I agree with pretty much all of the above. A stupendous amount of what is considered "American" culture is imported from many places, and not just Europe by a long shot.

But we have to be careful not to confuse what we eat with how we run our nation.

Following is the best definition I have found of American, or to be more accurate, Western principles (which are not confined by any means to the United States, or even Europeans):

Definition of Western Civilization:



"From the perspective of intellectual and cultural content, Western civilization represents an understanding and acceptance of the following: the laws of logic; the concept of causality and, consequently, of a universe ruled by natural laws intelligible to man; on these foundations, the whole known corpus of the laws of mathematics and science; the individual's self-responsibility based on his free will to choose between good and evil; the value of man above all other species on the basis of his unique possession of the power of reason; the value and competence of the individual human being and his corollary possession of individual rights, among them the right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness; the need for limited government and for the individual's freedom from the state; on this entire preceding foundation, the validity of capitalism, with its unprecedented and continuing economic development in terms of division of labor, technological progress, capital accumulation and rising living standards; in addition, the importance of visual arts and literature depicting man as capable of facing the world with confidence in his power to succeed, and music featuring harmony and melody."

- Dr. George Reisman, Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University's School of Business and Management in Los Angeles. Excerpted from an article, "Education and the Racist Road to Barbarism" in The Intellectual Activist, Volume V, No. 4, April 30, 1990.



None of the things in this description, with the possible exception of the music bit (which I do not consider that important as part of the definition) has anything to do with the things you discuss in your post. Things like what foods are eaten, the origins of scientific principles, the clothes worn, or even the languages spoken. When someone says "multicultural," most people think of these extraneous factors, which are not critical factors in the preservation of a free society, but do demonstrably enhance the lifestyles therein.

But some--the ones you have to watch out for--try to slip in the concept that all methods of organizing societies are equally valid, including horribly oppressive ones. Moral equivalence is the shorthand for this. The line between these two areas is sometimes not that clear, and vigilance is required.