God Bless America: Land That I Loathe?

M emorial Day is an occasion to remember those who sacrificed to give and preserve for us the nation and its blessings that we enjoy today. Unfortunately, a segment of our population is increasingly failing to appreciate what it has been given. This growing lack of patriotism among young people does not bode well for our future.

Our institutions of higher education are exacerbating the crisis. The Brown Opinion Project conducted a poll April 20–22 that asked undergraduates at Brown University, where I am a rising senior, the following question: “Do you think America is the greatest country in the world?” A mere 12.9 percent answered yes, while 74.7 percent answered no (10.9 percent said they were unsure). While these findings reflect the feelings of students at one admittedly very liberal university, it is difficult to maintain hope for America’s future if it is any indication of what the leaders of tomorrow are thinking.

Students’ increasingly cynical views of America come as no surprise when one notices what they are being confronted with on their college campuses. The University at Buffalo’s Intercultural and Diversity Center held an event last year called “The Real History of Thanksgiving” in order to highlight America’s homegrown holiday’s “whitewashed history” and “the impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous people.” This past January, literary theory and cultural-history professor Tao Leigh Goffee of Cornell University tweeted that capitalism is rooted in slavery, writing, “Chattel slavery transformed modern finance into what it is, and thus every subsequent act of financialization must be understood as a racializing one.” Many colleges host and praise the work of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the 1619 Project, which presents an inaccurate version of American history focusing on slavery as not just the centerpiece of America’s Founding but also the very reason for the American Revolution. Some professors teach the tenets of the project outright in their classrooms. The fact that Hannah-Jones’s work is celebrated on campuses is disturbing and another way in which students receive anti-American messages.

Polling of young adults nationwide suggests lack of patriotism is not restricted to the college campus. A July 2021 poll by the Pew Research Center asked what statement best illustrates respondents’ view of the U.S. It found that, among people ages 18–29, only 10 percent said the “U.S. stands above all other countries in the world.” This age group chose that response at the lowest rate of those polled. Forty-eight percent answered that America “is one of the greatest countries, along with others,” while 42 percent said “other countries are better than the U.S.” — the highest percentage choosing this response of any age group polled. These numbers do not reflect a great deal of patriotism among the youth in America.

Patriotism often comes into play when America is attacked, such as after Pearl Harbor or 9/11. It was incumbent upon the nation’s men to comply with the draft and dutifully serve their country in World War II. After 9/11, 181,510 were inspired to enlist in active duty. Twenty years later, it’s a different story.

As Charles Cooke pointed out, if America were invaded, we apparently could not rely on most of our nation’s fighting-age population to defend us. According to a March Quinnipiac poll, in the event of an invasion, only 45 percent of 18- to 34-year-old Americans say they would “stay and fight,” while the majority — 48 percent — say they would “leave the country.” Imagine that. Say, for example, China attacked our homeland. Many of those we would be counting on to fight and defend everything we hold dear would be busy getting on the next train, bus, or plane out of here.

These polls show that young Americans don’t appreciate the freedom and opportunities that America uniquely provides. They have been led to believe that American exceptionalism is a fallacy or outdated. Our country’s future is bleak if we don’t have young Americans who are willing to stand up and fight to preserve our values and freedom but instead would consider running to Canada.