Republican candidate for Ohio governor Vivek Ramaswamy recently spoke about being an American at a Turning Point USA event. Quoting former US President Ronald Reagan, he said that a person from any country could come to America and be an American, as long as they worked hard, played by the rules, contributed to society, pledged allegiance to the flag, and obtained their citizenship the right way.
Ramaswamy's Vision of American Identity
"You can travel to Italy, but you'll never be an Italian. You can travel to France but you'll never be a Frenchman. You can live in Germany but you'll never be a German. You can pack your bags and live the rest of your life in China or Japan, but you'll never be Chinese or Japanese. Yet you can come from any one of those countries to the United States of America, and you can still be an American – so long as you work hard, you play by the rules, you make your contributions, wait your turn, pledge allegiance to the flag, and obtain your citizenship," he said.
The idea that one has to be a heritage American, who traces their family history back to the colonial or Civil War period, to be truly called American is disrupted in this ideology. While Ramaswamy's remarks typically gain him more slack than support, this time the opposite seems to be the case.
Support from Conservative Figures
Reverend Jordan Wells, a Republican and President of Jordan Wells Ministries, recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to support Ramaswamy, claiming the gubernatorial hopeful is "as American as I am."
"Vivek just TORCHED the 'Heritage American' myth — and he's 100% right. If you come here LEGALLY, respect our laws and our flag, you're a full American. Period," he wrote.
He added that the "you had to be born here" gatekeeping is a supremacy nonsense pushed by the left. "It tells Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk they're second-class. Ridiculous," he added. Wells claimed he had met legal immigrants more patriotic than many native-born citizens, saying they chose freedom and "fight for it harder."
"Republicans: stop the gatekeeping. Embrace unapologetic Americanism. Vivek is as American as I am. Full stop," he said while adding America was built by immigrants and he did not support the anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Jackie Chea, a conservative Christian blogger, also took to the platform to support Ramaswamy's speech, writing that there's almost nobody in the US who is a true "heritage American."
"Your grandparents or great-grandparents were probably Polish or Italian or Irish immigrants. Mine were Slovenian, Greek, and German. The promise of America was just as much theirs as it is ours. That's the same promise that an immigrant receives today," she wrote. Chea added that the point shouldn't be to eliminate immigration but to ensure that the immigrants came to the US legally, worked hard, shared the same values, and were completely committed to the Constitution.
