> What you probably don't realize is how culturally diverse America is, maybe more so than any other country.

Visiting the US the first few times did demonstrate a cultural diversity that I hadn't actually realised until I was there. However, I grew up in London and, the UK being tiny, spent time in Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and many other places that were culturally diverse - if by culturally diverse one means race, religion, cuisine etc.

I thought that America had an overarching sense of being American that transcended its constituent cultures - in a far more concrete sense than "Britishness", whatever that means.

Let's be honest. An Indian, Chinese, Pakistani - French person, even - arriving in Britain in my youth had little expectation of aspiring to "Britishness". There really isn't such a thing. But those people heading to the US had something almost tangible - again, overarching - the idea of Americanness that transcended everything. Class, culture, status, no matter. The American dream.

Or, perhaps, I just watched too many films - ahem, movies - as a kid that advertised this message to the world.

But even discarding the rose-tinted goggles of youth, I still think that there was a genuine spirit of an American ideal that held true until, perhaps, only a few years ago. I can't imagine the American people just sitting idly by and watching it be torn apart from within.