The country is in a serious decline with low morale, low approval ratings for politicians, and in desperate need of a new course to correct these deficiencies. Luckily, we can lean back on a tried-and-true vehicle to accommodate change as there is no better avenue than patriotism to bring this country back to its former glory. Some may scoff at this idea, but let me ask, when one thinks of ideal America, where does your thinking go? Average suburban home, two cars out front, a nice lawn, clean neighborhood, and all on a single income, right? Clearly, this is the America that is closest to the American Dream. World War II had just wrapped up, and patriotism was at an all-time high. American flags were proudly flown, lawn darts were in full swing, and every radio was playing the same music. Ahh, yes, the 1950s, such an iconic and enduring decade. Pop-culture, television, female birth control, and credit cards — just to name a few things invented during the 1950s; and is it any wonder? All these items scream patriotism. From patriotic artwork to innovation in electronics, female independence, and financial freedom. What could be more American than these?
Yet today so much has changed. The glory days of America have long since passed with many wondering why. Why is today so much worse than yesterday? Unquestionably, we can see that a lack of patriotism is to blame. During WWII, patriotism was high, and the country was mass-producing goods for the war effort at an astonishing rate. It was clear that by the mid-1950s there was already a decline in patriotism and thus in quality of life for so many. Due to these concerns the United States government started enforcement of the pledge of allegiance. They even added the words “Under God” to the pledge and to the money in the hopes that this would unite the people and that they may feel more patriotic towards their great country. By the time the 1960s rolled around, the government was faced with many people being unhappy about the lack of patriotism. Women were protesting and burning their underwear with the hopes of attracting attention to their cause. African Americans started to sit wherever they liked on buses, and even worked their way into schools, all in the hope that someone may take notice and enact more laws to spur patriotism. Hearing the pleas of the people, then president Lyndon B Johnson launched us into war with another great military superpower, Vietnam, in the hopes that much like during WWII, patriotism would return full swing and solve the issues the country was facing. The people were so excited to finally have something to be patriotic about that they gathered in massive groups and lined up to register for the draft in the hopes that they too could go serve their country and thus do their duty. This patriotic sense of duty is what is missing from today, and bringing back patriotism would be a cure-all for what ails the country, currently.
War is patriotic, plain and simple. Anyone can look at government literature and posters from WWII and see how happy people were when the war was raging. After all, do you really have a purpose without supporting a higher cause, such as a war effort? Certainly not! Why go to school, get a job, and work if it’s not in support of your country? Sure, the national debt takes a hit, but after each war the country has an explosive rebound — a surplus. This is why it has been so important for the United States to stay in a near continuous war with various countries since the inception of the country. Not only is it important to stay in near constant war, but also to assume full responsibility for all victories and deny any and all losses, even if it means covering them up. Allowing people to feel patriotic and contribute to the welfare of the nation is far more important than having the populace well informed on events. In fact, sometimes it’s best to stage attacks, such as Operation Northwoods where the joint chiefs proposed a false flag attack on a United States civilian airliner at the hand of Cuba. If successful, this staged attack would allow for the unilateral invasion of Cuba by American forces, allowing us to move closer to war with Russia while keeping our plausible deniability over the events. Unfortunately, the president of the time was short sighted, this along with John F. Kennedy’s lack of wanting to start a war with Vietnam led to his government sanctioned assassination.
Now, with Kennedy’s assassination, morale and patriotism were low, this is why Lindon Johnson swiftly moved us into war with Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin attack. Yet, what if we could keep patriotism alive without the wars? We’ve seen how war can push us to be more patriotic, which in turn makes us happier. We’ve seen how adding “In god we trust” and “under god” to our currency and pledge can help keep patriotism high. But what about flags? The flag is the ultimate representation of government, bringing forth emotions. Have you ever seen a child, hand over heart, staring in awe at the magnificent flag flying in all its glory? It is profoundly moving. This is largely why after the September 11th 2001 attacks we instituted flags to be flown on all government vehicles whenever possible. Firetrucks, police vehicles, utility vehicles, you name it! Some people have taken this step further and affixed flags to their personal vehicles. I say this is not enough. Flags are relatively inexpensive and provide such a high value when it comes to patriotism. Without trying to sound socialist, I say we furnish or subsidize flags in this country. In fact, an easy way would be to simply give a tax credit to every household. While this would be incentive enough for many, especially conservatives who yearn for tax credits, we may need to take this a step further to ensure maximum flag coverage. The logical next step would be to enact a federal statue, punishable by fine or imprisonment, that every household and vehicle must at all times fly the American flag. This seems extreme, but if we can require healthcare—something that’s not even free—then we can enforce this without much constitutional challenge from the courts. In fact, given the conservative nature of the Supreme Court, it’s unlikely that this would even be heard if brought from a lower court.
With flags flying as far as the eye can see, we would be moving in the right direction. People would be happier than ever with our military conflicts, cold wars, enforced flag flying. But people become complacent. All too often we see complacent people in all walks of life. Complacency kills routine and breeds contempt. To head off this potentially unraveling danger, we need to keep moving forward with our progress. We require children in school to pledge their allegiance to the country each and every morning. This must be extended into the work sector as well. All employers would do well to force their employees to pledge their allegiance each morning. It would be important to have all employees conduct their pledge at the same time for their given shift. This builds community and camaraderie, as each person can see the other person being patriotic. Now, clearly this may cause some conflict between employees who do not wish to pledge and employers who are enforcing. The easy solution is to have the government enforce the law through a mandate. Perhaps OSHA could be compelled to enforce this as a workplace safety standard; after all, happy employees are safe employees.
This obviously leads into the next and final solution, nationalism. Patriotism is great, but it’s a precursor to something more grand, more worthy of the people of the United States. We cannot opt for the largest and fastest vehicles, largest houses, largest fast-food meals, and not go for the largest form of patriotism. Moving just a few more steps to the right, we too can slide out of mediocre patriotism with general happiness and into a nationalism filled utopia. How much freer would your day be without having to think about anyone other than Americans? No more ads for helping starving children in a country you can’t locate on a map. No more foreign aid to countries you can’t spell; nor should you have to. Our borders could be locked down so tight that no foreign nationals would enter without extensive screening and only after passing an exam that’s much more in-line with the American ideals than what is currently given to citizens naturalizing. With nationalism, some may resist, as this is only natural as many are averse to change. However, with some coercing they will see that this system is better not just for them, but for everyone. We as a nation that values ourselves over all others could move even more towards state run work programs, factories, and food production to ensure that everyone is equally happy.
As you can see, happiness is tied to patriotism which is really a diminished form of nationalism. Moving the country out of the current corporatism type of capitalism and into a more nationalism minded platform would do well for many. When the nation is happy, the country is productive, and when the country is productive, we remain a world power. Remaining a world power in turn promotes more patriotism, which leads to nationalism and again makes the people happy. This recursive loop of happiness is vital to ensuring future generations are just as happy as the golden era that we so aptly reminisce, the early 1950s.