Lawrence wrote:
>
> > >Just what constitutes the core of "America" ideologically (in the
> > >ideology of American patriotism)?
> >
> > The Constitution, of course.
> >
> > Doug
>
> And the Federalist Papers. Maybe even more so.
These suggestions fall under one of the many legitimate usages of the word "ideology." I was using it in another sense however -- in the sense of the more or less spontaneous common sense understanding of reality (appearances). The Constitution, and even more the Federalist Papers, are apt to be cited by relatively sophisticated, or at least self-conscious, efforts to define "What America Means" explicitly. Back in my pre-marxist days I remember expounding pompously on several of the Federalist Papers -- particularly if I remember correctly on Nos. 10 & 51.
We had a discussion recently, either on lbo or pen-l, but I can't remember the details or the formal subject, in which reference was made to the excessive concern with flag, etc. in the u.s. On the sixties-l list last year sometime Country Joe MacDonald left the list in a huff when he couldn't get people to agree with him on respecting the flag. I forget the precise arguments on either side of the question then on that list, but the point is that the argument was focused on "The Flag." I remember long ago reading a French short story about the last day in an elementary school classroom in Alsace in which French would be the school language, since this was in the 1870s and Alasace was now part of Germany. Though there are nations all over the place now containing a variety of languages, the "classical" nations in the rise of the modern state were all one language, one that had a history on the spot.
Many recent nations (India, Pakistan, Indonesia) fit that 'classical' pattern uneasily, as does the u.s. The long debate in this country about whether or not there is a "black nation" is part of or related to the question of "american Nationalism."
Carrol