Patriotism Essay, Research Paper
AMERICAN PATRIOTISM
Patriotism in America is the love for or devotion to America. Patriotism represents people who love this country and support the country’s authority and interests. American patriotism does not only mean an unquestioning loyalty to the decisions of the United States government. Patriotism is staring unblinkingly into the face of history. It is to acknowledge the injustices and cruelties that have been a part of the nation’s history, as well as the marvelous accomplishments. It is, most of all, to have a dream of the United States as a country of freedom, justice, fairness, and equality to all of its people, and to admit that the dream is not yet reality; that work is still required. In this time, it appears that American Patriotism is waning. Many Americans seem unappreciative of America’s precious national heritage and the great price which so many paid for it. Americans seem ignorant of the principles of American government and the spiritual foundations of the nation. They seem unaware of the truth of the saying: “To be born free is a great privilege; to die free is a great responsibility.” Likewise: “Any government big enough to give a person everything is big enough to take away everything.” That ignorance seems especially true of many young Americans, who have not known great hardship or imminent danger to their freedom. It has been said that youth are twenty percent of the population but one hundred percent of the future. Therefore, if the youth of America do not have a vital understanding of what this nation is about, in a few generations there will not be an America. The future of America is principled around patriotism. American Patriotism helps reawaken the American Spirit across the land so that the best of this country’s heritage is publicly recognized and reasserted as the basis of our local, state, and national life. Beyond that, it is an effort to extend the American heritage peacefully around the planet to develop a global society based on the ideals of liberty, unalienable rights, and equality of opportunity, so that a world community emerges which is aligned with the principles, traditions, and objectives of America. It is time for the elders to regain their American Patriotism and to teach the knowledge of how this patriotism came about to younger generations. Because of our past patriotism, we have ascended to preeminence among the nations of the world. Economically, technologically, politically, culturally, in so many ways American Patriotism has produced enormous changes for the better in civilization around the globe. The question is whether Americans understand American Patriotism and if they are willing to believe in it? Believing in it may mean that some Americans make certain sacrifices. The next question is whether Americans are ready to make sacrifices to better the nation and the world?