"Intolerance, theories cut off from reality, empty terminology, usurped ideals, inflexible systems."

"Those are the things that really frighten me. What I absolutely fear and loathe. Of course it’s important to know what’s right and what’s wrong. Individual errors in judgment can usually be corrected. As long as you have the courage to admit mistakes, things can be turned around. But intolerant, narrow minds with no imagination are like parasites that transform the host, change form, and continue to thrive. They’re a lost cause, and I don’t want anyone like that coming in here.”

That's a passage from Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore" that came up today in my relistening to the audiobook. It jumped out at me because it resonated with "America is an idea," Biden's new campaign slogan.

By the way, I was resting in the shade on a hike with Meade. He walked on a difficult path ahead, and I simply waited an hour until he got back. As I was waiting, another woman — whose husband was also going on the difficult path without her — waited in the same shade. We got to talking. She was traveling in America from South Korea, and I talked with her about where she was going, and what traveling in South Korea is like. America is so big, and South Korea quite small. I said I liked traveling within Wisconsin, and ventured the guess that Wisconsin and South Korea are about the same size. That was the substance of our conversation. Then Meade showed up and I introduced him to my new South Korean friend. Meade's first question — said in an expansive, exuberant way — was "So what do South Koreans think of our President?" Without hesitation, she said with enthusiasm, "We love him!" Should one immediately talk to a foreigner about politics? I would have thought no, but it worked out okay... though it was not long at all before she said she didn't concern herself with politics.

By the way, North Korea is an idea.

Juche... is the official state ideology of North Korea, described by the government as "Kim Il-sung's original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought." It postulates that "man is the master of his destiny,"  that the Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction" and that by becoming self-reliant and strong a nation can achieve true socialism. 

"America Isn’t an Idea/It's a place with unique customs that people are proud of. Why do country singers get this but so many scholars don't?"

Wrote Emile A. Doak in The American Conservative in May 2018. I'm reading this article after Biden announced his candidacy using the slogan "America is an idea." Doak explains:

[R]educing American identity to an idea neglects the visceral connection—the patriotism—that is felt by those who call the United States home. Bill Kauffman, in his toast at The American Conservative’s 15th anniversary gala, lauded America “not as an idea, or an abstraction, or a cynical marketing slogan, but as our home, and the land we love above all others.” We don’t feel American out of a reverence for the Lockean liberalism that animates our Founding documents, but because man is inherently shaped by his place. Relying on an idea to provide meaning to national identity is anthropologically unsound; man requires more elementary cultural practices to foster the type of allegiance necessary for national unity. The places that we call home—and the cultural practices that emerge from those places—elicit a much greater allegiance than any abstract idea ever could....

This concept of “America as home,” with specific practices, traditions, and customs—indeed, a specific culture—is increasingly necessary in a modernity shaped by a rapidly accelerating global anti-culture....

Joe Biden announced his candidacy with the slogan "America is an idea," and I've been searching for earlier examples of that saying.

Now, I'm reading "No, Senator Graham, America Is Not an Idea/The South Carolina Republican was right to rebuke Trump. But the U.S. is a nation, not a set of ideals," by Ramesh Ponnuru (from January 2018).

“America is an idea, not a race,” the South Carolina Republican said, adding that diversity is a strength and not a weakness.... “I’ve always believed that America is an idea, not defined by its people but by its ideals.”

Graham deserves credit for rebuking the president... America isn’t a race. But it’s not an idea either. It is, rather, a nation. It is a nation whose identity is more bound up with political ideals than most nations: ideals such as equality before the law, self-government and freedom of religion. But those ideals are part of a national culture that is not reducible to them.

"America is an idea.... The power of the United States... more than anything else it comes from the strength of the American idea."

"Leave aside your politics for a moment. I don’t care whom you voted for, which party you identify with, whether you think we are stronger together or want to make America great again. If the power of America as an idea dies, American power will shortly follow.... I have never made any secret of how I felt about Candidate Trump, and my reservations about President Trump are even bigger. But in evaluating everything that comes over the next four years, do not lose sight for a moment of how powerful and important for all of us it is to maintain America as an idea. Doing so will be more important than the sum total of every individual policy outcome. In all instances, do your best to ensure that we continue to lift our lamp beside the golden door. Because when the idea of America is snuffed out, we forever become just another country."

On the occasion of Biden's rollout of his "America is an idea" slogan, I'm reading — from January 2017 — "America is an idea" by Michael J. Koplow. There's a plain anti-Trumpism to this "America is an idea" idea.

When Biden's slogan — "America is an idea" — was Bono's.

"America is an idea" — Biden comes out sloganing.

UPDATE: I have now watched this video (halfway) and condemn it. Read my new post.