WTH Is Going On with Patriotism? Yascha Mounk on How We Can Revitalize National Pride

Is good old American flag waving patriotism dead, only to be
replaced with chauvinistic nationalism, or worse,
anti-Americanism? Perhaps thinking of national pride as something
rooted in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the U.S.’
proud history is too 20thcentury; maybe it is no longer working?
Indeed, in a country in which history and civics get short shrift
in education, it should come as no surprise that many under 50
feel no pride, no patriotic sense as Americans. But there may be
another way – a new cultural patriotism, in which people have
pride in the country they know rather than in the traditions that
have spawned national holidays and parades. Will that work?


Yascha Mounk joined Dany and Marc to discuss the findings of his
new book The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart
and How They Can Endure (Penguin Press). He discusses the concept
of cultural patriotism, the problem of multiculturalism and
assimilation. They also debate the metaphor of America’s melting
pot, American exceptionalism, and the ideals that make America
the best country on earth. 


Mounk is one of the world’s leading experts on the crisis of
liberal democracy and the rise of populism. He is a contributing
writer at The Atlantic, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins
University, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations,
and the founder of Persuasion.


Download the transcript here.