Independence Day Fireworks 2014: Glynn Wilson

The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States of America is in big trouble.

As preparations were being made in the nation’s capital for the Fourth of July 2025, and the 250th anniversary of the country in 2026, a Gallup poll finds American pride at an all time low.

After the terrorist attacks against the country on Sept. 11, 2001, 90 percent of survey respondents said they were proud to be Americans. The percentage of people who said they were extremely or very proud dropped to 83 percent in 2005 after it became known that the Bush administration lied and attacked Iraq based on flawed or cooked intel about Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the number did not vary significantly from that mark for the next 11 years. In 2017, after Donald Trump was elected and sworn in as president, Gallup found the number at a new low when only 75 percent said they were proud to be Americans.

“National pride has deteriorated further since then,” Gallup says.

In June of 2025, a record-low of 58 percent of adults in the U.S. say they are “extremely” (41%) or “very” (17%) proud to be an American. This is down nine percentage points from 2024 and five points below the prior low from 2020 when Trump was running for reelection and then falsely claimed Joe Biden stole the election.

While some Republicans and Christian nationalists remain proud, pretty much everybody else is just not feeling it, including me.

Only 36 percent of Democrats say they are extremely or very proud to be Americans, down from 62 percent when Joe Biden was still president. The pride among political independents has also reached a low point, with only 53 percent expressing a great deal of pride. This is down seven points from last year, the previous low, and pride among this group has been declining since the early 2000s, dropping below 80 percent for the first time in 2005, then below 70 percent in 2019 and below 60 percent for the first this year.

Gallup also finds clear generational differences in American pride, with each new generation significantly less likely than the previous one to say they are extremely or very proud to be an American – not a good harbinger for the future of the country.

The youngest two generations, millennials (born between 1980 and 1996) and Generation Z (born after 1996), are the most distinct. From 2021 to 2025, less than half (41%) of adults who belong to Generation Z have been extremely or very proud to be Americans, compared with 58 percent of millennials. The rate increases to 71 percent for Generation X, 75 percent of the baby boom generation and 83 percent of the Silent Generation.

Most of that change has occurred since 2016, Gallup says, when Trump first won election. So much for his campaign promise to “Make America Great Again.” A majority of the American people are just not feeling it, which calls into question how he won the election last year. Did Elon Musk help him steal it? Democrats are reluctant to make such a claim, but charges are floating around on social media.

Implications

“At the beginning of the 21st century, U.S. adults were nearly unanimous in saying they were extremely or very proud to be Americans,” Gallup says in its analysis. “But that national unity has eroded over the past 25 years due to a combination of political and generational changes. Democrats today are much less likely than in the past to express pride in their country; in fact, their national pride has hit a new low. Additionally, Generation Z and millennials are much less proud of their country than their elders…”

These changes have taken place mostly over the past decade, Gallup says, “amid greater pessimism about the economic prospects for young people, widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the nation, greater ideological divides between the parties, unfavorable images of both parties, and intense partisan rancor during the Trump and Biden administrations.”

A Personal Story from An American Veteran

“Many of my friends do not understand why I, as a combat veteran, have never been overly enthusiastic about July 4th,” my friend and Vietnam veteran James Rhodes from Birmingham, Alabama said in a letter to the editor. He now lives in California.

“To begin with, it is my belief that had we remained an English colony, we would all have now National Health Insurance and those of influence and wealth would also be paying taxes as opposed to our reverse Robin Hood system where the American poor subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and famous.”

There are more serious issues that “our overpaid politicians refuse to address,” he says, “yet every July fourth there they are glad-handing a willfully ignorant electorate spewing meaningless slogans and rhetoric of a ‘religious’ and ‘patriotic’ nature.”

“How many Americans know, or care, that under both Democratic and Republican administrations,” he asks, “there have been over 1,000 veterans who have been deported? Large communities of combat veterans have been interviewed, by major news sources, that are trying to return but can’t cross over from Juarez, Tijuanna, and other Mexican cities. Recently decorated combat veteran Ivan Ocon (Iraq) died while fighting the government for his right to return after he honorably served this country. There are many others like him.”

As reported by KJZZ of Phoenix, Arizona over 94,000 veterans are not U.S. citizens (Jill Ryan 6-24-25). Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansar along with nine other representatives have asked for an investigation of this veteran deportation policy.

To the credit of the American Legion, three specific national resolutions have been adopted to address this specific issue. Resolution 10-I on Imigration Reform; Resolution 9 on Addressing Deportation of non-Citizen Veterans and their Family Members; and Resolution 296 on Supporting Fairness of Immigrant Spouses.

To highlight this national disgrace and unnecessary tragedy, the July edition of the American Legion magazine honored the life of Kenyan (Iraq war veteran), George Mayieka. His Kenyan wife was deported in 2007, beginning his legal fight to have her returned to the United States.

“Being a combat veteran meant nothing,” Rhodes says. “George received help for NO ONE,” and that included Minnesota Senators Al Frankin and Amy Klobuchar, he says.

“A few months ago, George Mayieka’s legal battle came to a close after he killed himself – 18 years this combat veteran could not find ONE person in authority who was willing to help him. Whether George, or his family members, are living or dead, Congress still accepts their salaries and compensations. Had this been any of us, we would have been fired long ago.”

“This is not the America I grew up in!” Rhodes says.

George Mayieka had a friend in arms, Angel Rodriguez, Rhodes says, “whose wife and 2 year old son had to hide from ICE agents during his third combat deployment to Iraq. This is America? What have we become?”

“Those who opt for family fun and celebrations over this 4th of July, I wish you well,” he said. “Just understand why people as myself find no joy until we can collectively help those who have been abused by this unjust and immoral system, from which both parties benefit!”

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