Traditional media is appropriately filled with articles and stories celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary. Your columnists are equally excited about this important event, but through our very different perspectives, we explore the difficult questions.
The Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics reported that 64% of Utahns will celebrate the Semiquincentennial, compared with only 48% of Americans. Good for us! 80% of Utah Republicans plan to do so, compared to just 31% of Democrats. In the same poll, 90% of Republicans say they are patriotic, while only 49% of Democrats do (61% of Democrats nationwide express love of country). Amazingly, these results spurred minimal official commentary. Your columnists will fill the void.
Cowley: According to pollster Nate Silver, Republicans are generally happier. Democrats struggle to identify what they are for but have a laundry list of what they are against. This kind of pessimism isn’t great for their mental health or the health of our nation. Democrats are increasingly becoming apologists and Republicans nationalists. I firmly identify as the latter. The great democratic experiment of America is divinely inspired, yet humans are imperfect. Stains on our history and flaws in humanity don’t erase the promise of America or require a complete rewrite of our Constitution. Furthermore, patriotism shouldn’t be contingent on who occupies the White House but founded on pride in our constitutional principles.
Although the early relationship between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the federal government was rocky at best, our patriotism runs deep. Members served in the Mormon Battalion despite simultaneously facing governmental persecution. Saints are dedicated to community service, civic engagement and honoring the providential birth of our nation.
Pignanelli: “No party owns this birthday, no president has dibs on its meaning; we’re simply marking an epic journey through history as a people who invented a new political arrangement for man …” - Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.
I grew up with a fierce love of country and gratitude for living in the greatest state within its boundaries. This passion only increased with time.
Thus, the results of this poll immediately provoked my anger at those citizens who see no reason to celebrate. But instead of hurling insults at them, I will use the valuable tool my family imparted to me — guilt.
Americans have committed cruelty, discrimination and injustice against each other. Yet so much was remedied. In my lifetime, I witnessed the ending of segregation, the implementation of safety-net programs, greater opportunities for women and people of color, same-sex marriages, a culture that overwhelmingly dismisses discrimination, etc. Millions of Americans died or incurred injuries to abolish slavery, defeat Naziism, inhibit communism, implement civil rights and promote American ideals across the planet. These martyrs should be honored with a patriotic sense.
The question for the unpatriotic is: does half the country voting for someone many detest give you license to disparage major accomplishments and ignore the benefits you have received?
Those struggling with love of country should instead express pride in their fellow citizens — whether living or deceased — who fought so gallantly for all they care about. To do otherwise is a shameful, narrow-minded attitude.
Although separated by generations and tremendous differences in upbringing, your columnists share a reverence for the semiquincentennial this Saturday.
Cowley: I am very proud of my family’s tradition of military service. Freedom is anything but free. It requires sacrifice. It is worth fighting for and worth celebrating.
I was in junior high when the towers fell. I will never forget the resurgence of patriotism and unity the tragedy of 9/11 forged in our nation. It brought people together in a way we haven’t seen since. It shouldn’t take a national tragedy to bring us closer to fellow countrymen. May this landmark holiday serve as a reminder of all that makes America great.
As my husband and I start our family, we hope the ideals that have made this nation a beacon on a hill will prevail for generations to come.
Pignanelli: I was a teenager during America’s bicentennial. The nation had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, explosive inflation and a massive crime wave. Yet we all shared enormous pride in what our country had achieved and the opportunities before us.
50 years later, I am grateful to all who contributed to this magnificent experiment in governance. I am confident my grandchildren and their generation of Americans will prosper.
As America approaches its tricentennial, what new lessons should be learned and implemented?
Cowley: Just as your humble columnists could not be more yin and yang, America is made stronger by our differences. We are all equal in our individual worth, endowed by our creator with indisputable and irrevocable rights. America promises equal opportunities, not equal outcomes. Success requires hard work, a value that is dwindling in younger generations.
Our greatest threat is not foreign, but domestic. Privileged snowflakes who have never known true hardship exaggerate the shortcomings of our democracy. May they never know a nation where such misplaced criticism is unlawful.
Pignanelli: The ideas articulated in the declaration were percolating for a thousand years in Great Britain. We should appreciate our British ancestors for their brave ideologies that challenged absolute rule and remember the French and Spanish who aided in our war for independence.