In years past patriotism was thought of as a virtue. Love of country was seen as a good thing. That's not really the case anymore. Schoolchildren have the narrative of America as an evil empire drilled into their skulls. Patriots like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel Adams are simplistically reduced to dead white men. Sure these men had flaws,as all human beings do, but their virtues and the good they did have been whitewashed to such an extent that most Americans couldn't tell you anything good about them.



Hollywood doesn't help either. Where they once made patriotic movies, and made them unashamedly, they now can't talk about patriotism without having to cover their mouths to stifle a laugh. It's a joke to them. They're way too sophisticated to believe in something like patriotism. That's for people who cling to guns and religion.



Our elites are above all of that. America is no better than any other country in the world we're endlessly told, in fact, to listen to their histories, we're often far worse. Of course there have been mistakes and tragedies in America. In a perfect, and fair, world women would have been given the right to vote when independence was declared, native Americans would have kept their lands and been made equal citizens, and the slaves would have been freed the moment we declared that all men are created equal.



The founding fathers knew such things were hypocritical and struggled with them. Most looked for, in vain, a way to solve the problems they faced. Washington freed his slaves, Hamilton was involved in freeing blacks, even Jefferson longed for the end of slavery, though he did nothing to speed up its demise.



Still despite all the mistakes made in America its good clearly outweighs the bad. America has come up with the most noble ideals for any country in the history of the world. At times we've failed to measure up to our standards, but more often than not we do right. What other country spends billions of dollars on former enemies to bring them prosperity and democracy? What other country(despite its past failures) has worked as hard on race relations? What country is the beacon to millions across the world who dream of freedom and of a better life?



Americans are in a sour mood right now. They're overwhelmingly convinced that America is headed in the wrong direction, many believe that we're not only headed in the wrong direction but we're headed to our doom. No, everything isn't perfect. But on the fourth of July we should remember that things could be worse. We could live in some other country where the rights and freedoms we enjoy don't exist. We need to remember the men and women who made America great.



America isn't just another country, and certainly not one founded by evil men on evil principles. The left might smile if they imagine a world where America had never existed, but such a scenario should send a shiver down most peoples spines. No America means that the totalitarian ideologies that nearly enslaved the world would have had no one to confront them. That the millions of people who came to America looking for a better life would have had nowhere to go.



The United States is the most powerful, and wealthy country in the history of the world. That's not why we should be patriotic. Even if America we're small and poor, it would still be a country to love. Americans love America because it really is the land of the free. No other country was founded on such ideals.



When the Declaration of Independence came forth it was not just our political independence we were asserting. It was our inalienable rights. America has, at times, walked a rocky path, but it is still the greatest country in the world for the freedoms it offers, and the ideals it stands for.