‘We can all be patriotic with our own flavor,’ Gov. Cox reflects ahead of America 250

During Utah Republican Gov. Spencer Cox’s final meeting as chair of the Western Governors’ Association, a children’s ensemble from Mis Raices Academy performed the national anthem and “America the Beautiful” in mariachi style.  

That musical selection made on the week the country is expected to celebrate America 250, Cox later said, was deliberate.

“You probably haven’t heard the national anthem like that before, or ‘America the Beautiful’ like that before, and it may have broken your brains just a little bit, and I certainly hope it did in all the right ways,” Cox said. “And that is to note that we are a country, a pluralistic society with a lot of really different people who come from different backgrounds, and we can all be patriotic with our own flavor.”

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Throughout his time in office Cox has expressed different views on diversity efforts. After signing a law prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public entities, he said he was grateful for “a balanced solution” that instead applied to people of all backgrounds who need help. He has also shifted on LGBTQ+ issues. After signing Pride Month declarations during the first three years of his tenure, this year, he declared June “Fidelity Month.”

However, on Tuesday, in front of a bipartisan group of governors, Cox praised the diversity of communities in Utah, arguing that “life is really boring when we’re all the same.”

“It felt more powerful. It’s almost like hearing it for the first time, right?” Cox said about the children’s performance. “And hearing it through the eyes of a different generation, and maybe people who have a different background than you, who maybe speak a little different language than you do, and still realizing that we’re all the same, I got really emotional.”

What inspired the governor to make the display, he said, was watching people from all over the world visit the U.S. to watch World Cup matches, wonderstruck by the perks of air conditioning and businesses like Costco and Buc-ee’s.

“We’re lucky to have this 250-year history that we get to celebrate together,” he said. “And surely, this doesn’t mean there aren’t bad things happening in America, there always have been and always will be, but what it does mean is we’ve always had the answer to overcome those things,” he said.

‘A nation of immigrants’

With the governors’ event kicking off the same day the U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold the country’s longstanding policy of granting automatic citizenship to those born on American soil, regardless of the immigration status of their parents, Cox said Tuesday he was still reviewing the decision. 

He, however, pointed out the justices’ dissenting opinions without saying whether he agreed with them.

“What I can say is that, as I said earlier, no matter what that case is, we are a nation of immigrants. We have immigrants here today, children of immigrants who are here today,” Cox said. “And as we celebrate America 250 I believe that there’s an opportunity for us to come together to remember what is so important about this country, what makes this country truly great, and that’s what we’ll be celebrating.”

New Mexico Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham responded with a wink to one of Cox’s big campaigns.

“I disagree better,” she told Cox. 

“The issue I’m still worried about that you reflected is if in fact they’re looking at ways to narrow what that means for some and others. This gives me great pause,” Lujan Grisham said. “I’m not sure, you didn’t say that you were in favor of that or not, but kind of leaned in, that it’ll be all right. I’m not so sure, and I think this is a place where Americans have to be really engaged.”

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