This Is Home. You're Never Leaving It

When I think of all those who died and suffered to form this nation, I feel a sense of responsibility to them.

This land is more than just a nice place to live. It’s a home and its worth the effort. Source

This Fourth of July, national pride is disappointingly low, according to the results of a Fox News poll. Only 39% of respondents said they were proud of the country today, down from 69% in a similar poll in 2011. I say “disappointingly,” because, while times are tough and our leadership is deplorable, I’d still hope Americans are patriotic enough to be proud of who we are, even if we’re not living up to the lofty and often unreasonable standards we set for ourselves.

What may surprise some is how the lack of pride today is being driven by an unlikely source: Republicans:

Of course, if you’re on the Right, you probably don’t like what’s become of the country, while Democrats and those on the Left, with Joe Biden in the White House and total control of the institutions which hold power in this country, have more reason to be proud of the country today than they ever have in American history. It’s particularly striking to see how low pride is among independents. “Indies” tend to cast the deciding vote and, since they aren’t fully committed to one side or the other, often reflect the “median” sentiment in the population on a given issue. Unfortunately, that median sentiment is very bad.

What this poll and others like it prove to me is how the pride Americans feel in their country depends largely on how well things are going at a given moment. This fair-weathered patriotism, in turn, reveals that America, even for the more instinctively patriotic, is viewed almost like a commodity. Like a sports team, you’re proud of it when it wins and less so when mired in a losing streak. Being an American might come with some wonderful privileges, but, apparently, it’s also something of a burden for many.

Still other Americans, specifically the globalist-minded, view citizenship as an entitlement. They owe the country nothing, but the country owes them the right to live here when they want to and all the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. These people also think being an American is something that can be packaged up like any product and shipped overseas or that anyone can set foot on our soil and become instantly American by virtue of simply being here. Back in March, I described this mentality in a post I wrote about how a majority of Democrats and young Americans would abandon this country if it were invaded the same way Ukraine has been invaded by Russia:

I think I’m over the target when I say they consider America a nice place to live and work, but aren’t particularly invested in this country beyond what it has to offer them, the same way they’d treat any product or service. Once it’s outlived its usefulness, it’s time to move on to something bigger and better. In other words, America’s a house, but not a home.

This mindset is exemplified by the elites, which is very bizarre when you think about it - the people who benefit most from living here are among the least invested in this country beyond what it has to offer them economically. Consider the ongoing saga of professional basketball player Brittney Griner:

America has an obligation to someone who isn’t even proud to be an American. Ironic. Spare me all the talk of laws and whatnot. It still doesn’t make any sense and it isn’t right.

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about how badly things are going in this country. There’s no question this country is either on the verge of decline or in one already. I readily admit that I don’t like what this country is becoming and when I see things like this happening, I’m not sure there’s anything worth preserving and defending any longer {WARNING: Explicit content]:

Lauren Chen @TheLaurenChen

These people belong in jail. This is a hill I'm willing to die on.

Lauren Chen is correct: these people belong in jail. In a proper society, we wouldn’t tolerate this. Some lines don’t get crossed. Our country has become a hotbed of this sort of thing, unfortunately, and it’s got the endorsement of the Regime, who’ll protect what you just saw as if it were some sacrament and the rest of us have to just grin and bear.

Auron MacIntyre @AuronMacintyre

People often ask me why trans strippers who are clearly exposing themselves to children aren’t prosecuted and the answer is simple They are involved in a state-sanctioned religious ritual and law enforcement knows to steer clear/1

None of this, changes the way I feel about the country, however. If I were to respond to that Fox News poll, I’d say that I’m very proud to be an American, even today. Why’s that? Well, what you see today isn’t America. It’s things that are happening in America or being imposed on it. Our country is becoming degenerate, but that degeneracy isn’t what defines this country. It’s alien and, like an invasive force, something that needs to be defeated. As I’ve said before, just because something managed to set foot on our soil doesn’t make it American.

The second reason I still have great pride in this country is because I have no reason not to. As a second-generation American, my family hasn’t been in this country that long. But in that short time, we’ve all done very well for ourselves and have led lives worth being grateful to this country for. Had I been born in my ancestral land, where my lineage goes back who knows how many generations, I’d probably be underemployed, with no chance of getting married or even being in a relationship, a chronic smoker, and an alcoholic. Suicide rates are extremely high in my ancestral country. I have a life truly worth living in large part because I won the greatest lottery of all, being born in the United States.

So I suppose I’m not too different from a lot of other Americans in that sense. My pride is intertwined with my quality of life. Particularly since I write a blog about American decline, the inevitable question that gets asked is, “What would I do if the U.S. did collapse?” What if my life became something less fortunate? Wouldn’t I, like so many millions of Americans, seek better fortunes or, like the thousands of Ukrainians victimized by war, run for my life in search of safe haven? I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask myself the question at least once. Maybe some island in the Pacific Ocean. Czech Republic seems like a nice place to live. Thoughts of living somewhere else makes for fun conversation, but that’s all it really is - talk.

One of my favorite movies is Blood Diamond from 2006. Set in 1999 Sierra Leone during their civil war, it follows ex-Rhodesian soldier Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) who, like so many veterans from that country after it became Zimbabwe, became a mercenary. He’s tasked with paying back a debt to his employer, himself a former soldier and now a mercenary.

By far, the scene that’s stayed with me most from this movie is this exchange between Archer and his employer, whom he once fought under. Archer wants to leave war-torn Africa and seek a new life elsewhere, but even if he could, that’s not going to happen:

https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxJzsAdJsmOgbqg6NPf6BVE7HQcQLNNtVk

I won’t spoil the rest of the film (I highly recommend you watch it, it’s one of the best films of the 2000s), but I’ll reveal that Archer finds out his boss was right and learns this lesson in heart-breaking fashion, but not with a sense of resignation. Instead, he does so embracing the fact this God-forsaken land was where he was always meant to be.

That’s how I feel about this country. No matter what happens to it, whether we manage to recover from this tailspin, or whether we succumb to the morass and become some totalitarian dictatorship, or transform into some other, unrecognizable country, this is home. Sure, it’s a nice place to live, but it’s a nice place to live in large part because so many of those who came before us staked their claim and fought and worked to make it a home. This land, like so many other lands people call home the world over, was built through blood, sweat, tears, guts, and an untold number of sacrifices made throughout the generations going back to our founding.

When I think of all those who died and suffered to form this nation, I feel a sense of responsibility to them. To look at the ground beneath my feet and to know their blood is in that soil, it humbles me in a way few things do. We Americans stand on the shoulders of giants. You cannot call yourself a citizen of this country and disavow and disconnect yourself from those who came before us, their culture, and the vision they had for America. They are us. Their hopes and dreams are ours. We inherited it from them. We must strive to make ourselves worthy of it and pass it on to the next generation, even if we ultimately fail in doing so.

Nobody knows how much time America’s got left. What I do know is that I’m in it until the end and beyond. So play out all the fantasies you’d like about going somewhere else and starting over new. This land is home. Come what may, I’m never leaving it.

And neither will you.

Max Remington writes about armed conflict and prepping. Follow him on Twitter at @AgentMax90.

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