By Jack Wolfsohn
Monday, May 30,
2022
Memorial Day is an occasion to remember those who sacrificed to give and preserve for us the nation and
its blessings that we enjoy today. Unfortunately, a segment of our population
is increasingly failing to appreciate what it has been given. This growing lack
of patriotism among young people does not bode well for our future.
Our institutions of higher education are
exacerbating the crisis. The Brown Opinion Project conducted a poll April 20–22 that asked undergraduates at Brown University, where I
am a rising senior, the following question: “Do you think America is the
greatest country in the world?” A mere 12.9 percent answered yes, while 74.7
percent answered no (10.9 percent said they were unsure). While these findings
reflect the feelings of students at one admittedly very liberal university, it
is difficult to maintain hope for America’s future if it is any indication of
what the leaders of tomorrow are thinking.
Students’ increasingly cynical views of
America come as no surprise when one notices what they are being confronted
with on their college campuses. The University at Buffalo’s Intercultural and
Diversity Center held an event last year called “The Real History of Thanksgiving” in
order to highlight America’s homegrown holiday’s “whitewashed history” and “the
impact of settler colonialism on Indigenous people.” This past January,
literary theory and cultural-history professor Tao Leigh Goffee of Cornell
University tweeted that capitalism is rooted in slavery, writing, “Chattel slavery
transformed modern finance into what it is, and thus every subsequent act of
financialization must be understood as a racializing one.” Many colleges host and
praise the work of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the
creator of the 1619 Project, which presents an inaccurate version of American
history focusing on slavery as not just the centerpiece of America’s Founding
but also the very reason for the American Revolution. Some professors teach the tenets of the project outright in their classrooms. The fact
that Hannah-Jones’s work is celebrated on campuses is disturbing and another
way in which students receive anti-American messages.
Polling of young adults nationwide
suggests lack of patriotism is not restricted to the college campus. A July
2021 poll by the Pew Research Center asked what statement best illustrates respondents’ view of the U.S. It
found that, among people ages 18–29, only 10 percent said the “U.S. stands
above all other countries in the world.” This age group chose that response at
the lowest rate of those polled. Forty-eight percent answered that America “is
one of the greatest countries, along with others,” while 42 percent said “other
countries are better than the U.S.” — the highest percentage choosing this
response of any age group polled. These numbers do not reflect a great deal of
patriotism among the youth in America.
Patriotism often comes into play when
America is attacked, such as after Pearl Harbor or 9/11. It was incumbent upon
the nation’s men to comply with the draft and dutifully serve their country in
World War II. After 9/11, 181,510 were inspired to enlist in active duty. Twenty years later, it’s a
different story.
As Charles Cooke pointed out, if America were invaded, we apparently could not rely on most of our
nation’s fighting-age population to defend us. According to a March Quinnipiac
poll, in the event of an invasion, only 45 percent of 18- to 34-year-old
Americans say they would “stay and fight,” while the majority — 48 percent —
say they would “leave the country.” Imagine that. Say, for example, China
attacked our homeland. Many of those we would be counting on to fight and
defend everything we hold dear would be busy getting on the next train, bus, or
plane out of here.
These polls show that young Americans
don’t appreciate the freedom and opportunities that America uniquely provides.
They have been led to believe that American exceptionalism is a fallacy or
outdated. Our country’s future is bleak if we don’t have young Americans who
are willing to stand up and fight to preserve our values and freedom but
instead would consider running to Canada.
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