Essay 31: What Are the Real Advantages That American Society Derives From the Government of Democracy (Vol. 1 Pt. 2 Ch. 6, Subchs. 1-2)
How to Re-ignite Patriotism in America
Has patriotism become unfashionable? Last year, a Wall Street Journal poll reported that just 38% of Americans view patriotism as very important. That’s down from the 70% who said the same in 1998. The question is, why?
De Tocqueville, the famous French author who loved America, offers some insights. In his essay, “On Public Spirit in the United States,” he describes two kinds of patriotism, warns of the moments when patriotism fades, and offers a solution for patriotic renewal.
The first kind of patriotism is instinctive. People love their home, and that “love intermingles with the taste for old customs, with respect for ancestors and memory of the past.” This patriotism, more monarchical in character, rests on old orders and traditions. It ebbs and flows, reigniting and then subsiding in times of war and peace.