Try patriotism - by Noah Smith - Noahpinion
I’m traveling today, so here’s a repost from two and a half years ago. Back in 2021, I wrote a post about patriotism that stirred up quite a bit of controversy. My basic argument was A) that a “silent majority” of the American public held patriotic sentiments, B) that this patriotism was under attack by extremists on both the Right and the Left, and C) that whichever party appeals to those sentiments will reap electoral rewards.
Three years later, I’m a little less sure of this thesis. On one hand, polls still show that a majority of Americans are either “extremely proud” or “very proud” of their country, even if this number has diminished since the early 2010s:
Some other polls, however, find that patriotism is much less important to Americans than it once was. And whether Biden can effectively harness patriotic messaging at this point is questionable; Democrats are far less patriotic than Republicans, and Independents are closer to Democrats than to Republicans.
But now, in 2024, I still think patriotic messaging is very important — but for a different reason. The emergence of a new Cold War and the rise of totalitarian powers makes the U.S.’ traditional role as a beacon of liberalism all the more crucial. Facing these threats, our leaders need to use patriotic messaging for a purpose beyond simply getting elected; they need to remind Americans what their country stands for, and that having a country is very important.
