It’s no news flash that younger Americans today generally tend to be less patriotic than previous generations. But the “patriotism gap” is growing rapidly—and perhaps most concerning is the fact that the gap is most drastic among younger Americans.
Writing for HotAir.com, Ed Morrissey notes: “Pride in America has sunk to its lowest standing ever, mainly led by a collapse among Democrats.”
Indeed, Gallup polls write: “A record-low 58% of U.S. adults say they are ‘extremely’ (41%) or ‘very’ (17%) proud to be an American, down nine percentage points from last year and five points below the prior low from 2020.” Gallup notes that most of the decline is in the “very proud” category.
Ben Shapiro asks if we’re seeing “the end of patriotism?” He opens his recent column with this observation: “America has a major problem: nearly half of Americans -- 42% -- don't believe in America.”
Gary Bauer, who served in the Reagan administration, comments (End of Day Report, 7/2/25): “The Left is all in on LGBTQ pride, but when it comes to pride in America, not so much….The American pride gap between the Greatest Generation and Gen Z is 53 points.” [emphasis added]
How do we account for this drop in patriotism---say from 40 years ago? We do know there has been an onslaught of “hate America first” teaching in the schools.
For example, the 1619 Project, which has support from the New York Times, actually postulated that America’s real beginning was not in 1776, when we declared independence as a nation, but in 1619 when a handful of Africans were imported into Jamestown---thus, introducing slavery.
For a series of films I made on America’s Judeo-Christian heritage, the late Dr. Walter Williams of George Mason University, countered such arguments: “Slavery has been mankind’s standard fare throughout his entire history. And even the word, slave, in most languages is Slav, that is because the Slavic people are among the first to be enslaved. And Africans were among the last to be enslaved. And the great thing about the Western world is that we spent many resources on eliminating slavery.”
There has been an onslaught of teaching against the Founding Fathers of America. But they were very gifted men for the most part. They knew the Bible, and they knew history.
If Americans are increasingly ashamed to be American, why is it that would-be immigrants literally risk their lives to try and get here? Why do people vote with their feet to try to get to this country? What makes the U.S. so special? The answer has to do with one simple fact: the founders recognized that our rights come from God. Period. That’s what our national birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence, says.
G.K. Chesterton once remarked that America was the only nation built on a creed, and that creed is spelled out in the Declaration of Independence.
In his book, A History of the American People, the great British historian Paul Johnson wrote, “There is no question that the Declaration of Independence was, to those who signed it, a religious as well as a secular act, and that the Revolutionary War had the approbation of divine providence. They had won it with God’s blessing and, afterwards, they drew up their framework of government with God’s blessing, just as in the 17th century the colonists had drawn up their Compacts and Charters and Orders and Instruments, with God peering over their shoulders.”
Even when America doesn’t live up to its creed---that our Creator has endowed us with certain unalienable rights---it’s still a good creed. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his classic speech: “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal.’"
Since our rights come from God, it’s not up to governments to “grant” those rights. Governments can only take away those rights. Millions have fled to America from places where human rights are repeatedly trampled upon by tyrannical governments.
To overcome the patriotism gap, we need to pass on the greatness of our heritage to the next generation. History is not boring, and American history is alive with great stories. For example, you can’t truthfully tell the story of George Washington and leave out all the miracles---at least he called them miracles, acts of God, helping us to become a free nation.
As Ronald Reagan once said, “America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”
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