{"id":1960048,"date":"2023-06-29T08:02:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T12:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-patriotism-is-on-life-support-lets-revive-it-again\/"},"modified":"2023-06-29T08:04:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T12:04:54","slug":"american-patriotism-is-on-life-support-lets-revive-it-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-patriotism-is-on-life-support-lets-revive-it-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Revive American patriotism! It&#8217;s fading fast."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famerican-patriotism-is-on-life-support-lets-revive-it-again%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1960048&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>In the summer of 1980, I worked in Washington, D.C., as a congressional intern just before enrolling in college and the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). Patriotism and military\u00a0service were at a low point. The late 1960s and 1970s had seen Vietnam War protests that featured flag burning and disrespect for military veterans, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/graham-the-politics-of-weaponized-car-attacks\/\" title=\"GRAHAM: The Politics Of Weaponized Car Attacks\">civil rights protests<\/a> and the Watergate scandal. At the 1968 Olympic games, two black American medal winners protested racial inequality by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/1968-mexico-city-olympics-black-power-protest-backlash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raising a gloved fist<\/a> and bowing their heads during the \u201cStar Spangled Banner\u201d to a shocked\u00a0audience. At Woodstock in 1969, Jimi Hendrix played a distorted and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/american-patriotism-is-on-life-support-lets-revive-it-again\/\" title=\"Revive American patriotism! It's fading fast.\">angry electric guitar version<\/a> of the national anthem to a cheering crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a01960s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2016\/nov\/30\/blaze-of-glory-the-grand-tradition-of-burning-the-american-flag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wasn\u2019t the first time our\u00a0national\u00a0symbol had been burned<\/a>, but it was our worst crisis in a hundred years. After the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, southerners began to burn the flag as the nation literally split in two.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2059835281\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b1ead010b71b172647efc65fc9b195b1 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b1ead010b71b172647efc65fc9b195b1\"><\/div>\n<p>I was just a young kid in the \u201960s, so I didn\u2019t have much awareness of the political and social turmoil going on around me. I remember staying up to watch TV as long as I could until the station signed off after midnight by playing the national anthem and showing the flag or the Statue of Liberty. That\u2019s right, some stations actually turned off their broadcast at night. I remember watching Mark Spitz win an unbelievable seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics. He wore an iconic Speedo swimsuit featuring the stars and stripes. I was a competitive swimmer, and every team just had to have that red, white, and blue swimsuit. Patriotism was still alive, if only on life support.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters body-xs m-0 text-start\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-4\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-8\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TyXhi5I-TWs\">Olympics\/YouTube<\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When Americans United Again<\/h2>\n<p>But things started to change in 1979. President Jimmy Carter had just delivered\u00a0his \u201ccrisis of confidence\u201d speech on July 15. On Nov.\u00a04, militant students stormed the American embassy in Iran. They took American diplomats hostage, burned the American flag, and chanted \u201cdeath to America.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>President Carter, who had probably done more to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/longtime-ethiopian-diplomat-resigns-in-protest-of-countrys-genocide\/\" title=\"Longtime Ethiopian Diplomat Resigns in Protest of Country\u2019s Genocide\">promote human rights<\/a> around the world than any previous president, was hated and vilified by the Iranians. I didn\u2019t think Carter was an effective leader, but he was an authentically good person and nothing like the devil our enemies made him out to be. He was an idealist living in a very cruel world that seemed to hate America. As if things weren\u2019t going badly enough, on Christmas Eve 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Finally, Americans started to wake up and unite.<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 22, 1980, we watched the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/u-s-hockey-team-makes-miracle-on-ice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d<\/a> as the young, underdog American Olympic men\u2019s ice hockey team defeated the Soviet team on American soil at Lake Placid, New York. The Soviets had dominated the game for 20 years. The USA team won the gold medal, and Americans went wild with enthusiasm and patriotism, chanting \u201cU-S-A\u201d and waving the flag. It was more than a game; it was perceived as an ideological victory in the Cold War.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bff0cb8c113add2e4290c5857d46fe6e fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bff0cb8c113add2e4290c5857d46fe6e\"><\/div>\n<p>Every day of my 1980 internship in Washington, I would turn the congressman\u2019s office radio on and tune it to the station that\u00a0would play the national anthem exactly at noon. The flag was flown at half-staff and <a href=\"https:\/\/jewishjournal.com\/commentary\/columnist\/307041\/america-held-hostage-40-years-ago\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Walter Cronkite ended the evening news<\/a> with the number of days American hostages had been held in captivity. The hostage crisis lasted 444 days.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Flynn, the owner of the Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Pennsylvania, raised a new flagpole for each day the hostages were held captive and vowed that none of the 444 flags would ever come down. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.avenueofflags.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">They have become the Avenue of Flags<\/a>. I worked for a Democrat even though I voted for Ronald Reagan, but it didn\u2019t matter because we all showed respect for our flag, our national anthem, and our country.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><figcaption>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters body-xs m-0 text-start\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-4\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-8\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Avenue_of_444_flags.jpg\">WackyFolf\/Wikimedia\/<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/deed.en\">CC By-SA 4.0<\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Respect and Civility<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ll never forget taking my son and his team to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cooperstowndreamspark.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cooperstown Dreams Park<\/a>, where 12-year-old youth baseball players compete in a huge tournament with kids from all around the country. The opening ceremonies featured a parade of teams all wearing uniforms of red, white, and blue as well as a flag ceremony and the singing of the national anthem. <\/p>\n<p>Typically, when Baltimore Orioles fans sing the national anthem at an O\u2019s game, many of them shout out the word \u201cOh\u201d in \u201cOh, say can you see.\u201d I never liked it, so I was pleased when Lou Presutti, the founder of the park, warned Maryland teams not to do it. He considered it disrespectful. In fact, his penalty was immediate expulsion of the whole team from the tournament. Not surprisingly, nobody belted out the \u201cOh.\u201d Not everyone considered it disrespectful, but Presutti had drawn a hard line. He died in 2016, but it is pretty obvious what he would think about athletes who take a knee.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump was elected largely on his promise to put America first, but he was not the first and will not be the last. It is time we all agree to put America first and settle our problems peacefully with civility and respect. America has\u00a0never been perfect, but our history has been one of constant progress toward the ideals represented by our flag and national anthem. <\/p>\n<p>As Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1963, \u201cAnd so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.\u201d We clearly have further to go but have come a long, long way since then.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Attacks on our citizen soldiers or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ny-post-editorial-board-we-need-to-restore-serious-policing-to-stop-the-slaughter\/\" title=\"NY Post Editorial Board: We Need to Restore Serious Policing to Stop the Slaughter\">law enforcement make<\/a> us all less safe, while unfounded name calling \u2014 such as deplorable, anti-science, fascist, racist, misogynist, and transphobic \u2014 keeps us divided. Although they are merely symbolic, displays of disrespect for the\u00a0stars and stripes diminish us as a nation. You have the right to say what you want, but many of us have drawn a hard line. On Independence Day, and every day thereafter, respect the flag and put America first.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0100148c3c9023fb9903f887f087a32c fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0100148c3c9023fb9903f887f087a32c\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1980, I interned in Washington, D.C., before starting college and joining the Air Force ROTC. Patriotism and military service were low due to Vietnam War protests, including flag burning and disrespect towards veterans in the late 60s and 70s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1575,"featured_media":1960049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1960048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1960048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1960049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1960048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1960048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1960048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}