Patriotism is at an all-time low among Americans, according to a new poll.
Not Proud To Be An American
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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The US government should award you a medel – and a pension – Ted, for reminding citizens and residents of your country that they have so much of which to be proud ! Now if you could only be persuaded to draw the sort of cartoons the big media houses love to see…. 😉
Henri
The decline has taken place among the Left. According to Gallip, in 2013, 56% of Democrats were proud; now it is 32%. The patriotism of the left depends on who is in office. Conservatives have always been proud of this great country.
Dick in one hand, flag in the other. Marching over the cliffs of Mookery.
In 1973, the Russian poet Naom Korzhavin became so disillusioned with the Soviet Union that he emigrated to the United States.
Perhaps those disillusioned with America can go into exile as well.
@Strelnikov
Ugh, no thanks.
You’re mistaking ‘patriotism’ with ‘nationalism’
A patriot loves his country, even when it’s doing wrong. A nationalist *follows* his country, even when it’s doing wrong.
> Perhaps those disillusioned with America can go into exile as well.
Good idea. I’ll buy your bus ticket back to Europe.
American Teacher needs a long stay in Siberia or Xinjiang (“Chinese Turkestan”), might expand his limited view of the world.
I’m not ashamed to say I love my country, but at the same time I am ashamed of many of my country’s actions.
Al Franken has a great analogy in “Lies and the lying liars who tell them.” The conservatives love their country like a three-year-old loves mommy. Mommy is beautiful, mommy is perfect, and mommy is the best mommy in the world. Liberals have a more mature love, one that understands that mommy is not perfect, but loves her anyway.
Liberals try to help her get better, while conservatives want to drag her into the cesspit.
According to the Gallup poll, racial demographics also help to explain the decline. Non-white national pride fell from 47% to 33%.
Imagine that – a rise in discrimination leads to a decline in satisfaction. Who coulda seen that coming?
Don’t mind American Teacher – he’s just Ted Rall in conservative drag.
@Strelnikov
I don’t think Ted could invent someone quite like me.
Perhaps the only Patriots are the historical Americans, those who identify with its history, heritage, and symbols.
And surely even the nonwhites who are sinking this Gallup poll must realize that America provides them with a life better than their country of origin ever could.
And right now I am very proud of my country and the Trump administration for trying to end child abuse at the border.
See today’s Daily Mail: “Government says Parents of Nearly Half of Kids Younger than Five Taken at the Border Can’t Have Them Back Because They are Child Abusers, Kidnappers, and Murderers – And Others Aren’t Actually Parents” by David Martosko, U.S. Political Editor for the Daily Mail
Ted has chosen, accepted or is provoking us with, a rather poor definition of patriotism.
Traditionally, Americans (like the celebrities famous for being famous) seemed more concerned with being proud of being proud, as comic above, rather than having to bother with identifying something legitimate about which to be proud directly.
The His Hairness “movement” now insists that its fundamentalist jingoism is patriotism.
I expect that destruction of any sensible notion of patriotism, along with any and all legitimate means to and any expression of actual patriotism, is necessary to achieve the truly exceptional status of mendacious and murderous empire.
@falco
Be careful so you don’t step in the shit that your comment is both following (above) and preceding (below) on this page.
American Turd is so stupid that he thinks Kavanaugh’s opinion in Abbas v. Foreign Policy Group favors of the little guy who tries to get a little justice from those who have the money to buy more “justice”.
AT can’t read. AT demonstrates the validity of the statement “Those who can’t do, teach”.
Of what to be proud?
It’s hard to know where to begin.
Teaching hospitals. First responders. National Guard. Military academies. Military. Museums. Concert halls. Opera houses. Charities. Constitution and our system of government. Infrastructure. National parks. Libraries. Universities. Architecture. National anthem. Olympics teams.
One must stop lest other people from foreign lands start to feel inferior.
I am also proud of ICE for arresting 18 human traffickers, 117 illegal aliens, including people previously deported for crimes committed in the United States, as well as seizing 1000 pounds of marijuana at the border.
I am ashamed of the United States for not enforcing its border laws.
Alejandro Alvarez, a serial immigration violator who had been deported eleven times since 2005, was arrested in Whittier, California for attacking his wife with a chainsaw.
Now he will be living on Americans’ dime for decades to come.
Source: The Sacramento Bee, July 12