The Wall Street Journal - 19.10.2019 - 20.10.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, October 19 - 20, 2019 |C1

ILLUSTRATION BY EDEL RODRIGUEZ

Johnson, the English man of letters, coined that

phrase in 1775, suggesting that the use of patriotism as

a political football is hardly a new phenomenon. What

does seem to be new in our time is the growing sense,

on both sides of the aisle, that Ameri-

can patriotism as traditionally con-

ceived is unworthy of support. At just

the moment when the U.S. is most in

need of common values and aspirations,

we seem to be in danger of losing them.

How to restore American patriotism?

The first task is to understand what

makes it unique—and so vulnerable.

American patriotism, like America it-

self, is a continuing experiment in the

power of ideas to bring human beings together. Other

nations form their identities around shared ethnic ori-

gins or ancestral experiences—things that are them-

selves often imaginary, based more on myth than his-

tory. But the word “fatherland,” so powerful in other

languages, is alien to American usage, because our fore-

Pleaseturntothenextpage

‘Patriotism

isthelast

refugeof

ascoundrel.’

SAMUEL JOHNSON

TECHNOLOGY

As trust in institutions

declines, Americans

are connecting on

digital platforms and

learning to rely on one

another.C3

MUSIC

Unruly Singers

The songs we love

are usually the

work of geniuses

from the margins

of society.C4

American

Patriotism

IsWorth

FightingFor

In the U.S., love of country involves

dedication to the ideals of liberty

and equality—a demanding legacy

that we can’t afford to lose.

By Adam Kirsch

REVIEW

Weekend Confidential

In a barbed new novel,

John le Carré

spies a Britain adriftC6

Becoming ‘European’

A Russian novelist, a

Spanish singer & the birth of

cosmopolitanism Books C7

CULTURE|SCIENCE|POLITICS|HUMOR

Inside

‘T

he future belongs to patriots,”President Trump told the United Na-

tions last month. But when it comes to Americans, at least, the data

seems to indicate the opposite. A Gallup poll released just before the

Fourth of July found that the share of participants who felt “extremely

proud” to be American was the lowest in the poll’s 18-year history—

just 47%, down from 70% in 2003. And according to a recent WSJ/NBC

poll, the younger you are, the less likely you are to say that patriotism

is a “very important” value. Among Americans older than 55, nearly 80% of re-

spondents agreed with that statement; among those under 38, only 42% did so.

Perhaps the shift has to do with the fact that, in a time of bitter political

division, people often bring up patriotism only to suggest that their oppo-

nents lack it. President Trump, who during the 2016 campaign made a habit

of literally hugging American flags, has accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

of treason. Meanwhile, Sen. Kamala Harris said that former Vice President

Joe Biden, her fellow Democratic presidential candidate, has “more patrio-

tism in his pinkie finger” than President Trump “will ever have.” Members

of both parties seem to see the other side as proof of Samuel Johnson’s fa-

mous definition of patriotism as “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

INVENTION

Miraculous

Machine

With the

phonograph,

Edison kept

voices alive.C5

Cosmic

Prize

A physics Nobelist on

how this year’s

winners illuminate

the ways our complex

universeemerged.C4