Patriotism in the United States

Patriotism is the ideals of love and devotion to a homeland and a sense of alliance with other citizens who share the same values. In the United States patriotism is seen as an important part of American culture. Joining the army is a reasonable choice for Americans to display their patriotism. It’s like a disease that every man carries. It spreads from one soul to the next like an unstoppable wildfire. There is no cure for such a disease; for this is one of pure determination and pride.

Patriotism is why America leads the world. Men and women have a deep will to work and succeed. This disease is why Neil Armstrong stepped onto uncertain ground. He wanted to show the world that his nation had accomplished something no other had. He took the leap onto the moon to prove his patriotism.

In the Second World War, Millions of women stepped up to show their love and determination for their country. They worked to fulfill a call that men could not due to war. Patriotism filled their hearts and gave them the bravery to do what was then a man’s work.

Patriotism seems especially fervent among two groups of Americans.The first, of course, is veterans and their families. For many, patriotism is attendant to military service, and dying in combat is the ultimate sacrifice anyone can make for their country. For many military families, showing disrespect for the flag, the National Anthem or other American symbols can come as a slap in the face.”I stand for our flag and anthem, and I kneel for our fallen. That’s what patriots do,” said Keith Harman, a Vietnam combat veteran who leads the 1.7 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. “We rally around the flag of our country, not use it and our Constitution as both shield and sword.”

America appears to be moving toward a more nuanced form of patriotism. Audrey Birnbaum Young is a Green Bay Packers fan, who like thousands of others has shares in the league’s only publicly owned franchise. She has friends who played in the NFL and family members who served in the military. “There’s a lot of other ways [to protest] without offending the veterans of our country,” she said. But, she added, “If you ask any one of those players how they feel about the service men and women that have defended our country. I guarantee you not one of them would disrespect our service men and women.”

Race and ethnicity had very visible differences of opinion regarding the content of patriotism. White adults, who constitute two-thirds of the current adult population, were the racial/ethnic segment most likely to believe that each of the 15 statements accurately described what it means to be patriotic. More than half of them adopted each of those statements as an accurate depiction. The mean scores for the entire list of statements were highest among whites while the scores were nearly identical between blacks and Hispanics. However, the statements most likely to generate low acceptance varied between the two dominant non-white segments. Less than half of all blacks were likely to accept the statements, “willing to join the military to defend the nation, if called upon;” “refuse to tolerate abuse of the American flag;” “America’s enemies are your enemies;” and “always accept the choices made by the President while retaining the right to lawfully express disagreement.” A minority of Hispanics embraced the latter two of those statements.

Not unexpectedly, the casting of patriotic or non-patriotic by faith segments aligned with the perceived ideological theological views of the various organizations examined. For instance, born again Christians were much more likely than other people to characterize the NRA, Chick-fil-A, and Hobby Lobby as “very patriotic.” People of non-Christian faiths were more likely than born again Christians to argue that CNN, Planned Parenthood, the NFL are very patriotic. Skeptics, who reside at the opposite end of the spiritual continuum from the born again constituency, were the group least likely to label any of the organizations as very patriotic and, of course, they themselves were lowest on the patriotism assessment scale.

Patriotism may be a disease, but it is one no man should have any intention of curing. It brings out compassion, courage, work ethics, and bravery in us all. American Patriotism helps reawaken the American Spirit across the land so that the best of this country’s heritage is publicly recognized and reasserted as the basis of our local, state, and national life.

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