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Vance and Mamdani are equal citizens under the law, but the vice president seems to believe that his heritage entitles him to speak in ways that Mamdani can’t. There are tiers of belonging, according to Vance, one for those who can trace their lineage to one of the nation’s two founding revolutions and another for those who can’t.

For Vance, this is something close to common sense. And for some Americans it was, before the Civil War.

  • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    4 days ago

    “That answer would also reject a lot of people that the ADL would label as domestic extremists,” he said — referring, without explanation, to the Anti-Defamation League — “even those very Americans” who “had their ancestors fight in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.” For Vance, this is simply unacceptable. “I think the people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War,” he said, “have a hell of a lot more claim over America than the people who say they don’t belong.”

    This is a perfect encapsulation of reactionary ideology: they see conservative identity as paramount. Many of those people’s ancestors fought to get out of the United States, but he counts them as more American because of their conservative identity.

    Reactionaries genuinely believe that they should get more rights simply because of who they are. They are fighting for a highly regimented society where you get better treatment from the government based on how conservative you are.