Two hundred fifty years are officially under the nation’s belt; it’s now time figure out how to ensure another 250 — and more.
The good news? Polls show Americans still take a great deal of pride in their country. Gallup just reported a full 64% are proud of it, including a solid majority, 53%, who say they’re “very” or “extremely” proud.
An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll cited 65% either “proud” or “very proud.”
The Archbridge Institute, meanwhile, found 67% say they’ve achieved the American Dream or are on their way to it.
The bad news? Despite the amazing accomplishments of the past two decades — the soaring abundance thanks to leaps in technology; the incredible resilience in the face of crises like COVID — those numbers have fallen during that time.
And it’s crystal clear who dragged them down: Democrats.
Indeed, per Gallup, the share of Republicans who say they’re “extremely proud” to be an American (70%) is actually a bit higher than it’s was for most of the last 20 years.
Yet only 14% of Democrats today (a record low) are “extremely proud,” down from 65% (a record high) in 2003. (Independents have also soured.)
With most of the Dems’ downward spiral taking place after 2015, the reasons for it are as obvious.
Mainstream Dems have suffereda decade-plus case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, one so strong not even the Biden interregnum could cure it.
According to them, right-wing fascism is just around the corner. Republican “denialism” is threatening an imminent climate catastrophe.
“White supremacy” beats in the heart of even well-meaning people.
All because of Orange Man Bad Hitler Epstein AIPAC.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Socialists of America and their fellow travelers openly hate the country — on principle. And they’re increasingly taking over the Democratic Party.
By any rational assessment, America has had the greatest run of any country ever over the past 250 years. But to last another 250 and beyond, we must get past the intense polarization and animosity.
Remember, Trump will be gone in 2½ years, but the hatred, divisions and policy shifts will linger.
And, as the numbers show, it’s Democrats, primarily, who need to reclaim their love of country.
They need to separate their view of the president from that of America.
Their first order of business must be to roll back the wave of DSA radicals and other America-haters in their ranks.
Resist the urge to cave, no matter how it tempting it seems to be as a road to power.
That way lies heartbreak — doom not only for the Democratic Party but for all Americans and the hopes they rightly place in the future of their country.
More: Stop trying change the nation’s fundamental institutions — the nine-member Supreme Court, the Electoral College.
No more “No Kings” lunacy and donnybrooks with ICE agents.
End the “fight, fight, fight” theatrics and other incitements of violence.
Instead, do what Americans of both parties have been doing for 250 years: advancing their agenda by using the nation’s existing political system, which makes change possible — fairly and democratically.
Polarization brought this nation to the utter brink 166 years ago; 700,000 soldiers died before the crisis ended.
If America could survive that horror, Democrats can surely survive Orange Man — and work to save the country from oblivion.
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