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Chattanooga: The meaning of patriotism

By: Beverly Carroll
(Contact)

Included in this article

Danielle Buteau
Amelia Brock
Violet Reid
Candace Powers
Joseph Porras

Whether someone is waving the flag or burning it, he’s likely doing it for patriotic reasons.

Patriotism clearly means different things to different people. But most Americans believe they are patriotic, according to the Pew Research Center, an independent research group that tracks trends in values, and political and social attitudes.

“We’ve asked this question for 20 years: ‘I am very patriotic. Agree or disagree?’ We never get less than 90 percent response who say, ‘I am very patriotic,’” said Carroll Doherty, associate director of the Pew Research Center.

It’s a difficult concept to define, Dr. Doherty said. Patriotism can be measured in obligations or duties to one’s country, or through the ideals and values for which the country stands, or for all of those things and more.

“I don’t think you can shoehorn patriotism into any one fit,” said Patty Parks, volunteer executive director of the National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History in Chattanooga.

“I’m retired Navy and I’ve spent a lot of time with veterans groups. A lot of how they feel has to do with the periods in which they served,” Ms. Parks said. “You are going to find that different age groups, by virtue of how they group up, what they did without, will have different ideas.”

On the eve of the most American of all holidays — Independence Day — thoughts of patriotism are foremost in the minds of many Americans. Confronted with a war that forces the question of whether a patriot can protest the war but support the troops, and ahead of a presidential election where patriotism promises to play a decisive role, Americans are finding themselves grappling with the meaning of the word.

“I think it’s more on people’s minds now,” said Chris McKeever, executive director of the Sixth Cavalry Museum in Fort Oglethorpe. “I think it is because of the war and also because baby boomers remember (other wars), and they have a good sense of what it means to be Americans.”

In a random sampling of area residents about what it means to be American, freedom ranks high. Pride and support for the military are right up there, too. The American Dream — that a person can work hard and grow up to be successful — still holds sway.

“My image of America is opportunity,” said Violet Reid, of Marion County, Tenn. “(It is) a chance to live your dreams.”

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