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The American Trinity: The Three Values that Make America Great | 5 Minute Video

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Nearly every country on Earth is defined by race or ethnicity. Not America. What makes the United States different? Dennis Prager outlines the values that have allowed the American people to flourish and, unlike immigrants almost everywhere else, transformed those who arrived from across the globe into full Americans—regardless of where they were born.

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Script:

Race and ethnicity have defined every nation on earth. Except one: the United States of America. It is defined by values.

So, to understand America, you have to understand American values.

They are:
1. “E Pluribus Unum”
2. “Liberty”
3. “In God We Trust.”

I call this “The American Trinity.” I made up the name, but I didn’t make up the values. They are on every American coin.

The first, E Pluribus Unum, is Latin, meaning, “Out of many, one.” When first adopted as an American motto shortly after the American founding in 1776, it referred to the thirteen American colonies becoming one nation. Over time, however, most Americans understood the motto to mean one people from many backgrounds. To quote The E Pluribus Unum Project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, “Over the years, E Pluribus Unum has also served as a reminder of America’s bold attempt to make one unified nation of people from many different backgrounds and beliefs.”

In other words, America doesn’t care about your national or ethnic origins.

This explains why people who immigrate to America assimilate faster and more fully than immigrants to any other country.

Most of those who have immigrated to Europe, from, for example, Turkey – as millions have – are not considered fully German by fellow Germans or fully Swedish by fellow Swedes or fully Spanish by fellow Spaniards. This is even true of the children and grandchildren of those immigrants.

And, just as important, few of those immigrants – or their children or grandchildren – will ever feel fully German, Swedish, or Spanish. But a Turk who immigrates to the United States will be regarded as fully American – as American as any other American – the moment he or she becomes a citizen. And they – and certainly their children – will feel fully American.

Of course, America has not always lived up to this “e pluribus unum” ideal. But the ideal was always there. And it was applied to virtually every immigrant to America.

The second component of the American Trinity is liberty.

Now, you might ask, “Didn’t the French Revolution also enshrine liberty as a central national value? Wasn’t its motto “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”?

The answer is yes. America is hardly the only country to enshrine liberty; it is the only country to enshrine “Liberty,” “E Pluribus Unum,” and “In God We Trust.”

What’s the difference?

The difference is this: The moment you affirm equality, as the French Revolution did, you will lose liberty.

It is a basic American value that all human beings are born equal, and all must be equal before the law. But ending up equal – that’s a French and European value. And if you want people to end up equal, you must deprive them of liberty. Which is exactly what happened right after the French Revolution and in every other society that made equality its national goal.

America gives people the liberty to end up wherever their abilities, work ethic, and luck take them – meaning unequal. Therefore, professional athletes will make more money than teachers or doctors. That may be unfortunate, but that is what liberty allows. If you want equality, you will tell people how much they can earn – and that means the end of liberty.

For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/american-trinity-three-values-make-america-great

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42 Comments

  7. The Founders totally understood America to be a nation for British (predominantly White Anglo Saxon) people. They believed that Americans were still the descendants of the British people, and believed in upholding British traditions, morals, and society.

    For most of American history, immigrants were expected to fully assimilate to the predominant WASP culture and place their loyalty only to America. America was never meant to be a melting pot and E Pluribus Unum was referring to the system of government we were to have. It was never meant to refer to our modern day “melting pot”.

    America is not a propositional nation.

  9. Yeah okay Dennis, "over time SOME people have changed the meaning of the term e pluruplus unum to mean an open society for immigrants" I bet the same people who change the definition of antisemitism every month are the same ones who changed the meaning…

  11. I'm from Bolivia 🇧🇴 and you don't have idea how much did i wish to be an American, i share all those values, i truly admire how wonderful is America 🇺🇸, because your life quality depends only in you, and even as someone from another country i hate to see how the left is ruining the most powerful country in the world.

  14. Haha, that's never happened to me before, I first gave the video a like, but then I removed it when heard all that BS ie. the guy's crazy interpretation of equality (espoused by Europe) vs liberty, and also that immigrants to European countries can't identify and feel like proper citizens of those countries, the guy's a joke🤦‍♂️😁

  18. The top American value is the willingness of parents to allow their government to over tax the childless for the sake of themselves. Parents take for granted the amount of help they get through their lives, without realizing that one of their children may never have that same help. Retiring without children is much more expensive than having children to help you later in life. Yet these same parents received child tax credits and spent 13 years worth of public education, along with other child related taxes. Childless people pay more child related taxes, yet receive nothing in return for it. The notion that you provided a child for the future is not an excuse. That child will have to work to provide for themselves, and childless people will have to pay them again to receive services. AND YOU PARENTS THOUGHT YOU WERE NOT ON WELFARE!!!

  19. Dennis, for these many videos, GOD bless you, your colleagues and your patrons; however, I must point out this CRITICAL CORRECTION: our Declaration of Independence does not hold, as you mention [02:56], that all men are BORN equal; rather, that all men are CREATED equal. This is CRITICAL when defining our recognition and respect for ALL HUMAN LIFE … without QUALIFICATIONS. IOW: our Founders GOT IT RIGHT: all human life is to be respected. It was only with the codification of these values that the politicians screwed it up.

  27. A country where there is not had a correct, energizing, redemptive Rezefede (Patriarchal Attribution/blessing); where the people accordingly don't have Wyethqar Energy, which comes from such; are generally Felecuic, living off of just Heqsesethex Energy, as from the air, water etc., is called a Tedehed country. When the English, or Frisian such attribution was removed from the aerth- from sublime Foredesign, even- that of this land became completely Celtic, best interpreted (interpretation as German or Irish, not quite as probably best, but an incredibly great deal better, and those languages). There'd be a blessing so great, it can hardly be conceived at present, if the name of the land would be changed to Alba Nuadh, or Nova Scotia; language to Scottish Gaelic. Some affective training or Rezefede naturally, probably… A chief problem is a very incredibly low vitality syndrome, typical of Tedehed countries. People should accept that there exists no Rezefede called American or U.S.A.; this negative faceting can help with momentum towards truth… This is basically of a false prophecy, these names. That those revolutionaries were false prophets, guilty of Unpardonable transgressions- they all became and are Sons of Perdition, literally. Since they will never be Redeemed, this can make Redemption, peace, etc. more difficult for those using their contrapted names. Also, those with the tribal marking U.S.A. have generally had some curse; displeased deities cursed the land-grabbers, in evolution a slightly devolved human race. Monarchism was the enemy- duty was to forsake it utterly; probably, some violence as very possibly necessary, as in France, would not be contraindicated, to that end….

  28. I would like to believe we can have a shared set of national values, national culture, personal liberty and protection for Citizens at the same time. We American citizens do not have to choose one over the other – we can work together in order to improve our standard of living. Thanks! 😄👍❤️🇺🇸

  35. Hardworking = success isn't true in today's America anymore, but it holds true in a socialist country such as Germany. Tuitions and medical bills skyrocketed after the 80s when Regan's administration did exactly what the Republicans want. Turned out everything gets more EXPENSIVE here than in Europe. And the life quality in the US is LOWER than in Europe. It is clearly shown Americans' personal debts soared as national deficits break the debt ceiling again and again since the 80s, and life expectancy and the average height are dropping. Compare to Germans, Americans 'enjoy' working longer hours, having fewer days of maternal leave, more expensive medical insurance, and more expensive higher education. Americans believe they need to pay 50,000 a year to Harvard to get the best quality of education in the world. Guess what? In Germany, higher education is almost free and the quality is on par with the best universities in the US from my personal experience studying at the best institutions in both countries. Another myth Republicans have about Europe is that they want equal outcomes, which will lead to equal impoverishment. Red states in the US are impoverished that they rely on the government subsidiary and tariff to stay competitive. From what I observe, Europeans want equal footing for every young people, so that wealth comes from hardworking, rather than from inheritance and the stock market. In the United States, 4.4% of adults are unemployed as of 2017. In Germany, that number is 3.8% as of 2017. Europeans are not atheists, they still believe in good Christian values, and get rid of the inadequate ones to fit the need of modern society. On the other hand, Republican farmers grow GMO produce and use chemical fertilizers just to boost revenue. Not very Christain isn't it? Secularism means rights don't come from God. Right comes from democracy. That power is backed by a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. On the other hand, Republicans think of the government as an evil machine that wants to control people. I don't get it because the government only executes laws pass by congress and the house.

  36. E Pluribus Unum the Americans from different race background, ethnic background and cultural background must be united as 1 as American. English is our inter-ethnic, interracial and intercultural language, if you don't like English language as our inter-ethnic, interracial and intercultural language then don't be a US citizen.

  38. I admit that I'm not a PragerU fan, so I'm going to be inclined to find flaws in their videos. However, while I might disagree with some things, there is one specific misunderstanding I believe needs to be fixed more than any other: the concept of equality.

    If you compare Michael Jordan to the panhandler on the street, which is superior? You're all thinking Jordan right? Wrong. NEITHER is superior from an objective standpoint. Jordan made more money, was better at basketball, and received more praise, but that never made him superior. The panhandler is good at panhandling in a similar fashion to how Jordan was good at basketball. The difference is only in our own SUBJECTIVE perception of them. Jordan worked very hard and pleased a lot of fans, but he also experienced pressures the panhandler doesn't. The panhandler has relatively few obligations, so he has more freedom, but he also gets less security in most cases. So objectively speaking neither of them ends up better off.

    Now you're probably thinking that if the panhandler applied himself to something productive, he'd BECOME better off through skill acquisition and experience. But he wouldn't. Instead he would merely trade his skills in other things — like panhandling — for different skills that society values more. In improving his living circumstances, he'd sacrifice some freedom from obligations and likely his begging skills too. The point is, no matter what you do to grow, improve, and change, you remain just as human as everyone else, and that means you remain equal to them. Being equal doesn't mean you get the same outcome; it means you remain distinct and capable as all other people.

    Someone's going to scream "socialist" when they read this. Guess what? I'm a capitalist. Have been since I was about 21. They misunderstand what the free market represents. It's NOT a measure of you're objective worth as a human being; it's a SUBJECTIVE measure of your productivity to your society. The people who proclaim wealth should be distributed equally don't understand this, so they try to apply objectivity to the system. By contrast, those who condemn the "parasites" for trying to steal their hard earned wealth don't understand this either, so they behave as if they're objectively superior and view them as lessers. But both camps are equally wrong. And if we were to fix this misconception, we'd make a lot of progress in bridging the partisan gaps in our society.