So this past week, my friend from college came to visit Chicago.  We spent a lot of time exploring the city and going to museums, and I tried to show her all of the things that make Chicago what it is.  We went to the new Maxwell Street Market, we walked down the Mag. Mile, and we visited a bunch of neighborhoods that the regular tourists don’t usually visit.  We had a blast, and it was really fun for me to get to explore Chicago as I usually don’t do.

She left on Wednesday morning, leaving me a “thank you” card on my desk.  Along with a gift certificate to dunkin donuts, she wrote a note which included a sentence about how her “patriotism was blooming like the violets that Illinois holds so dear.”  This sentence got me thinking about patriotism and the way that my generation thinks about the U.S.

Growing up as a white liberal in the 90′s and 00′s, I began to think about American politics at a time when it was a general rule among my parents, my parents’ friends, my friends, and my friends’ parents that patriotism was not a good thing.  If anything, America was a place, at least politically, that we were very ashamed of.  Patriotism was a sort of bad word, and it still brings to mind pictures of red-necked hillbillies sitting on their front porches with guns in their hands as an American flag flies on the front lawn.  The Bush presidency perpetuated this of course, but I think, for my parents, it was definitely a much more deep-seated view of American politics that began in the 60′s and with the Vietnam war.

Of course I got my first taste of political bias from my parents, they were the ones who taught me about politics first, and through their view on America I came to my own.  And so my parental-influenced view was one in which we felt ashamed for the wars our country was waging, for the laws our government was passing, and for the stupidity of our president.  It was not “cool” to like America.  It wasn’t “in” to talk about America in any sort of flattering way.  The view that my parents passed on was one in which we were smart, liberal people living in a stupid, conservative world.  “We” as a community were smart, progressive, forward-thinking, environmentally friendly.  “We” as a nation were stupid, reactionary, gas-guzzling, wasteful, and un-resourceful.

Of course, these views are still held, some of them by myself as well.  But I am referring to these views in the past tense because of a very recent rise in patriotism (the good kind) among liberals again.  A major force to this new view is, as you might guess, Barack Obama.  Obama and Hillary Clinton have changed the tides of liberal cynicism and political depression among liberals.  Now, for the first time in a long time, we can point at our politicians and say “Look!  Here are some people who don’t like the war in Iraq!  Here is someone who represents the America we want, the America we may already know!  Here is someone who all of Europe likes and who will better our image globally (and internally)!”

This new kind of Patriotism is something that many people, especially young people, are flocking towards.  It is a new found love for the country in which we live, it is a new found hope in American politics.  But it doesn’t necessarily fit into the “old” definition of patriotism:

New Oxford American Dictionary:
patriot |ˈpātrēət|
noun
1.  A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors.

So maybe we don’t yet “vigorously” support our country, but we love it now when we used to be ashamed of it.  And maybe we aren’t prepared to defend it yet, but maybe we will argue with someone who calls Americans stupid, rather than nod sadly and say, “yeah, we are.”

I was watching a video on Politico the other day, and they were talking about Charlie Black’s political mistake, when he said that a terrorist attack inside the U.S. would provide a big advantage for John McCain in the election.  They were talking about how this was one of the mistakes politicians sometimes make when they accidentally speak the truth.  Of course he had to retract his comment, but what people are talking about is not how horrible it is that he said that, but that in reality, its the truth.  I think the same thing is true for that “political mistake” when Michelle Obama said that this was the first time she was proud of her country.  Of course she had to retract the remark, and she is still fighting to display a sense of patriotism because of that remark, but I think, especially for all of the liberals who were at the event at which she said the remark, what she said is ultimately true.  For people of my parents’ generation, and for people of my generation, this is the first time that we look at America and think “I’m kinda proud of this.”

So when my friend and I explored Chicago the other day, we explored it with a new pride.  We looked around and thought “I’m glad I live in this country.”  Our patriotism bloomed with each new neighborhood we visited, and with each new idea we heard.  I guess patriotism is the new black.