Reclaiming My Patriotism
Embracing love for my country, flaws and all
I’m finishing this post in the days following the first Trump felony verdict. It will go live as we leave for our summer vacation and you will probably read this before we make our stop in the Black Hills, just in time for the Fourth of July. But I’ve been working through this post for a long time, because I love my country and I want better for her. I still believe that is possible.
When I prepared for my semester abroad during my junior year of college, my uncle—who had dual Canadian and American citizenship—jokingly offered to let me borrow a Canadian pin to wear on my backpack while I spent two weeks backpacking Europe.1 Even in 1999, I knew the justifiable prejudice I would encounter as I traveled around Europe, and this was before 9-11, the Iraq War, and 2016. I believed I knew the stereotype of Europeans eyeing Americans with suspicion and occasional disgust. They expected Americans to act brash and lack respect for local customs and culture. They expected pride over humility. They liked the idea of America, but had little use for Americans.
However, with a few exceptions, my travel companions and I discovered beautiful countries with people willing to welcome us to their countries. We did our best to respect the local languages and cultures and our hosts responded by speaking to us in English and pointing us in the right direction. One of the more embarrassing moments was a group of German high school students in a youth hostel in Munich who just wanted to ask us questions about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. They were fascinated by the political scandal, completely oblivious to the potential constitutional crisis unfolding at home.
And as much as I enjoyed living in London for three months and taking in the history and beauty of France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, and Ireland, I was ready to return home to the United States. Living and traveling abroad taught me that I had a lot to learn from the world around me, but the United States was home. I was ready to ride out Y2K in Michigan. I was ready to vote in my first presidential election. And I was ready to use the lessons I had learned and share them with my future students to give them a better understanding of the world they lived in.
In three and a half months, I learned the US was just one part of the bigger global picture. I learned my country is so young compared to the history of other nations and nation-states. I learned that we don’t have it all figured out. We aren’t the best at everything. There are things other countries do better. I began to see that we weren’t the greatest nation in the world, because the arbitrary metrics for what makes a country the “greatest” belong in the eye of the beholder.
I love living in the United States of America.
I really do.
We live in one of the most naturally diverse countries in the world:
The snow-capped Rocky Mountains.
The misty Smoky Mountains.
The swamps of Louisiana.
The sandy shorelines of the Great Lakes.
The giant Redwoods and Sequoias of northern California.
The Colorado River running through the Grand Canyon.
And that doesn’t even scratch the surface.
We are a nation of immigrants and as a result, American culture is every culture. Each region has its own cuisine, but we can often access Italian, Mexican, Indian, and Chinese-influenced restaurants in the same block. There is a reason we have a month that celebrates nearly every cultural group in the US. Our immigrant history challenges us and makes us better. Our history is troubled. European immigrants pushed indigenous peoples off of their land and wiped out entire populations. Enslaved African peoples lost ties to their cultures and homelands, their families torn apart by the greed of landowners and northern businessmen. Chinese immigrants were denied citizenship while working in horrific conditions on railroads that spanned the continent. Japanese citizens were sent to poorly constructed camps for the duration of World War II, stripped of their wealth and dignity because of their neighbor’s fears. And again, this barely scratches the surface.
I could allow the ugliness of our nation’s past and our cyclical flirtation with fascism lead me to despair.2 I could choose to only see the United States through the lens of 1619. I’ve struggled with my patriotism. But that struggle is born out of love for my country, flaws and all.
I believe in the promise of America. I believe in what she could be. I believe in the words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I believe that we have been working toward this goal for 250 years. It’s been halting. We’ve taken many steps forward. We’ve taken steps backward. But the aspirational goal has always been there before us.
I don’t want to live anywhere else. I still believe that capitalism has the potential to be the best economic system in a pile of flawed economic systems. But it needs guardrails to prevent humans from being…human. I still believe that our government is the best form of government in a pile of flawed political systems. But it needs reforms for the modern age. I still believe in the majority of my fellow citizens and their desire for “a more perfect union.” But their voices need to be the ones amplified, not the voices of a hateful minority.
Instead of pledging allegiance to an inanimate object, I want to pledge allegiance to my fellow Americans, our American ideals, the pursuit of the American dream for all Americans, and an embrace of global citizenship.
This year I celebrate the land of the men and women free to worship the god of their choosing and love who they want to love. I celebrate the home of the brave men and women who have fought over and over again to save an imperfect democracy and work to make it more perfect for all. I honor Abigail Adams imploring her husband to “remember the ladies” and Sojourner Truth proclaiming “women together ought to be able to turn (the world) back, and get it right side up again!” I choose to listen to Frederick Douglass asking “What to a slave is the 4th of July?” I lament the words of Chief Joseph, as he told his people “I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”
Pluralism has always been what has made the United States unique. It should be our strength, not our weakness. We’ve never been able to achieve full greatness because we’ve consistently stopped short of embracing that pluralism. We can still make the table bigger. We can still make more room for more voices.
The United States is insignificant in the grand scope of human history, but she matters to me. In 2026, I want to celebrate a country coming into its own. I want to stand with my neighbors on the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding and believe we are working toward a stronger nation for all of us.
An emotionally and spiritually mature patriotism will see all that a country is, the best and the worst features, and continually seek to do better. So this year, I’m bringing back the red, white, and blue. I’m wearing the star-spangled earrings. I’m decorating the campsite in patriotic colors. I’m looking forward, not backward.
I hope you will join me.
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My grandparents lived in Canada when two of their seven kids were born. My uncle has kept his dual citizenship, even though he’s lived in the US for his entire adulthood.
We’ve been here before. Read A Fever in the Heartland or Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism to learn more.
God I love this post.
I might write one like it later. I'm a bit frazzled at the moment, though.
Thanks for ...everything about this post.