American Patriotism at 250

Interesting juxtaposition at memeorandum this morning.

WSJ’s Andy Kessler (“Let America’s 250-Year Bash Begin“):

This week kicks off a yearlong celebration and hootenanny for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—the semiquincentennial. That’s an awful name, a seven-syllable mouthful. Let’s change it now and instead call it the quarter-millennium. Even quarter-mill. Much better.

Expect a battle royale over what it means to be American. The “I’m more patriotic than you” contest has already begun. In May, the Chicago Tribune’s Laura Washington suggested that “waving the flag could turn the tables on Donald Trump and the GOP.” Yes, beware of both progressives and populists in Uncle Sam clothing. While Donald Trump held a military parade, those attending the June 14 “No Kings” counterrallies were told to wave American flags. A few days later, two giant 80-foot flagpoles were erected on the White House lawn.

Just after his inauguration, Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a “grand celebration” for our 250th anniversary. Woohoo! But beyond parades and fireworks and funnel cakes, defining the American identity is lost in the woods. It’s more than football or Beyoncé or Marvel movies or Caitlin Clark—let alone B-2 bombers and bunker busters.

For me, it starts with freedom. Individualism. A nation of builders (American for entrepreneur). A certain ruggedness and resilience with an extra-large dollop of dignity, caring and giving. Martin Luther King Jr. thought the American dream required “a tough mind and a tender heart.” I like that.

There’s more, but you get the drift.

AP (“National pride is declining in America. And it’s splitting by party lines, new Gallup polling shows“):

Only 36% of Democrats say they’re “extremely” or “very” proud to be American, according to a new Gallup poll, reflecting a dramatic decline in national pride that’s also clear among young people.

The findings are a stark illustration of how many — but not all — Americans have felt less of a sense of pride in their country over the past decade. The split between Democrats and Republicans, at 56 percentage points, is at its widest since 2001. That includes all four years of Republican President Donald Trump’s first term.

Only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults who are part of Generation Z, which is defined as those born from 1997 to 2012, expressed a high level of pride in being American in Gallup surveys conducted in the past five years, on average. That’s compared with about 6 in 10 Millennials — those born between 1980 and 1996 — and at least 7 in 10 U.S. adults in older generations.

“Each generation is less patriotic than the prior generation, and Gen Z is definitely much lower than anybody else,” said Jeffrey Jones, a senior editor at Gallup. “But even among the older generations, we see that they’re less patriotic than the ones before them, and they’ve become less patriotic over time. That’s primarily driven by Democrats within those generations.”

America’s decline in national pride has been a slow erosion, with a steady downtick in Gallup’s data since January 2001, when the question was first asked.

Even during the tumultuous early years of the Iraq War, the vast majority of U.S. adults, whether Republican or Democrat, said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be American. At that point, about 9 in 10 were “extremely” or “very” proud to be American. That remained high in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but the consensus around American pride slipped in the years that followed, dropping to about 8 in 10 in 2006 and continuing a gradual decline.

Now, 58% of U.S. adults say that, in a downward shift that’s been driven almost entirely by Democrats and independents. The vast majority of Republicans continue to say they’re proud to be American.

Independents’ pride in their national identity hit a new low in the most recent survey, at 53%, largely following that pattern of gradual decline.

I’m old enough to have pretty distinct memories of the long celebration that marked America’s Bicentennial in 1975-1976. Television programs were interspersed with “Bicentennial Minutes,” there was a Bicentennial quarter, a Bicentennial half dollar, a Bicentennial dollar coin, a Bicentennial $2 bill, and, well, Bicentennial pretty much everything. Hell, the Dallas Cowboys changed their helmet stripe for the season to red, white, and blue.

Granting the differences in perspective of a 9-year-old and a 59-year-old, I’m just not getting anything like the same sense of celebration this go-round. The 4th is later in the week, and there has thus far been no fanfare. By this time in 1975, Bicentennial Fever was in full swing.

While 1976 had the parallelism of 1776/1976, I can’t imagine that 200 is less worthy of celebration than 250. Yes, “Bicentennial” has more of a ring to it that “Semisequentenial,” but, as Kessler notes, better branding is available.

The AP report highlights the polarization around Trump, and that’s certainly a big part of it. Then again, at this point 50 years ago, we were still reeling from the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War loss. And things were objectively worse with the energy crisis, rampant stagflation, and massive unemployment.