My Middle-aged White Lady Perspective: American Pride

A new Gallup Poll has the folks scratching their heads at the level of pride Americans have in being Americans. Take a look:

As Americans prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, their pride in the U.S. has hit its lowest point since Gallup's first measurement in 2001.

While 70% of U.S. adults overall say they are proud to be Americans, this includes fewer than half (45%) who are "extremely" proud, marking the second consecutive year that this reading is below the majority level.

Democrats continue to lag far behind Republicans in expressing extreme pride in the U.S.

This is not new. In fact, we're told, fewer than 60% of us have said we're extremely proud to be Americans since the second George W. Bush term.

Against this data, the Fox and Friends crew asked what we think is causing the decline in the percentage of people who are 'extremely proud' to be an American. Others, too, are asking the question, or are pinning blame on Democrats, because only 22% of Dems express the desired extreme pride.

I'm proud to be an American, but am I extremely proud? Honestly, I don't even know how to  differentiate 'extremely proud' from 'proud' on a question like this, do you? And, how does one exhibit extreme pride, compared to exhibiting plain old ordinary pride?

• Would I have to wear different clothes, maybe wrapping myself in the stars and stripes, to meet the extreme definition? Maybe always wearing a flag lapel pin, even when I don't have lapels to pin it on?
• How about having a flag hanging on my porch? Is that ordinary pride, only to become extreme pride if I light it at night, or take it down, as I'm supposed to and as probably 95% of the people who have a flag don't?
• Is it ordinary pride to support every decision America and her leaders make, and extreme pride if I speak out against decisions I think are contrary to what America stands for? Or do I have that backwards?

To the extent that it matters, I can say from my middle-aged white lady perspective there are a number of reasons why 'extreme pride' is on the decline. Below are some examples that come to mind.

• A sense that we are losing our ideals, those self-evident truths expressed in the Declaration of Independence: equality for all, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the government deriving its powers from the consent of the governed, among other things.
• A sense that there is no 'we' anymore, just 'us' and 'them' - even though 'them' are other folks who are proud, or even extremely proud, of being Americans just like 'us' are. I honestly don't remember it being this bad back in the Bush days, but certainly over the past decade, the 'tribal' aspects of everything have become more prominent, and the partisan divide is only growing.
• A sense that we are losing our standing on the world stage. Rightly or wrongly, we have been  looked up to and trusted, for decades. And while some of our day-to-day policies may change with each election, what 'America' stands for should not change with the political winds.
• A sense that there is no longer any respect for our governmental and societal institutions, particularly when our leaders regularly question the integrity of government agencies and all of their employees, and calling their patriotism into question. Don't our leaders have pride in America? 
• A pervasive sense that the ends justify the means, in all cases. no matter what. Time was when how we'd do something, as well as why we would, mattered when it came to deciding if we were going to do something. And it mattered a lot. It seems to matter less now. A lot less. 

Many of us hanker for a different time, when there was more respect for people and ideas and discourse, where thoughts and ideas weren't weaponized by one side or the other.

When we all worried less about what others think - whether it's athletes or celebrities or talking heads - and paid more attention to our own actions and whether we were living up to the American ideals.

When we weren't trying to out-patriot and out-American our fellow Americans, and when patriotism wasn't defined by party registration.

Maybe if we were in that place again, more people would be extremely proud to be an American. Or, maybe they wouldn't. But what if instead of focusing on the difference between the proud and the extremely proud, we focused on listening to the 30% who aren't proud to be American, and see if we can change their minds?