Why Democrats Have a Patriotism Problem

Why Democrats Have a Patriotism Problem

– By Howard Sierer –

With Memorial Day in our rearview mirror and Flag Day coming up on 14 June, my thoughts have turned to why I’m grateful to be an American. Lee Greenwood’s classic song, “God Bless the USA,” speaks to my feelings of patriotism and gratitude for those who, in Abraham Lincoln’s famous words, “gave the last full measure of devotion” to preserve the freedoms we all-too-often take for granted.

To my surprise and dismay, the word “patriotism” has become divisive in our hyper-polarized political environment. Those on the far left highlight and usually exaggerate what they see as our country’s shortcomings while those on the far right all too often exhibit an “America uber alles” attitude.

As is so often the case, those of us closer to the center are disheartened by either extreme. Many of us are proud to be Americans but ready to recognize we have problems that need to be addressed. For those near the center, the patriotism glass may be more than half full while for others, it is somewhat less than half full.

But for many progressives, their patriotism glasses are empty. Liberal commentator Noah Smith takes these progressives to task in his essay titled “Try Patriotism”:

“I’ve seen a remarkable and pervasive vilification of America become not just widespread but de rigueur among progressives….The general conceit among today’s progressives is that America was founded on racism, that it has never faced up to this fact, and that the most important task for combatting American racism is to force the nation to face up to that history.”

That conventional progressive thinking is why they are so unenthusiastic about their country: just 34% of progressive activists say they are “proud to be American.” Yet this small group of “progressive activists” (about 6% of the population according to NPR) claims to be “deeply concerned with issues concerning equity, fairness, and America’s direction today” while 62% of Asians, 70% of blacks, and 76% of Hispanics – the very groups whose interests these activists claim to represent – say they are proud to be Americans.

These sentiments and the negative view of our country they represent are now heavily associated with the Democratic Party because of the vastly disproportionate weight progressive activists carry within the party, a weight that far exceeds their actual numbers. Their voice is further amplified by their strong and frequently dominant influence in associated institutions that lean toward the Democrats: nonprofits, foundations, advocacy groups, academia, legacy media, and the arts. Love of country is generally shunned in these circles.

Survey after survey (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) conducted by a wide variety of polling organizations show that the public views Republicans as anywhere from 10% to 20% more patriotic than Democrats. And that is an electoral problem for Democrats who have for the last 30+ years pandered to identity groups – blacks, Hispanics, Asians – for support: these groups are far more patriotic than the public’s perception of Democrats in general.

Peggy Noonan, political columnist and author of five New York Times bestsellers, in a recent article titled, “Teach Your Children to Love America,” wrote:

“We live in an age—I’ll say this part quickly as we all know it—in which children are instructed in 100 different ways through 100 different portals that America is and always was a dark and scheming place, that its history is the history of pushing people around, often in an amoral quest for wealth but also because we aren’t very nice. And we never meant it about the Declaration.

“It denies kids a secure sense that they’re part of something sound and healthy. It subtly discourages them from trying to make things better—you can’t right something whose sicknesses are so structural. This isn’t a good way to bring up the future.”

As someone who is “trying to make things better,” I am proud to say I’m a patriot, one of those who recognizes that our country has problems and looks for ways to overcome them. Problem solutions will not be perfect because people are not perfect. But we can love our country and keep trying.

I join Lee Greenwood in saying “I’m proud to be an American.”