What's the Difference Between an American Citizen and a Global Citizen?

by Lisa E. McLoughlin

It sounds like a simple question; what’s the difference between an American citizen and a Global citizen? In order to identify the difference, one must first understand the definition of the word CITIZEN:

As per Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a citizen is:

1. an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman

2.a. a member of a state

  b. a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it

3. a civilian as distinguished from a specialized servant of the State.

That seems pretty clear. Which leads us to the question; is there a Global government? If the answer to that is ‘no’, then a Global Citizen is as real as a unicorn. So why are so many public schools grooming our youth to become Global Citizens? If there is no one world government for people to pledge allegiance to, if no rights or privileges can be granted to someone for pledging to be a Global Citizen, why on Earth (pun intended)  are billions of dollars being spent in our public schools to promote a mythical, ideological non-entity?

The only possible answer is the following. There are forces at work intent on establishing a global government. The only way to gain global acceptance of such a concept is to brainwash the youth into believing one world government is something that is more desirable and superior to nationalism and the  sovereignty of individual countries. A global citizen, according to organizations like the International Baccalaureate which preaches this nonsense ad nauseum, is more caring, compassionate and open-minded than your average Joe. A global citizen (remember, not a real thing) is interconnected and wants to make the world a better place. A global citizen cares about “climate change”, is empathetic, willing to take action and wants everyone in the entire world to be free of fear . 

So which organization currently exists on planet Earth that has the potential to one day exert so much power that its rules and treaties over-ride and undermine all other  forms of citizenship and govenment, especially citizens of the U.S. of America?  The United Nations, of course. If citizens of the U.S. and 142 other countries are raised to scorn their native land and openly embrace the nonsensical term global citizen, why would they defend their homeland? If our youth are taught that the U.S. Constitution is “old fashioned” and that the U.S. is full of warmongers while the UN is made up of peacekeepers, posed again and again as evil vs. good, what is to keep future Americans from simply handing over the keys of our liberty to the UN?

The truth. American citizenship is real. Global citizenship is nothing more than a fantasy. If you are an American citizen, you have documentation to prove your status. With that status, you may obtain an American passport to travel anywhere in the world. You have the rights which our Founding Fathers identified as inalienable and granted by Our Creator, not by planet Earth and not by a collective of dictators and tyrants. Our Constitution grants us the right to own property, to participate in commerce, to be recognized equally under the Law. As American citizens, we have the right to bear arms and to be protected from unlawful search and seizure. Our right to vote for the candidate we feel is most qualified to govern us locally, statewide or nationally, is something most Americans value. Until I started writing this paper, I was under the misconception that every convicted felon lost their right to vote if they served a year and a day in jail. That’s what I was taught in school. 

But, what I was taught in school, is not the truth. Apparently, the 14th Amendment is vague on this issue and the rules surrounding disenfranchisement of a voter due to a felony conviction are determined by the State. (10th Amendment) As such, Vermont and Maine allow prisoners to vote. As of 2011, only two states, Kentucky and Virginia, still impose the lifelong denial of the right to vote to citizens convicted of a felony, absent some sort of extreme intervention from the Governor or State Legislature. (The Sentencing Project, March 2011) 

I had been brainwashed by a public school system which in the 60’s, believed that voting = good/crime = bad.  The details of the actual laws apparently, didn’t matter. Teaching “one year and a day in jail” instilled a concept little kids could grasp in terms of their own earthly existence and hopefully tuck away in the back of their heads if the thought of robbing a bank happened to pop up in the future. Frankly, I would have enjoyed learning that different laws applied in different States. I shouldn’t be learning this at 55 years of age.

We hear the words “voter disenfranchisement” an awful lot lately, and always in racial or ethnic terms. Our Attorney General is claiming states who ask voters to present ID are causing “disenfranchisement” of poor black and Hispanic voters. The problem with this argument, is that in order for someone to be disenfranchised, they had to have been franchised in the first place!  Those who seek to undermine the right of the States to require voter ID in order to meet State law regarding who gets to vote and who doesn’t, are those who seek to destroy America as we know it and should be declared traitors.

Progressives have pushed this ideological, global citizen fantasy, basically unchecked, for over four decades. The  left-wing eggheads in academia and the unionized workers of the world have united to not only brainwash our youth into submission, but to bankrupt our cities in the process in their never ending quest to redistribute the wealth. Holding firm to tradition is now called Draconian or archaic by those who claim to be forward thinkers of the 21st Century. It isn’t “cool” to believe in our fundamental founding principles. So the globalists play on that. They demean Christians who believe that Creationism is a theory as much as evolution is a theory. They demonize the wealthy and success in their quest to create a Utopia where everyone never wants and everyone sings Kumbaya. A global citizen is cool, right?

     photo credit: Irene Davy; “Who Gets to be a Global Citizen?”, IBO, 2010

I say “phooey” to the concept of a global citizen and everyone who promotes this inane, fantasmaGorical pie in the sky, pantheistic, socialist notion. But as for my American citizenship? Right now, it’s something I treasure. Our Constitution is the most perfectly crafted form of government on the planet …. if only our elected representatives would hold true to its truths.