In 1883, American poet Emma Lazarus wrote “The New Colossus” during an age of great immigration to the New World, as part of an effort to fund the pedestal for France’s gift to the United States: the Statue of Liberty in New York City. “‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she/With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore./Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’”
For the millions of Americans voting with their feet in the 2020s, these lines might as well be the slogan of France—or Portugal. An odd thing is happening as America, long a beacon worldwide as the defining destination for people in search of a new hope and a new life, is starting to feel like the “old country” that people quietly plan to leave behind. More than that, to be American is downright uncool.
