Nation of victims : identity politics, the death of merit, and the path back to excellence

When I looked at the reading lists of the schools Karthik will attend in Columbus, Ohio, I didn’t see anything like that children’s book about the Nacirema. Instead, I saw Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracist Baby and Anastasia Higginbotham’s Not My Idea, which portrays white supremacy as a constant devil whispering from one’s shoulder. I worry Karthik will be assigned children’s versions of Robin DiAngelo’s work instead of Horace Miner’s. Miner tried to teach his readers how to think, but I’m afraid the DiAngelo adaptations will only teach my son what to think.I wonder if Karthik will be taught calculus in high school, if he’ll be placed in advanced classes in the subjects he’s passionate about.2 I wonder what he’ll be good at, and if his talents will be nurtured in the strange land I find myself in today. I wonder whether my son’s teachers will prioritize him or some abstract social good, whether they’ll view it as their duty to mold him into an instrument to make a better world. I guess I would like them to mold him into an instrument to make the world better according to his own notions, not theirs. But the culture he’s been born into may not allow that. The Americans. A strange people with strange ways. Their customs are riddled with contradictions, their people consumed by odd obsessions. They seem preoccupied with the notion that they are inherently unclean, and their lives revolve around elaborate purification rituals where they attempt to cleanse themselves and each other.Many American rituals stem from their belief that the mouth is the root of all sin because the words it speaks have a supernatural power to cause harm. Many insist this verbally inflicted harm is an actual form of violence, perhaps even more damaging than the physical kind.4 Americans believe in a pre-scientific metaphysical system by which the very words one speaks are the primary forces that change self and world; one’s actions are considered secondary, the mere effect of words. And so The New York Times bestselling author of Woke Inc. and a 2024 presidential candidate makes the case that the essence of true American identity is to pursue excellence unapologetically and reject victimhood culture. Hardship is now equated with victimhood. Outward displays of vulnerability in defeat are celebrated over winning unabashedly. The pursuit of excellence and exceptionalism are at the heart of American identity, and the disappearance of these ideals in our country leaves a deep moral and cultural vacuum in its wake. But the solution isn't to simply complain about it. It's to revive a new cultural movement in America that puts excellence first again. New York Times bestselling author Vivek Ramaswamy makes the case from firsthand experience that the essence of true American identity is to pursue excellence unapologetically—no matter your skin color or where your parents came from. Leaders have called Ramaswamy "the most compelling conservative voice in the country" and "one of the towering intellects in America," and this book reveals why: he spares neither left nor right in this scathing indictment of the victimhood culture at the heart of America's national decline. Following the success of his instant bestseller Woke Inc. , Ramaswamy explains in his new book that we're a nation of victims now. It's one of the few things we still have left in common—across black victims, white victims, liberal victims, and conservative victims. Victims of each other, and ultimately, of ourselves. This fearless, provocative book is for readers who dare to look in the mirror and question their most sacred assumptions about who we are and how we got here. Intricately tracing history from the fall of Rome to the rise of America, weaving Western philosophy with Eastern theology in ways that moved Jefferson and Adams centuries ago, this book describes the rise and the fall of the American experiment itself—and hopefully its reincarnation. Now a National Bestseller! The New York Times bestselling author of Woke Inc. makes the case that the essence of true American identity is to pursue excellence unapologetically and reject victimhood culture. Hardship is now equated with victimhood. Outward displays of vulnerability in defeat are celebrated over winning unabashedly. The pursuit of excellence and exceptionalism are at the heart of American identity, and the disappearance of these ideals in our country leaves a deep moral and cultural vacuum in its wake. But the solution isn't to simply complain about it. It's to revive a new cultural movement in America that puts excellence first again. Leaders have called Ramaswamy "the most compelling conservative voice in the country" and "one of the towering intellects in America," and this book reveals why: he spares neither left nor right in this scathing indictment of the victimhood culture at the heart of America's national decline. Following the success of his instant bestseller Woke Inc., Ramaswamy explains in his new book that we're a nation of victims now. It's one of the few things we still have left in common-across black victims, white victims, liberal victims, and conservative victims. Victims of each other, and ultimately, of ourselves. This fearless, provocative book is for readers who dare to look in the mirror and question their most sacred assumptions about who we are and how we got here. Intricately tracing history from the fall of Rome to the rise of America, weaving Western philosophy with Eastern theology in ways that moved Jefferson and Adams centuries ago, this book describes the rise and the fall of the American experiment itself-and hopefully its reincarnation. The New York Times bestselling author of Woke Inc. and a 2024 presidential candidate makes the case that the essence of true American identity is to pursue excellence unapologetically and reject victimhood culture. Hardship is now equated with victimhood. Outward displays of vulnerability in defeat are celebrated over winning unabashedly. The pursuit of excellence and exceptionalism are at the heart of American identity, and the disappearance of these ideals in our country leaves a deep moral and cultural vacuum in its wake. But the solution isn’t to simply complain about it. It’s to revive a new cultural movement in America that puts excellence first again. Leaders have called Ramaswamy “the most compelling conservative voice in the country” and “one of the towering intellects in America,” and this book reveals why: he spares neither left nor right in this scathing indictment of the victimhood culture at the heart of America’s national decline. In this national bestseller, Ramaswamy explains that we’re a nation of victims now. It’s one of the few things we still have left in common—across black victims, white victims, liberal victims, and conservative victims. Victims of each other, and ultimately, of ourselves. This fearless, provocative book is for readers who dare to look in the mirror and question their most sacred assumptions about who we are and how we got here. Intricately tracing history from the fall of Rome to the rise of America, weaving Western philosophy with Eastern theology in ways that moved Jefferson and Adams centuries ago, this book describes the rise and the fall of the American experiment itself—and hopefully its reincarnation. CONTENTS Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Introduction: History of the Nacirema Chapter 1: Nation of Underdogs Chapter 2: The Civil War Chapter 3: The Constitutional War Chapter 4: Race Theory Chapter 5: Conservative Victimhood Chapter 6: Empire in Decline Chapter 7: How Victimhood Leads to National Decline Chapter 8: The Need to Forgive Chapter 9: A Theory of Duty Conclusion: Reincarnate Acknowledgments Discover More About the Author Notes "The New York Times bestselling author of Woke Inc. makes the case that the essence of true American identity is to pursue excellence unapologetically and reject victimhood culture." -- Amazon.com