The West hasn't reached its universal state as yet, although its close to it, but it certainly has evolved out of its warring state phase, which it was in for a couple of centuries.

It will take a long time, and certainly the West will remain the dominant civilization well into the next century, but the decline is occurring.

In 1920, the West ruled huge amounts of the world.

And the big question for the West, of course, and to the Europeans is, what other countries, which were formerly part of the Soviet bloc, should be incorporated into western institutions?

The other aspect of American identity worth focusing on is the concept of America as a nation of immigrants. That certainly is a partial truth. But it is often assumed to be the total truth.

Immigrants are people who leave one country, one society, and move to another society. But there has to be a recipient society to which the immigrants move.