Protest is once again patriotic. Or maybe patriotism is no longer politically correct. It’s hard to keep track of what counts as patriotism, what counts as “nationalistic,” and how good or bad these things are. But that won’t stop Americans from trying to measure patriotism and turn it into a competition.
Wallet Hub, a personal finance site, thinks it’s got the real ranking on which states are most patriotic. The site polled “experts” on what counted as patriotic and then created an index of civic engagement and military engagement, concluding eventually that New Hampshire was the most patriotic state in the country. But questions abound about its methods. New Hampshire wasn’t in the top half of states in military engagement, and its civic engagement was high because voter turnout is high since they have the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
Is civic engagement even a good measure of patriotism? In a time when voters are becoming more dissatisfied with their political options, it’s tough to say. And what of states such as Texas, California, or New York that score low in civic engagement? Their voter turnout numbers are depressed in part by their high proportion of immigrants, who consistently vote at lower rates. Does having more aspiring Americans make you less patriotic?
Real estate companies have also tried to define patriotism, because maybe telling people which states are patriotic helps get people to buy houses there. For Movoto in 2014, some factors included people who list America as an interest on Facebook and which states have the most people who try to buy American flags on the internet.
Patriotism is a love of country, but the ways in which it manifests in different people make it unquantifiable. Nearly everyone in the country considers him- or herself a patriot, from Constitution-loving conservatives to “tear down the system” left-wingers to that guy down the street who zones out politics altogether. So with Independence Day around the corner, don’t worry about measuring patriotism. Take the day to consider your own love of the country, and that’s all you’ll need to know.
