Heimat,Heim und Volk - that

Heimat,Heim und Volk - that was a Nazi phrase. It means "Homeland, Home and People", but its idiomatic meaning was far deeper than that (which is why the Nazis used it). It alludes to the German cultural connection with the homeland and "volk", a word with connotations to native Germans (especially early in the last century) that don't translate to Americans. It's very exclusionary - Jews, after all, weren't part of the Volk, they didn't come from the Heimat, and had no allegiance to it.

Even in its more innocent sense, it's something that is hard to understand for Americans - our nation is united around ideas like liberty, equality and justice, rather than around some supernatural nationalism. That's why the right in Europe is gaining so much traction against Immigrants - it's impossible to immigrate, truly, to country with an ingrained, psychic sense of nationality.

All of which is part of this icky feeling I've had about the phrase "Homeland Defense", ever since it became de rigeur among the nattering classes after the war began. I haven't talked about it much - it's a hard concept to explain.

Fortunately, Peggy Noonan did it for me.