OPINION
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The classic film, "The Godfather" opens with one Italian immigrant telling another "I believe in America," grateful for the opportunities that he could only find here. He’s staunchly patriotic about his adopted country, despite the adversities that have confronted his family here.
Indeed, life was difficult at first here for many Italian immigrants — including my ancestors who came here in 1917.
Perhaps the most notable instance was when a New Orleans mob lynched 11 Italian Americans in 1892, horrifying the nation into action.
So noting the year — 400 years since Christopher Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere — President Benjamin Harrison made a national declaration to honor Columbus, and by extension all other Italian immigrants.
Over the years, this one-time event became a national holiday, recognizing the contributions that Italians have made to the American experiment.
As a nation, we’ve done the same for immigrants from Germany (Oktoberfest), Mexico (Cinco de Mayo), and Ireland (St. Patrick’s Day).
But although it is one of the hallmark achievements of American diversity, so-called progressives have declared war on Columbus Day.
The hostility has nothing to do with Italian immigrants like my great-grandparents, as we’ve all just mostly become Americans like everyone else.
No, the hostility toward the holiday stems from the fact that the explorer Columbus himself was commissioned by the Spanish Empire of the day.
The justification for unraveling the Italian patch on the American quilt is that we as a nation should not honor someone who was a military conqueror. But if that’s the standard, we’re going to have to rewrite all of history, as all of it has been made by empire.
But that’s the real goal, isn’t it?
It’s even in the word they use to describe themselves. Progressives want to rewrite history so they can control the future. As George Orwell predicted in his now much-circulated quote from "1984," "Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.
"And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute.
"History has stopped.
"Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right."
This is symptomatic of the larger, much more serious decline that America is experiencing.
As Sir John Glubb outlined in his now famous "Fate of Empires" essay, intellectuals in the late stages of an empire’s life cycle are all too pleased with themselves to denigrate the accomplishments of their more capable forefathers.
He wrote: "Military readiness, or aggressiveness, is denounced as primitive and immoral. Civilised peoples are too proud to fight.
"The conquest of one nation by another is declared to be immoral. Empires are wicked.
"This intellectual device enables us to suppress our feeling of inferiority, when we read of the heroism of our ancestors, and then ruefully contemplate our position today."
Columbus crossed the Atlantic eight times with nothing but wind and wood — who today has accomplished anything close to that?
Instead, progressives push the idea that Columbus Day should be replaced with Indigenous People’s Day.
Recognizing the contributions American Indians have made to the American experiment is important too, of course, which is why my home state, Utah — and 25 other states — are named after native tribes.
All of this is part of the long-standing, balanced effort to keep a multi-cultural society functioning. The human race has always been tribal, and one of America’s many contributions has been overcoming that tribalism.
Despite all the challenges along the way, the American experiment has created cultural, political, and economic achievements that are still the envy of the world.
I’m optimistic that if we can stop progressives from “fundamentally transforming” our nation, it will continue to thrive into the future.
Because I believe in America.
(A related article may be found here.)
Trent Staggs is the mayor of Riverton, Utah. He is a candidate for the U.S. Senate.