On The Country's 250th Birthday, A New Promise To America

Democrats need to embrace the patriotism that made the party great

This weekend, Americans will be celebrating the Fourth of July, our official 250th anniversary of Independence Day. The President is expected -- to nobody’s surprise -- to make the occasion about himself in a lengthy address. How will Democrats mark the holiday?

Successful Democrats have always been patriotic. While Democrats have never been shy about calling out the limitations of America, they always do so by pairing their love for the virtues of the nation with the duty that Americans have to improve it.

On July 4th, 1941, Fiorello LaGuardia organized President Franklin D. Roosevelt to give a patriotic address to the nation in which he shared “It is simple -- I could almost say simpleminded -- for us Americans to wave the flag, to reassert our belief in the cause of freedom, and let it go at that.” For Roosevelt, the formation of the nation on the four freedoms in 1776 was one of the most important events in human history, and one that was worth contemporary American sacrifice to preserve and advance.

At the 50th anniversary of the Selma march, President Obama said, “What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this, what greater form of patriotism is there than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation can look upon our imperfections and decide that it is in our power to remake this nation to more closely align with our highest ideals?” President Obama grounds his progressive values in a deep patriotism. President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural rang with a similar call, “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

Even the modern progressive left has rooted its politics in American pride. On his fight oligarchy tour, Bernie Sanders specifically rooted his critique of Trump in the language of patriotism and Constitution, “Hey Mr. Trump, people fought and died to create a Democratic society. You’re not going to take it away from us. Hey Mr. President, turn off Fox TV and take a few minutes to read the Constitution of the United States.”

Democratic politicians have long understood that the story of America is not complete, and part of patriotism is building it.

But the new strain of the left is explicitly anti-America, calling America a colonialist, imperialist county. Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently unseated Adriano Espaillat, tweeted, “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me :)”. Melat Kiros, the DSA candidate who defeated Diana Degette in Colorado suggested the that 9/11 was the “inevitable” response to U.S. foreign policy.

Sadly, they speak for a broader portion of the Democratic base, only 14% of whom are “extremely” proud to be an American. This stance puts Democrats at odds with the broader electorate:

When combining “extremely proud” and “very proud” responses, 93% of Republicans express high levels of pride, compared with 51% of independents and 27% of Democrats, both record lows for their respective groups.

As Congressman Tom Suozzi shared at WelcomeFest this year, “America is the greatest country in the world.”

Suozzi recently echoed these remarks in the Wall Street Journal, urging Democrats to show their love for America:

Patriotism doesn’t ask us to whitewash the country’s shortcomings. It requires us to confront them honestly while recognizing that our Constitution, our democratic institutions and generations of courageous citizens have given us the ability to correct our mistakes.

Democrats have long believed that America is great not because it is perfect, but because it has the capacity to become better. We must reclaim the language of patriotism, because our history teaches us the most American thing any of us can do is help our great nation live up to the ideals charted by our Founders 250 years ago: liberty, equality, democracy and the rule of law

A group of Democrats are making a specific effort to change the course and reaffirm their party’s love for their country. You have probably seen the news about the The Promise to America, which gathered millions of views in the last week in pieces like the Washington Post’s “After wins by democratic socialists, centrist Democrats unite to push back” and the New York Times’s “Centrist Democrats Rebuke Party’s Left Wing: ‘We Are Capitalist, Not Socialist’.” Fifteen federal candidates and members launched the Promise and hundreds so far have signed, you can sign here. The Promise to America put “confident patriotism and national renewal” at the heart of its agenda to declare what the party should stand for. The Promise is explicit in its disavowal of those on the left and the right that choose to turn their backs on the values that have driven American success when it states that signers “are proud, not ashamed of America.”

The Promise to America understands that most Americans have their own identity wrapped up in their nation’s identity and success. As Promise signer Bobby Pulido put it, “For too long, Democrats have lost entire communities and regions of this country by failing to speak their language. The Promise to America is a commitment to change that by showing up everywhere, speaking to everyone, and earning back the trust of voters who feel left behind.”

Importantly, the Promise does not whitewash and turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of our nation. It fully recognizes many of the nation’s shortcomings and at times ugly past -- it uses them as the basis for the work that Americans are called to do every day: “We believe America’s story is one of extraordinary achievement and unfinished work. We honor America’s strengths and exceptional character while striving to build a freer, stronger, more prosperous, and more perfect union.” A stronger America that lives up to its values is the North Star for the group. It’s the opposite of Chevalier’s position: the Promise to America revitalizes a love for America discarded as trash by the extremists.