Pew late update: 60% of todays Liberals are not proud to be American

[t_host1]

Who built this if you didn't?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/06/27/stunner-44-percent-not-proud-to-be-american/

The report:
http://www.people-press.org/files/2014/06/6-26-14-Political-Typology-release.pdf

[Middle-aged Europe]

After having glanced over the Pew report, I find the group of the "Young Outsiders" to be the most fascinating.

They're mostly Independents who disapprove of Obama and voted for Romney in 2012. Unlike most of the other groups they don't seem to habe definite opinion on the Tea Party one way or the other. However, their low patriotism numbers are comparable to that of liberals. In fact, the statement "There are other countries that are better than the U.S." reached the highest number in that particular group. At first look, they seem like run-of-the-mill libertarians, except that some of the other numbers simply don't add up to that. For instance, their view on cutting government programs is somewhere in the middle and appears to be more centrist rather than libertarian. And they also disapprove of Rand Paul.

For the lack of a better term, I'd categorize them as the hipster conservative or the Mark Zuckerberg Republican.

[GaussLaw]

Horrible news. 
I am a proud FDR Democrat.

I am for a strong country, a strong military, strong families, and a healthy middle class.

The movement of liberals against patriotism is quite sad. 

[traininthedistance]

Horrible news. 
I am a proud FDR Democrat.

I am for a strong country, a strong military, strong families, and a healthy middle class.

The movement of liberals against patriotism is quite sad. 

I see you haven't encountered the legendary t_host before.

[Middle-aged Europe]

It's also worth to note that with regards to the "greatest country" question the majority of the people in all the categories went with the moderate hero option of saying that the US is a great country but other countries are great too (with the exception of the "steadfast conservatives", where the moderate option was exactly tied with the nationalist one).


The U.S. stands above all other countries: 28%

The U.S. is one of the greatest countries, along with some others: 58%

There are other countries that are better than the U.S.: 12%


Conservatives tend to be more "proud" of America, while liberals are more inclined to say that America's best days lie ahead instead of behind.

[Ronnie]

I find it it silly to be proud of something you can't control, like sexual identity, ethnicity, or nationality.  More important than being a "Patriot", whatever that means, is questioning the actions of all forms of authority, particularly congress, at all times.  One of the main reasons we are in the mess we are in is because most Americans don't really participate in politics outside of the electoral process, and as a result, there isn't much preventing congressmen from being as corrupt as they want.

[pbrower2a]

So liberals are more open to foreign ideas and ways. Any surprise there?

But let's remember: FoX "News" viewers are getting a view of America in which "conservative" interests and personalities are beyond challenge. It is hardly surprising that its viewers would show praise for Big Business but contempt for anything liberal.

[Antonio the Sixth]

National "pride" is one of the dumbest things ever.

[pbrower2a]

National "pride" is one of the dumbest things ever.

I'm certainly not proud of our philistine culture, our economic inequality, or some of the ugliness in the American past (decimation of First Peoples, slavery, Jim Crow).

...No people were ever prouder of their national heritage than the Germans were in the middle to late 1930s. By 1946 no people had as much cause for national shame.

[t_host1]

 I’m not sure how all this square’s; however, there is an irony that the American Outlaws may just have something to do with a pew adjustment.  The misfits must not have been part of pews’ origin data points, I mean – liberals, soccer and praying, how is that not patriotic?

[SWE]

Why would I be proud to be an American? I didn't do anything to become an American, the idea that I should be proud of something I can't control is absurd.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Even if you actually are from one of the best countries in the world (Sweden, Norway, Finland, or something like that), it makes no sense to be proud of something you have no responsibility for.

[muon2]

Even if you actually are from one of the best countries in the world (Sweden, Norway, Finland, or something like that), it makes no sense to be proud of something you have no responsibility for.

But if you are able to vote, you do have responsibility for that country. It may not be as direct as playing on a winning side in sports, but the responsibility is still there.

[Mr. Illini]

Liberals turn away from patriotism because conservatives have hijacked it. Patriotic communitarian liberalism went out the window when the conservatives started equating patriotism with needless war and later on with small government.

[ingemann]

Even if you actually are from one of the best countries in the world (Sweden, Norway, Finland, or something like that), it makes no sense to be proud of something you have no responsibility for.

You know thios is quite stupid talking point.

Almost all things people take pride in, they have little responsibility for. You take pride in a good education, well in that case you proud of things, like genes, uprising, government structures etc. which allow you to take that education. You take pride in your family and their achievements well you can see where I'm going here. Everything you do build on the achievements of others, and to single out your nation, your state and your people as the things you should not take pride in, are rather random and arbitary and build more on a wish to ridicule people who prioritise communities above individualism.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

National "pride" is one of the dumbest things ever.

"Greatest country" is an utterly stupid question anyway. The idea of national pride should have died when Hitler blew his brains out.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Because modern American patriotism is increasingly inseparable from conservative political mythology, it's no surprise that many liberals would distance themselves from it.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Because modern American patriotism is increasingly inseparable from conservative political mythology, it's no surprise that many liberals would distance themselves from it.

This.

[H. Ross Peron]

Because modern American patriotism is increasingly inseparable from conservative political mythology, it's no surprise that many liberals would distance themselves from it.

Hence why liberals should take American patriotism back as the Radical Republicans, Teddy Roosevelt's Progressives, and New Deal Democrats did.

[traininthedistance]

Because modern American patriotism is increasingly inseparable from conservative political mythology, it's no surprise that many liberals would distance themselves from it.

Hence why liberals should take American patriotism back as the Radical Republicans, Teddy Roosevelt's Progressives, and New Deal Democrats did.

I would love to reclaim a liberal patriotism based on our pioneering defenses of free expression; our shared identity as a nation of immigrants; our multicultural pluralism where all creeds, colors, and castes are welcome; a haven for persecuted minorities and strivers the world over; and on the world stage, our "soft power" and continued status as premiere exporter of mass culture.

There are some aspects of patriotism which are indubitably American, and ought not be considered right-wing, which I will always admittedly have a hard time with (mostly the stuff descended from Jeffersonian agrarian fetishism and Fordist car-fetishism).  But the America of Ellis Island and Lady Liberty and the Great White Way, that is an America we should all be proud of.

(Yes, I know I'm not really using "Fordist" correctly here.  But you know what I mean.)

[Mr. Illini]

Because modern American patriotism is increasingly inseparable from conservative political mythology, it's no surprise that many liberals would distance themselves from it.

Hence why liberals should take American patriotism back as the Radical Republicans, Teddy Roosevelt's Progressives, and New Deal Democrats did.

I'm in.

[muon2]

Because modern American patriotism is increasingly inseparable from conservative political mythology, it's no surprise that many liberals would distance themselves from it.

Hence why liberals should take American patriotism back as the Radical Republicans, Teddy Roosevelt's Progressives, and New Deal Democrats did.

I would love to reclaim a liberal patriotism based on our pioneering defenses of free expression; our shared identity as a nation of immigrants; our multicultural pluralism where all creeds, colors, and castes are welcome; a haven for persecuted minorities and strivers the world over; and on the world stage, our "soft power" and continued status as premiere exporter of mass culture.

I can agree with your goals, but one place I see difficulty is that some liberal views of multiculturalism run counter to more traditional views of the American Melting Pot. When internal groups are perceived as more aligned with their group than with the country it doesn't feel like patriotism to other segments of the country. It's when a group is perceived as wanting to be part of the US first that others will see them as patriotic. That was the case for my immigrant ancestors 100 years ago, and it is that distinction with some modern immigrant groups I hear most when I speak to non-immigrants today. I'm not saying that it is necessarily true, but it is often the perception.

[traininthedistance]

I can agree with your goals, but one place I see difficulty is that some liberal views of multiculturalism run counter to more traditional views of the American Melting Pot. When internal groups are perceived as more aligned with their group than with the country it doesn't feel like patriotism to other segments of the country. It's when a group is perceived as wanting to be part of the US first that others will see them as patriotic. That was the case for my immigrant ancestors 100 years ago, and it is that distinction with some modern immigrant groups I hear most when I speak to non-immigrants today. I'm not saying that it is necessarily true, but it is often the perception.

I understand your concern, but I'm quite confident that it's more perception than reality- both because today's immigrants do in fact want to assimilate and become part of the USA (obviously the first-gen folks will always feel more ties to their homeland, and that's an understandable sentiment, but their kids and grandkids are Americans and see themselves as such), and also because those concerns were just as present (and just as problematic) in the nativist sentiment of 100 years ago.  What you describe can mostly just be chalked down to the lack of historical perspective in anti-immigrant rhetoric, IMO.