The Left Needs to Rediscover Its Patriotism
A left that rejects a hopeful, empathetic love of the United States can never win the country to its side.
TL;DR
- A majority of Democrats reportedly feel patriotic only when a Democrat is president, and many progressives view the nation's founding negatively.
- The article argues that the left has a historical tradition of patriotism, using founding ideals to push for egalitarian change.
- Despite the morally ambiguous aspects of the nation's founding, documents like the Declaration of Independence proclaimed ideals of political equality.
- Figures like Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, and union leaders drew on the Constitution and Declaration to advocate for reform.
- Progressive movements in the 1930s and 1940s, including labor unions and even the Communist Party, exhibited forms of patriotism.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies were framed with patriotic rhetoric, emphasizing the rights of citizens.
- The Civil Rights Movement, led by figures like Martin Luther King Jr., invoked constitutional rights to demand justice.
- Some on the left abandoned patriotism in the 1960s and 70s, viewing it as a tool of oppression and exploitation.
- Works like Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States' present a critical, antipatriotic view of American history.
- The article concludes that for the left to govern, it must win over patriotic Americans by embracing a hopeful and empathetic form of patriotism that bridges ideals with justice.