THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 4, 1994 TAG: 9407040042
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Today, the Fourth of July, Americans are asked to believe they are not as patriotic as they used to be.
Which is nonsense.
Americans widely believe people in this country are less patriotic than in previous decades, news stories assert.
They base that interpretation on a Gallup poll, but the percentages in the poll itself belie that assumption.
About two-thirds of those polled feel extremely patriotic (21 percent) or very patriotic (43 percent).
Ponder that finding. An overwhelming host of those polled deem themselves to be patriotic, but, as they look around, they feel that others are lacking in love of country.
If patriotism is waning, what of those in the 64 percent that consider themselves highly patriotic?
And, further, 28 percent said they are somewhat patriotic. That smacks of being a modest response from people who hesitate to claim the virtue; but ``somewhat patriotic'' falls short of a resounding no.
That leaves 7 percent who said they are not especially patriotic. And among those may be reticent souls who love their country as much as does anybody.
It would be revealing to probe those few for details of their denial. I might have been counted among 'em at least once.
During the 1988 Republican nominating convention, George Bush asked all in the hall to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag.
The press usually shies from demonstrations; but throughout the press sections people got to their feet. Except one toad.
I simply could not rise to the occasion. I wasn't trying to do anything so dramatic as make a statement sitting down. I hoped the TV cameras, panning around, wouldn't light on the lumpish individual staring glumly ahead.
There was no reasoning behind it, no notion of staging a sit-down strike. It was simply as if somebody had cut my Achilles' tendons. I couldn't get up to save my neck.
It was the first of many efforts by Bush to corner patriotism; and - this is hard to believe, but it happened - he wound up in a flag factory.
Never have politicians raved as much about patriotism as they do now. But when Jimmy Carter, campaigning, talked about a malaise in America, I couldn't see it. Nor, when Ronald Reagan called on us to ``stand tall,'' could I see anybody slumping.
Our fathers didn't bleat about patriotism. They fought World War I, and those who came back fought the Depression, in which 25 percent were jobless, but nobody paraded patriotism.
Men and women have been brave as ever in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq, and will be again, if called. And now savvy Americans, alert to problems, are eager for leaders.
After the American Revolution, people in a New England town asked everybody to show the flag on the Fourth. One war hero didn't. And when they knocked at his door to inquire why not, he said: ``My patriotism never flags.''
And it has never flagged, or ever will, in this country. by CNB