There sure is a lot of excitement these past few days about our new president. People are saying things like, “I didn’t vote for Obama but I got a real feeling of patriotism as I watched his inaugural.” This person exactly expresses the feelings of many Americans. She also stated that she had not felt so patriotic in years. She is not the only one who has expressed these feelings, so this report will focus on the subject of patriotism.
We’ve really missed seeing a natural display of patriotism in the United States over the past two decades. Over the years, we’ve slowly lost our ability to feel patriotic in this nation. Clearly, patriotism strongly exists in the Boy Scout program, and that’s why we should be supportive of them. However, with that being said, we rarely see patriotism exhibited in this nation on a regular basis; at least as much as we saw when we were young.
Perhaps one reason for a lack of patriotism is that youth and young adults today have little respect for the flag and their country. This is true in many other nations as well. In addition, we notice that patriotism is greatly lacking in the public school system over the past two decades.
It is also possible that people feel unpatriotic today because of negative politics, especially during the elections. These negative feelings transfer to the younger generation when they see how nasty people become during that period. Young people are too inexperienced in politics to know that it’s just politics as usual and that it doesn’t mean anything.
Yet, the youth and young adults want to trust politicians and their government but learn at election time that they cannot. This is an injustice to those who believe in patriotism and our country. These people are now closely watching politicians and paying closer attention to what is said and done in government.
Patriotism begins in the home, because of parent’s own patriotic attitudes. If people are angry with their government and/or politicians, and they discuss these feeling within ear-shot of their children, these feelings transfer to them. When children grow up hearing their parents constantly complaining about the country, about the government, about what government should be responsible for, they become jaded in their perception of what government should be doing for the people.
When people become less self-reliant and more demanding on government, we have a problem; it’s called socialism. Because people don’t get from government what they feel government owes them, they become more and more demanding and complain more loudly. Then Congressional Representatives start to pass laws they shouldn’t because they want to please constituants in order to stay in office. Soon patriotism is left at the door when our representatives meet; when greed, political power and positioning, and politics become their passion.
For the reasons just mentioned, it seems today’s generation of young parents miss out on events and teachings that lead to patriotism in the past. It also seems qualities that nurture and cultivate feelings of pride and admiration for government, president, and politicians are being replaced with liberalism and socialism.
These observations suggest that the inability of people to express patriotism like we had in the past is sorely lacking in today’s society because families do not practice patriotism at home. They don’t practice patriotism in the home because what facilitates these emotions are being replaced with practices that surpress these emotions.
If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, please watch this video below and see if you relate to what I’ve been saying.
Ourdays Report 