If a pollster called me up and asked if I were proud to be an American I suppose that I would say ‘yes.’ But I don’t think I’d really know what I meant by that, or what the pollster thought I meant by it. It’s just a weird question. I’d be more comfortable answering a question about whether I was happy or grateful to be an American. That would be a much easier question to answer in the unequivocal affirmative. I feel very fortunate to have been born and raised in this country and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I’m just not sure that I feel much pride about it.
It’s not that I’m incapable of feeling a sense of pride in my country. We’re really a very accomplished people with a very can-do spirit. I love our pluralism. I love our lack of aristocracy and total lack of tribalism. I love our self-confidence. I love our secularism. These things set us apart from the Europe from which we sprang, and they’re excellent traits that I believe in and I am somewhat proud that our country spread these ideas around the world to people (some of whom learned the lessons better than we did).
But being born here was just a piece of luck. I can’t say I am proud to have been lucky. And I can’t say that this country hasn’t done many things of which I am ashamed. So, what does it mean to say that you are proud to be an American? That you love your country? I do. But shouldn’t it mean something more that that?
