Pride in America

There's something that I've been thinking about since the election... it occurred to me on that Wednesday but I haven't been able to find the exact right words to express it. I still haven't totally figured it out, but I think it's an interesting observation and worth a mention, though I warn you, the exact wording might wind up being quite inelegant. Perhaps, in the comments, you guys can think of a way to say it better.

It seems to me that people who describe themselves as Conservatives/Republicans feel a certain way about their country, and that the way they feel about it has very little to do with who is actually running it. Democrats/Liberals, on the other hand, seem to base the way they feel about this country on who is the President. When someone they dislike, like Bush, is in the White House, they are much more likely to express disgust with America, or speak of a fear that the country they once loved no longer exists.

And I think it makes a lot of sense why this would be so... Conservatives tend to look towards themselves, their families, and other individual Americans for creative solutions to problems, while Liberals tend to see Government as the locus of all new ideas and ultimately, the solutions to all of society's crises.

For a Conservative, pride in America flows from a series of very intangible ideas and feelings about the meaning of freedom and liberty. While for a Liberal, pride in America seems to flow from directly from the perception of what Government is actively doing for its citizens at any given moment in time... so the things that make Liberals proud of America are very tangible things. What is the Government doing right now for Americans? and is it good or bad?

And so I can see why it might seem catastrophic when we elect a President who promises to cut taxes and promote policies which encourage Americans to solve the problems that plague them on their own, because it could seem like that kind of President might be abandoning the very thing that makes America great, the ability of its Government to engage in the lives of everyday Americans.

I think this is why you hear things like the famous Michelle Obama "I'm proud of my country for the first time" line, or the rash of high-profile Liberals who threatened to leave the country after Bush was elected... both times. Or comments like the one from Ralph Lauren who suggested that American had become a nation he did not recognize and disliked intensely but that Obama's election meant that the country he loved might be set to make a comeback...

Conversely, I haven't seen a lot of that kind of thing from the Right this time around. I see lots of introspection about how we failed to sell our message to the electorate, tons of discussion about what's next for us, and of course a lot of concern about what Obama's policies might mean for the continuing ascendancy of Government in our lives... but no one is threatening to leave. I still wear my American Flag lapel pin, I still put my hand over my heart for the National Anthem, I still thank soldiers for their service, and I still get a swell of pride every time I think about what it means to be an American.

The way I see it, there's a couple ways you can look at the election of Barack Obama. You can choose to see it as a miracle hail mary that turned America back from the brink of a dark and uncertain future, or you can see it as a logical extension of the things that have always been true about America, namely that it is the land of opportunity for all, regardless of race or creed... and pretty much the greatest nation on Earth.

So those're my thoughts.