TIME

The fight for the meaning of America

In times of turmoil, the conflict tends to sharpen: cosmopolitan vs. cultural, open vs. closed

THE IDEA OF NATIONALISM is at least as old as Genesis, where the sons of Noah divide the earth between them after the flood. But as the presidential campaign has made clear, Americans have not quite settled on what it is that defines us as a nation.

Are we defined by openness, a belonging, at least potentially, to people everywhere? Hillary Clinton has advanced that idea throughout the campaign. “We don’t hide from change. We harness it,” she declared

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