Letter: We’re not really Americans, we’re United Statesians

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 | 8:46 a.m.

William Safire's July 11 column, "Disputing Europe's perspective of America," caught my attention particularly because of his misuse of the term "America."

He begins talking about misperceiving U.S. foreign policy, and he immediately drifts into Myth No. 1 by referring to America, instead of the USA. So, let's talk about the myths and realities of Safire's misperceptions, which are shared by Americans from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle.

Myth No. 1: The United States of America is America. The reality is that America is a region stretching from Canada to Chile, including the islands of the Caribbean and even Cuba. When referring to America, it is a reference to the northern and southern hemispheres together, and everything in between. The United States of America is just one country in America. Remember that little word "of" in our country's name.

Myth No. 2: This builds on Myth No. 1, not mentioned by Safire: people reference the "American flag" and "American government." The reality is that there has never been an American flag or American government. Each country in America has its own national flag and its own government with its own foreign policy. When someone says they are proud to be "an American," that means he or she is proud of being one of the people in this part of the Earth, with no connection to any country.

We have a problem in this country, based upon the misuse of the term "America" and "American." There is no clever, short way of saying that we are from the United States of America except by saying we are a citizen of the United States of America; or, that we are a United Statesian of America, or we are a USAian.

Unlike Canadians from Canada, or Argentinians from Argentina, we have no comfortable way of identifying ourselves. But we certainly need to quit referring to our nation as "America," which it is not.

RON KINUM