I remember distinctly a conversation I had nearly 20 years ago with a friend of mine—if she reads this, perhaps she will also remember. At the heart of our conversation was a question she posed: What is America? What is American culture? 

In broad brush strokes, I would paint her politically left-wing and myself right-wing. While neither of us are zealots and both are reasonably intelligent people, we never could bridge the divide between us. For many years, I lamented this and wondered how two people in the same nation could exist in such starkly different realities. 

I am convinced my life has uniquely equipped me to find those answers, and I would like to share what I have found with the reader, because I think there is great value in talking this out. I will focus on four main areas, dedicating a section to each: 

• Race and Racism 
• Economic Class 
• Relationships 
• Religion vs Academia 

In each section, I will begin by sharing my personal experiences. Then, I will juxtapose two possible ways of responding to each set of circumstances, one based on the American Cultural Restorationist view (grounded in objective truth and God; hereafter abbreviated as CuRe) and one based generally on Postmodernism (grounded in contemporary power structures). In order to be fair to both points of view, I am going to present them both as well-intentioned and optimistic. While I admit this binary treatment is overly reductive, I believe Americans largely exist in one of these two realities today. 

Context-Building 

Before building my argument, I want to provide the reader with some clarifying information. 

Cultural Restorationism (CuRe) is essentially meant to be a framework that wraps around, restores, and reinforces in a modern context the original American systems established at our nation’s founding. My perspective is that these systems were created to contain and utilize the ongoing, inevitable clash between realities that occurs when an exclusive/absolutist belief system like Christianity—you have faith or do not, are saved or are not—cohabitates with inclusive/relativist ones like Postmodernism. Further, our systems were built in a world where the Christian reality was nearly universal within our borders, so the systems themselves favor that reality. I believe this is also the source of American Exceptionalism. Like Christians, who are “in but not of the world,” Americans are set apart. 

Therefore, in the context of this essay: (1) the term CuRe will be used to represent a single reality that is separate from all others; and (2) the term Postmodern will be used to collect “the other” realities. My rationale is that any Postmodern reality is created atop the power structures, norms, and linguistic/syntactical constructs prevalent in any era or moment. 

So far in American history, the “One Plus Many” realities represented by CuRe and Postmodernism have coexisted within one country. My question is whether they can continue doing so or if something has changed. Simply, there seems to be a hardening of “the other” realities into an exclusive, quasi-religious paradigm that may be wholly incompatible with the traditional Christian one in the United States. I believe this is something other than Socialism/Social Liberalism and more akin to Marxism/Communism (read: more ideological and less secularized)—a phenomenon perhaps heretofore unnamed. 

For America to survive culturally, we must learn more about the One Plus Many realities and give definition to each. We must sit down and converse. Educate each other. Find a way through together. 

Let’s get started! 

Race and Racism 

I was born in 1987 to parents who are "White" and "Asian." While mixed marriages might be all the rage now, that was not true back in 1986 in certain parts of the United States. Frankly, it was still not true in some of those same parts in the 2000s. Neither were the products of such relationships (i.e., the children—i.e., me and my brother). 

Often when discussing racism, people focus on slurs. Note that my ethnicity is English, Danish, German, and Filipino. In my life, I have been called a jalapeño (how utterly stupid), a wetback, a gringo, and a Jap. I have been confused for a Hawaiian by whites and called a haole by Hawaiians. Whatever. In other parts of the world, I’ve been called worse and somehow survived. After all, labels aside, we are all just shades of brown regardless of where we come from. The snarky, resentful part of me said just now: “Right. A bunch of turds.”  

The part about racism that most people will not talk about are the contradicting emotions it produces in those that suffer it (even those who are merely innocent witnesses). All at once, you feel indignant and ashamed, superior and inferior, motivated and depressed... Racism is a thing that rips and tears. 

For me, other than with family, I simply felt alone. I belonged nowhere. Yet, a lack of ties means you can go anywhere and do anything. My reaction was to get back at my offenders by “dwarfing their pathetic infinitesimal shitty lives with my own great one.” I admit, the spite still bubbles up. 

But the point I am really trying to make is that the CuRe reaction to these circumstances is grounded in a Biblical view that simply says: “This is a fallen world. Race is a twisted human construct. While racism is real, it does not define me. So, as did Martin Luther King Jr., we must appeal to people’s better natures—pray and teach. As the people’s heart changes, so will our laws and the ways we behave.” Naively optimistic or not, I believe this is one reality. 

Meanwhile, the Postmodernist reality is different. I believe this view can be articulated as follows: “Inequality and inequity are real. The current dominant group is subjugating these other groups. The treatment is unfair, unjust, and unethical. Until these problems are solved, society cannot reach greater heights. I want to help make things right. Dr. King inspired me with his great words, and I am going to change the power structures and stamp out oppression. If I rally the people, we can change the laws and ensure controls are in place until everyone learns to behave in a more just and ethical way.” 

Economic Class 

My parents were part of what I like to call the Factory Class. Meaning, their rung on the socioeconomic ladder fell between “hand-to-mouthing” and “rainy day funded.” As a result, when it came to college and my career, what they were able to provide me with was the best K-12 education they could afford, the best advice and support they could offer, and mostly non-monetary help (which I am very grateful for). 

But no one gave me anything. No grants. No handouts. No hands up. No special programs. Nothing. I didn’t want any of that anyway. It would have cheapened anything I accomplished. All I wanted was a fair chance to test my abilities and resolve. Let the chips fall. 

Still, I understand how—even in a very class-mobile society like the United States—people can feel trapped. Stuck. 

The CuRe response to this is, I think: “I have to do the most with what I have. God provides what each person needs in this life. I can’t take it with me anyway. Even if I never have much, I can make sure my children have a chance for more. The freedom and the ability to grab ahold of the dreams I never could. And that’s enough. As long as everyone has a fair chance.” 

The Postmodern response is different: “I am going to climb the class ladder and be more, do more. I am going to help all of the people I left behind who cannot help themselves. I will use my good fortune to change the system and open up opportunities for people like me. If enough people stand up, then we can force them to give us a seat at the table and finally have a fair chance.” 

Relationships 

At 22, I married a Chinese national who I think can accurately be described as someone whose spiritual needs were fulfilled by the State (big, huge, enormous capital S). There were many things wrong with that relationship, but I am not one to speak ill of the… just kidding, but you get the picture. It ended, and everything worked out for the better. 

But not without much pain and learning on my part! For three years, I was torn between my One and the Plus Many realities. Love is a powerful force. Almost overwhelmingly so for an intense young idiot. Still, I was a principled idiot and ultimately found straddling those realities impossible. I could only compartmentalize myself so much—I had to choose. I walked. While I did not feel very blessed at the time, God has seen me through. 

My learnings, framed as the CuRe point of view, are: “Relationships cannot work in one direction. There is no ‘perfect union’ when there is no mutual compromise. Marriage is meant to be two people going out into the world as one. While there are natural gender and relationship roles defined by God, if people use these as levers for their own advantage, everything will fall apart. A house divided cannot stand. A soul cannot be torn up and split across many realities. It can only exist in one.” 

Conversely, my perception of the Postmodern perspective is: “If I lose sight of myself in this relationship, then I lose everything. I must maintain my sense of self. I love my partner, but I also must care for myself. If I don’t, I’ll lose self-respect. My partner and I must define what it means to be a family in and for our family, because all families are different. We cannot do that if one or both of us gives up their identity. We are two people who have partnered to live this life together. I must be strong for my partner and for myself.” 

Religion vs Academia 

When I was 12 years old, my parents moved the family to Fort Wayne, Indiana, so my dad could answer his calling to become an ordained Lutheran minister. I know in following his faith that he pushed through much skepticism, derision, and difficulty—perhaps much of it from me. Other than that, I will not speak for him but for myself. 

My perspective on his experience is: Religious organizations are probably more political and ridiculous than any large institutions other than universities, which makes sense because the universities mostly began as seminaries in the United States. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Call it secondhand contempt. 

But that does not mean that God, faith, religion, or even the religious organizations (or the universities) themselves are inherently bad or non-value. I would argue the opposite. It is because religious organizations and universities are so inordinately culturally valuable that they are so disgustingly leveraged by people vying for power and control. 

Churches and universities are both necessary in a high-functioning culture. As a degree holder, I am convinced that the education I received has helped me think more critically, speak more carefully and precisely, and analyze and understand differing viewpoints more fully. But I also think the aggressive Postmodern agenda of the vast majority of universities in the United States is increasingly untenable for people with a certain worldview. 

So, as with religious organizations, I also have a bad taste in my mouth regarding the university system. Firsthand disdain, in this case. 

In summarizing my experiences and beliefs, a person living in the CuRe reality might say: “Human organizations are all flawed, but God works through those institutions and the people in them. Churches and universities were established to serve the soul, enrich the mind, strengthen the body, and ensure that our progeny are equipped to understand and preserve the function of our Republic, as well as (if not primarily and especially) govern and live according to God’s will. We should expose people to a wide array of ideas and explain those in context of objective truth, so the educated person can learn to critically examine new concepts and experiences.” 

On the other hand, someone living in a Postmodern reality likely would posit that: “Churches and universities are vehicles of power. The prevailing power structures of the day and the holders of power determine how much power those institutions have and what they preach and teach. While neither evil nor good, churches allow the powerful to enact and enforce their will on people via dictates and dogma, which is something we must guard against. Therefore, we will use the university system as a buffer to ensure the rights and will of the people remain free. To do that, we must provide them with tools and mental frameworks so they are able to recognize oppression and combat it. This is how we achieve a more perfect society.” 

Conclusion 

To reiterate, I am not sure if the “One Plus Many” realities that I have described as CuRe and Postmodernism can truly coexist. In the context of the United States, I believe these realities have become so divergent and exclusive that we are essentially two countries mixed up across geographies within a single set of borders. 

Yet, in the examples I offered, I also see commonality and hope for compromise. 

My position is that we, both CuRe and Postmodern, should begin speaking to each other as though we are members of foreign nations making first contact and seeking peaceful relations. We should give each other the grace we would a foreigner who simply does not have the context to understand and react to events the same way we do. Whether we inhabit different realities or not, we are still countrymen. Still citizens of a great nation with a singular governmental system. 

For my part as someone living the “CuRe-life,” I do not view my Postmodern friends as crazy or unintelligent or their ideas as bad or wrong. Having spent my entire adult life in a liberal college town, I would have no friends at all if I did. But the way those individuals who are living in a Postmodern reality perceive and interpret events and information is not something I agree with in a lot of cases. 

In fact, I would argue that a dark early prototype of Postmodern thinking—i.e., the belief that power determines “truth,” making it a relative construct, and that “might makes right”—subverted Christianity and most scientific knowledge for the sake of wealth and control. And this iron grip was not broken until the Reformation. Today, I am not sure that the popular Postmodernist religion, using that term broadly, is any better than the Catholic church and complicit governments pre-1517. 

I feel like we have come to a place where there is no room for disagreement or discussion, and I am sending this figurative note in a bottle out to sea vainly hoping to start a dialog. I believe the American system was founded to help us overcome the difficulty of existing in “One Plus Many” realities—the American Revolution and Civil War reflect this—but we must find the answer together. 

First, though, we must want to find an answer. Ergo, I conclude like many others that we are at a crisis moment as a nation (in the original sense of that term as a turning point or decision moment): 

• Do we put aside the culture war and talk to each other to seek a new path forward together? 
• Do we physically fight it out until one reality wins or wait it out until one disappears? 
• Do we let the culture war continue until our systems fail? 

While I do not know the answer, my conclusion is that we need to ensure we as Americans make a deliberate choice and a real effort to follow through, else we find the choice made for us and all our realities in shambles. 

In making and following through on that decision, we will determine what it really means to be American and what American culture really is. Speaking philosophically, perhaps we will conclude that the original vision of America no longer exists even if the United States does. 

Regardless, whatever answer we find together will be the answer to my friend’s questions from two decades ago: What is America? What is American culture?