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The relatively few, noisy disciples of McCarthyism created a highly inaccurate picture of the place of patriotism in the U.S. and gave it a bad name. The truth is that most Americans are casual patriots most of the time. Whatever national loyalty a man feels is indirect, the product of satisfaction with his job, family, friends, union, church, country. If asked what other country he might prefer, he draws a blank. Rarely have Americans hated America enough to commit treason, renounce citizenship or denigrate their country while abroad. Saul Alinsky, the professional agitator, says with some surprised self-analysis: "Get me outside the country and suddenly I can't bring myself to say one nasty thing about the U.S." Such pride goes far beyond material advantages. In a 1963 survey, two U.S. political scientists asked 5,000 citizens of five countries what made them proudest. Of the Americans, 85% cited their country's political institutions, compared with 46% of Britons, 30% of Mexicans, 7% of Germans and 3% of Italians.
At a time when nationalism is growing in many parts of the world, the visible, audible evidence suggests that U.S. patriotism has taken a different turn and declined. One pointed comparison: in 1942, despite segregation, Joe Louis happily served because "what's wrong with my country ain't nothing Hitler can fix;" in 1967, despite great progress toward desegregation, Cassius Clay refuses to serve because "I don't have no quarrel with those Viet Congs."
Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen sees patriotism as "essentially linked with love of parents, neighbor and of God." Since these relationships, he feels, have deteriorated, so has patriotism. Episcopal Bishop James Pike, who defines patriotism as "loyalty to law and order and support of the positive purposes of the Government that makes possible one's freedom," finds no evidence of decline. He sees only change, toward increased exercise of individual conscience and greater "moral sensitivity."
Others, in different terms and with their own degree of subjectivity, assay contemporary patriotism in even sharper contrast. Historian Henry Steele Commager thinks the dissenters of 1967 are the real patriots. "Those who have the most affection for the country," he says, "are those who are most alienated from its present policies. Those who are not affectionate are those who are selling out the cities and failing to educate the poor. I don't think it shows any love for country to be spending all our money on bombs and ignoring the rest of our problems." At the other pole is the view of Oren Lee Staley, of Corning, Iowa, a dissenter in his own right as head of the National Farmers Organization, which does not hesitate to protest U.S. farm policies. Speaking for country people, Staley says: "Although they do not understand all that is involved in Viet Nam, they do understand one thing. We as a nation have a commitment. They support the country because of their heritage. They want to see protected what they are part of and the heritage they are proud of."
In the Process of Change