In online discussions with Europeans, occasionally the topic turns to "you Americans" and some observation or complaint– ranging anywhere from polite and benign to angry and confrontational– about our character (or lack thereof), etc etc.
I always find this amusing coming from Europeans, because, what is an American, really? "You Americans" certainly doesn’t mean actual, genetic Native Americans, who barely remain anywhere north of the Rio Grande; their numbers have been decimated by a genocide perpetrated wholly by– Europeans.
So who are "we" Americans, anyway? I’m of 50% Italian and 50% Sicilian blood. Genetically, I "am" 100% European (maybe a bit of North African and Middle Easten, too, based on the history of Sicily).
I look at the ruling class of this country, and they’re nearly all of European origin– mostly British, German, Scotch, and Irish. "Bush" is an English surname, "Clinton" and "Rodham" certainly likewise. If Obama makes it through the primary and to the presidency, I suspect he’d be the first significantly non-European ever to serve in that office.
"We" Americans aren’t a people or a nation in any traditional sense of the word. Most of us are Europeans by blood. A growing number of us have a bit more "American" in us, descended from "los Indios" of Mexico and Central/South America. A significant number of us are African. The remainder come from every other nation on the planet. We’ve generally been the people from Europe who were too rebellious or ambitious or greedy to be content with our "station", or had religious beliefs too bizarre or heretical. I guess "we" are, if anything, still that, so there are some differences.
But, dear Europeans, at the root of it, the chances are high that the "we" you are talking about at any given time, is "you".