It is the weekend leading up to the Fourth of July, the momentous day in which Americans declared their independence from Britain. This kicked off the American Revolutionary War which lasted from 1776 until 1783, and led to the creation of a country that would usher in a new era of freedom throughout the western world.
But in recent years, we have all seen the cultural shift. We have seen the videos of flag burnings and riots in city streets across the country, we have heard the talking heads declare that the mere sight of American flags on Long Island was “disturbing.” So what changed?
In an examination of patriotism by generation, Newsweek references the following findings from I&I/TIPP polling: 67 % of 1,424 U.S. adults polled reported that they were “very proud” to be an American.
This number is already significantly low, but is not nearly as concerning as the response from adults ages 18-24. Just 36% of US adults in this age range said they were “very proud” to be Americans.
In 2020 just before the pandemic, Gallup polling found that 58% of Americans were “dissatisfied” with the state of the country. Gallup also observed that American patriotism has been steadily declining year after year.
The Newsweek analysis recorded conversations with young adults who expressly said that they are not proud to be an American. One person stated, “We were not created as a country with black and indigenous rights in mind, yet even stating something as basic as that makes me the enemy to millions of Americans who think I merely hate this country blindly.”
But is the real issue a lack of historical education, or the lack of accurate historical education? Is it blind hatred, as the young adult told Newsweek, or simply misguided hatred?
Schools have implemented progressive ideologies like CRT, the 1619 Project, gender theory and more into the curriculum. All of which are intended to confuse and deceive young adults. Public education has abandoned all sense of respect for our country and has instead chosen to indoctrinate children to believe that this country was founded on racism, rather than principles of equality and freedom.
We no longer see kids in school standing up and saying the Pledge of Allegiance each morning, now teachers encourage kids to host pride marches during school hours, and pledge their allegiance to the pride flag — this video was of course obtained by the wonderful “Libs of TikTok.”
With this in mind, it isn’t hard to understand why such a small percentage of today’s young adults feel a form of resentment towards our country’s past.
In reality, the United States enshrined the foundation for equality in the Declaration of Independence, fully intending the eventual legal implementation of the phrase, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,”.
I would argue that though we had our flaws, our nation’s history is something to be proud of, our country is so much more than its shortcomings. We need to remember the mistakes we made and continue to learn from them, without allowing them to repeat themselves by means of racially divisive ideology such as CRT.
As we reflect on our past, let’s also take a moment to think about what kind of future we want to leave behind. This is exactly what our founding fathers did when they drafted our Constitution, the point was to secure freedom for future generations. Now is the time to stand up for true American history and values that will accomplish just that.
Happy Fourth of July.
