It Turns Out Democrats Are Less Patriotic

What a surprise! A recent paper by the American Enterprise Institute catalogs polls done over the past two decades about Americans and patriotism. In a poll conducted by Princeton Research Associate International and the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, respondents who identified themselves as Republicans consistently "completely agreed" with the statement "I am very patriotic" more often than respondents who identified themselves as Democrats.

This questions was one part of the same survey given nine times between 1987 and 2003. The difference between Republicans and Democrats was always statistically significant. Over the nine samples, an average of 62% of Republicans affirmed their strong patriotism, while less than half (47%) of self-identified Democrats on average completely agreed they were very patriotic.

The question did not ask anything about agreeing with domestic or foreign policy or support for the sitting administration. Respondents were simply asked how much they agreed with the statement "I am very patriotic" (dictionary.com definition: feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one's country").

If liberals feel comfortable questioning our commitment to the Constitution, I certainly have no cumpunctions against doubting their patriotism. I think this paper is an interesting example of their own doubts. It's fine if liberals think patriotism is a bad thing, but they irrationally seem to become angry when logical people suggest the New York Times or Senator Russ Feingold often do not have the best interest of Americans in mind.

Finally, I'll make the offer again: I will completely fund the one-way trip for any American who thinks Hugo Chavez's socialist paradise in Venezuela is preferable to the United States, provided any takers permanently renounce their American citizenship. Same deal for probably about any socialist country you can think of, just email me at radarblog@gmail.com.