Mayor Pete

As you know, I love Pete Buttigieg - and he is doing well fundraising.

But one of the key reasons I love him is his view of America.

On an Ezra Klein podcast (link), Ezra asked Mayor Pete about being an American. And he had the most interesting answer (which I have to paraphrase).

He said that it is oddly about process. The process of democracy and choosing to be American. For example, the word un-American means to cheat or to renounce democracy or to play unfairly.  There is no real equivalent like un-French or un-German.  We choose to be Americans every time that we participate in democracy and society.

There wasn't a real equivalent to the process of inclusion, except (maybe) the failed policies of Communism.

He lamented that Trumps idea of "American" seems to exclude brown or black people, but that wasn't the Americanism of Republicans in general.

I love that.