Real patriotism in America isn’t just dying. It’s being actively euthanized, often by the same elite class that benefits most from its existence. In living memory, patriotism, the love and devotion for one’s country, appeared alive and well, as people waved flags, stood for the national anthem, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance in school classrooms. Of course, these are all good and important parts of a truly patriotic society, but make no mistake: They’re a baseline. For some, it was a genuine expression of patriotism, and for others, it was more superficial. Regardless, it was a broad acknowledgement that the United States of America was worth loving.
Today, however, the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that loving your country is seen as a moral failure. In certain homes, certain classrooms, and certain college campuses across America, the next generation is being taught to be ashamed of our country. Not to be aware of its current or historical flaws — let us not forget that every country and civilization is flawed by the nature of the flawed human soul — but to be actively ashamed.
The entire history of the U.S. is presented not as a story of struggle against and vanquishing of tyranny along a path of moral improvement that expanded freedom over time, but as a permanent crime scene. The sins of the past are weaponized, with politically advantageous Americans of today found guilty for these sins, and the victories ignored. The unique virtues of the American experiment, such as freedom, opportunity, and individual rights, are held up as evidence of imperialism, oppression, or outdated thinking. Meanwhile, the flags of other countries are waved as part of a subversive attempt to erode America from within.
We’re told to apologize for our founding, to mock our culture, to sneer at the American flag, and to idolize anything or anyone who stands in opposition to them. The result? We end up with a new generation of political leaders who embody this ideology. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) view the country that brought them fame, fortune, and power as a mere obstacle standing in the way of an imaginary socialist utopia. Omar even escaped the tyranny of war-torn Somalia, and yet has built her political career on disgust for the country that gave her everything and love for the country that gave her nothing.
Even Zohran Mamdani, a socialist supporter of global intifada who proudly marched with pro-Hamas groups, may become mayor of the greatest city in the world, New York City, while seeking to destroy everything that made it the greatest city in the first place. For people such as Mamdani, immigrants who are in the process of squeezing everything they can out of the country that embraced them, the destruction of the American ideal is a prerequisite for progress.
We must understand, though, that this didn’t happen overnight. The slow corrosion of patriotism didn’t begin with “the Squad.” It began when we started treating patriotism like a prop rather than a principle. When we reduced national pride to cheap slogans, choreographed chants, and halftime shows. When we turned the Fourth of July into a barbecue rather than the birth of the United States of America. When “land of the free” became something we sang but didn’t teach. When “conservative” beer companies draped “conservative” women in star-spangled bikinis to sell calendars to “conservative” fathers.
For decades, we asked students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance but never taught them what the words meant, handing them flags while failing to explain what the flag represented. And in the vacuum left behind, the Left offered an alternative — one that replaces earned pride with inherited guilt and self-reflection with self-loathing.
True patriotism is not blind. It doesn’t ignore slavery, or segregation, or Japanese internment, or the long list of scars that mark our history. But the existence of scars does not mean the body is rotten. It means it has healed, it has grown stronger, and it has learned. America’s greatness has nothing to do with perfection, but everything to do with our ability to acknowledge the imperfection of human existence and to strive to improve. The “pursuit” of happiness, as it is written in the Declaration of Independence.
Like all countries, the United States of America is flawed. But no other nation in human history has done more to expand liberty both domestically and internationally than the U.S. That should surely count for something.
That’s the real story. But it’s a story we’re not allowed to tell. Instead, we’re told to cheer for systems that have demonstrably failed. We’re told to idolize socialist regimes that crush dissent, silence minorities, and destroy economies. We’re told to celebrate cultures that reject freedom of religion, of speech, and of thought. The irony? The same people waving Palestinian flags, Mexican flags, and Somalian flags to protest the U.S. refuse to move back to those countries. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
People flee failed states to come here because America offers something rare and precious. The fact is, America is better than the countries they voluntarily left. Yes, our values of free speech, individual rights, due process, private property, and opportunity are better. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect. It means we’re right. Patriotism means remembering that fact.
Screaming “USA!” at presidential rallies every four years means nothing if you can’t explain why the U.S. deserves to be defended or if you can’t explain the freedom represented by the flag you wave. Real patriotism requires knowledge, courage, and commitment. It requires the strength to face your country’s flaws and the clarity to fight for its virtues.
If we don’t start teaching that kind of patriotism, we’ll continue raising a generation that believes America should look more like France, Germany, or Sweden — or worse, like Cuba, China, or Gaza. We’ll continue raising voters who think freedom of speech is dangerous, who think equal opportunity is oppressive, and who think government control is compassion. The solution isn’t nostalgia, bumper stickers, or fireworks. It’s truth.
TRUMP AND DEMOCRATS FIGHT OVER THE FLAG
Tell the truth about our history, good and bad. Tell the truth about what separates America from the rest of the world. Tell the truth about why people risk their lives to come here and why people across the globe still look to us as a symbol of hope, even as we’re told to tear it all down. Patriotism must be rooted in reality. It must be active, not passive. And it must be taught — not just in classrooms, but in our culture, in our homes, and by our leadership.
Right now, we’re losing that battle. Our cultural leaders are ashamed. Our academic leaders are bitter. And our political leaders on the Left are either openly hostile to the idea of American greatness or are too cowardly to defend it. What does that mean? It’s up to the rest of us to bring the pendulum back. First things first: Stop apologizing for loving your country.
Ian Haworth is a syndicated columnist. Follow him on X (@ighaworth) or Substack.