Donahue, Washington, July 24, 2024.
Photographer: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group EditorialCan American Patriotism Survive Polarization?
In our factionalized, digitized and social-mediaized country, it must rekindle not so much love of country as trust in our society, institutions and, most important, each other.
What is patriotism? It’s a relevant question given the media insistence that the Democratic Party has been bent on “reclaiming patriotism” ever since “the words ‘patriot’ or ‘patriotic’ were heard every night” at the party convention in August.
Here’s the odd thing: Kamala Harris didn’t use “patriotism,” “patriot” or “patriotic” once in her convention speech and hasn’t pushed it in TV interviews and addresses since, including her Sept. 25 campaign speech in Pittsburgh. And if you want to reclaim patriotism, a Steel City audience would have been the one to try it out on. (Her social media have tilted at the term.)