Remember math class? In school, the fundamentals were readin, writen, and rithmetic. In math class, the four basic fundamental signs were add (+), subtract (-), multiply (×) and divide (÷).  The subtract was the opposite of add and divide was the opposite of multiply. But take a closer look at the subtract sign.

I remember John Wayne reciting something about the hyphen. (https://youtu.be/_fuzLTrwVbc) A poem that was right then and even more so now. Take a moment and listen to John Wayne recite that poem. That hyphen separates. Irish-American, Black-American, Italian-American and so on. That hyphen separates instead of adds to. Just like in math, the hyphen is used to separate or subtract from.

Now, we all have heard that America is the melting pot of the world. All other countries try to boast of their purity in ancestry where America boasts of purity in freedom. Why else would almost everyone, still today, sacrifice everything to get to America? What is an American but supposedly a ‘free person’. Free to persue happiness. Free to raise a family with the fruits of your labor. America, the only place in the world where an immigrant can come with only a few dollars, a dream and the tenacity to fulfill that dream thru hard work. So why separate yourself from the American dream? By saying you are an Italian-American, you have put your Italian ancestry first and disrespected what America is, and could be. My ancestors are from Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Ausralia, Holland and England. Yet I call myself an American with no hyphen. I don’t separate myself from other Americans. Whether your skin color is white, black, brown, or olive, if you are a citizen, you are American. Whether you worship God as a Jew or a Christian, whether you are Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or you do not believe in God, but you are a citizen of America, you are an American. That hyphen acts to seperate, divide and subtract yourself from the very melting pot you chose to become part of.

America still has the potential to be the melting pot, the place of dreams, where you are free to try to make the better mouse trap and build the business that becomes great. But we can’t build this country if people continue to seperate themselves from America. If people add themselves to the greatness instead of seperating themselves from it, we could live up to the potential that our forefathers dreamt of. However, if people instead want to be seperate instead, we become smaller. Like the cliques in High School, that served to seperate.

It is clear that the hyphen, in this case, subtracts a persons uniqueness from the American dream. In essence, you are declaring that you do not want to be American but instead Italian-american (small a) instead of American, or Black-american.

Our current country leaders grew up seperating themselves from America, so it is no suprise that they continue to seperate this country with minus signs, they thrive and get richer on the chaos seperation creates. It is up to you, the individual to eliminate the minus sign and become American. Don’t be a dumb-ass, ignorant, inbread socialist loving moron, bent on destroying the very country that you live in. Subtract the subtraction sign from who you are and become ….. an American.