Protestants and Catholics were here along with the Spanish and Portuguese. 

While all these featured highly individualistic local cultures, all were, at their cores, profoundly shaped by Western Civilization. In that sense, America was dramatically shaped by one culture but one with many faces. And one of the West's greatest achievements by 1787 was the idea that successful nations needed to generally tolerate different cultures and religions. 

What America wasn't in its beginning and never has been is the property of one group, not based on birth or religion or language or philosophy. Like Western Civilization itself, America absorbs new People and new Ideas and new Beliefs and moves on while remaining true to our fundamental creedal Ideas.

Right-Wing Influencers Don't Understand What Makes America Great

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch

by Stephanie Slade, Reason, May 9, 2026 -The Dissident Right is furious after Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch told Reason and several other outlets that America is a "creedal nation."

"The Declaration of Independence had three great ideas in it," Gorsuch said in a recent interview with Nick Gillespie. "That all of us are equal; that each of us has inalienable rights given to us by God, not government; and that we have the right to rule ourselves. Our nation is not founded on a religion. It's not based on a common culture, even, or heritage. It's based on those ideas. We're a creedal nation."

...  The belief in a "civic" nationalism—the idea that the United States is a "propositional nation," as the Catholic theologian John Courtney Murray put it, rather than one based on blood and soil—is mainstream among Americans of all stripes, including conservatives. ... 

.... there are elements of culture that must represent a consensus if the Republic that the Founders bequeathed us is to endure. First and foremost, we need a culture of mutual forbearance, where people want to coexist peacefully even with those who see things differently, and where people take pride in the ideals of human liberty and equal treatment under law, recognizing that America's commitment to those ideals is a large part of what makes it great. 

...  the Dissident Right, which rejects the very notion of mutual forbearance in favor of a "will-to-power" political approach, doesn't have the answer. You can't save America's culture by sacrificing its creed. (read more)

Mark Rogers has long been active in Republican Party politics and is an astute observer of political trends and events and Republican politics.  He is well known as a successful Republican campaign manager and political consultant. He has also served in government and the non-profit sector. He is currently exiled from the Republican Party. He lives in Nashville.

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