On the eve of our nation's 249th birthday, a Gallup poll finds that only 58 percent of Americans feel "extremely" or "very" proud of their country. This is a new low in the 25 years Gallup has been asking this question, and the reasons are not hard to divine. We are led by a monomaniacal vulgarian who endangers all we hold dear — all while enjoying lock-step fealty from the Republican Party.
We are clearly in a rough patch, but rather than despair, we can draw upon our rich history for inspiration.
First a disclaimer: America has been responsible for appalling savagery in the past 250 years. There is no sugar-coating our sins, but as Immanuel Kant said, "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."
America is the greatest nation in the history of the world. And here are a few of the reasons.
We are the oldest democracy on the planet, having set the template for self-government and rule of law that has been such a gift to humankind. Our freedom, vast territory, culture and institutions give the freest possible rein to human creativity and flourishing.
We have been a haven for the oppressed for centuries. My grandparents fled the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires to find freedom and security here just as millions upon millions of others did. Search the history of almost any American and you will find ancestors, often quite recent, who uprooted themselves to partake of the bounty and freedom on offer here.
Most were not famous names, but boy, are there a lot of renowned refugees who found their way here: Albert Einstein, Vladimir Nabokov, Nikola Tesla, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Igor Stravinsky, Kurt Godel, Irving Berlin, Martina Navratilova, Andrew Carnegie, Sergey Brin, Oscar de la Renta, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Artur Rubinstein, Gloria Estefan, and Thomas Mann. The list is virtually endless.
They brought their talents to our shores and accomplished great things because this pulsing, energetic, inventive and risk-taking republic provided the platform for greatness, undergirded by political stability.
Are you grateful for air conditioning this July 4? Thank an American, Willis Carrier. Are you planning a road trip? You can enjoy any of 63 national parks because the United States invented the national park, starting with Yellowstone.
Let's hear it for airplanes, the telephone, the personal computer, the internet, recorded sound, the elevator, anesthesia, the cellphone, the polio vaccine and other medical marvels — all invented by Americans.
America has also given the world jazz, hip hop, stand-up comedy, Hollywood, community colleges, root beer, basketball, baseball, Broadway musicals, skyscrapers, public libraries, summer camp, and the ice cream cone. The United Nations is basically an American idea supported disproportionately over the years by American contributions. Ditto for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Until recently, Americans could be proud of our humanitarian work in the world's poorest nations, to whom we were the most generous donor.
Over the years, the United States was the world's foremost first responder when other nations were struck by tsunamis, earthquakes, famines or aggression. In addition to the Marshall Plan, NATO, and PEPFAR, American might ensured that Berlin remained a free city when the Soviets imposed a blockade, supplied Israel with lifesaving munitions when Egypt and Syria launched a joint attack, defeated the aggressive Serbs and negotiated a Balkan peace, presided over the Camp David Accords, relieved a famine in Somalia, liberated Kuwait, saved the Yazidis from Mount Sinjar and much else. Though we fought a brutal war against imperial Japan and suffered terrible war crimes at their hands, our occupation was benign and fair. We transformed an enemy into a thriving democratic ally.
Our worst national stain also gave rise to our most inspiring mass movement: the civil rights struggle. We were challenged to live up to our stated creed, and though the resistance was bitter and ugly, the nation did respond and did heed our better angels. Forty-three years after Selma, we elected a Black president.
Populism, nativism, racism and, frankly, stupidity, are sprinkled liberally throughout our history. But they are subtexts, not the main story. We will transcend MAGA as we transcended the Know Nothings, the Confederacy, the anarchists, the McCarthyites and the Wallaceites (both Henry and George) — not to mention the abuses of the British Empire more than two centuries ago. On Independence Day, I will sincerely celebrate a nation that, despite its demagogues and fools, was capable of producing an Abraham Lincoln, a Franklin Roosevelt, a Frederick Douglass, a Wendell Willkie, a Martin Luther King Jr., a Learned Hand, a Dwight Eisenhower, and a Herbert Hoover (that's right, for saving millions from starvation after World War I).
Adam Smith said, "There's a great deal of ruin in a nation," and we've had too many recent occasions to rue that reality. But this week we need to remember the nobility of this nation. There's a great deal of that, too.
Mona Charen is policy editor of The Bulwark and host of the "Beg to Differ" podcast. Her latest book is Hard Right: The GOP's Drift Toward Extremism.
Reprinted with permission from Creators.
