AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr. As America turns 250, national pride should unite us. Instead, one party has turned its back on the country, its values, and everything it stands for.
The numbers are damning. Combining Gallup’s “extremely proud” and “very proud” responses, 93 percent of Republicans report high pride in being American. In contrast, a humiliating 27 percent of Democrats feel the same way. That isn’t a gap — it’s a chasm, and a record low for Democrats.
Back in January 2001, when Gallup first asked the question, 92 percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats called themselves proud to be American. A divide existed even then, but both parties could still claim to love their country. That’s over.
It would also be a mistake to blame the White House. Throughout the Obama years, Republicans stayed prouder of their country than Democrats. Republicans don’t condition their love of country on who sits in the Oval Office. But increasingly, Democrats do.
You might dismiss the pride gap as a political mood swing, but the data won’t let you. A recent Elon University survey found that 55 percent of Democrats said “yes” when asked whether there’s another country where they would rather live. Only 10 percent of Republicans agreed with that statement.
Now flip the question. Ask the rest of the world where they would move, and the top destination is America — by a mile. People across the globe dream of getting in and take huge risks to do it, whereas while a majority of Democrats dream of getting out. Even Bill Maher noticed it during this year’s World Cup, praising foreign visitors who, in his words, “are reminding Americans this place is kind of awesome.”
It is awesome. The tragedy is that so many on the left can no longer bring themselves to say so.
That erosion doesn’t stop at sentiment — it cuts to the economic engine that built this country into the envy of the world. No force in history has done more to raise living standards than capitalism. It made the U.S. the richest nation on earth. That isn’t a partisan talking point; it’s the record of the last 250 years. Yet Democrats seem hell-bent on punishing success and embracing socialism — and in some cases, full-blown communism. Republicans favor capitalism over socialism by an overwhelming 74 percent to 14 percent. Democrats have flipped the script, viewing socialism more favorably than capitalism by a staggering 66 percent to 42 percent.
Gallup says that turn began in 2016, and they haven’t looked back. The difference is simple: capitalism works. Socialism stays popular among younger Americans frustrated by a fading American Dream, but they’ve missed a hard truth. It “will always fail,” as one analysis put it, “because it’s a flawed system based on completely faulty principles that aren’t consistent with human behavior.” President Trump put it bluntly, calling socialism the “biggest threat to our nation” since America’s founding.
The rot goes beyond economics. America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and rising antisemitism within the Democratic Party puts those roots at serious risk. Republicans are generally more devout: 52 percent pray daily, against 35 percent of Democrats. Forty-one percent of Republicans attend religious services monthly or more, against just 24 percent of Democrats.
The consequences are not abstract. Jews make up only about 2 percent of the U.S. population, yet anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for 16 percent of all reported hate crimes — and nearly 70% of religion-based hate crimes — in 2024. That is no accident.
Roughly 70 percent of Republican voters sympathize with Israelis over Palestinians in the post-October 7, 2023 conflict. Among Democrats, around 65 percent side with Palestinians, while 17 percent side with Israelis. Gallup pinpoints a decisive shift in Democratic opinion to early 2023. Rising pro-Palestinian sentiment and rising antisemitism move in lockstep.
Democratic leaders refused to confront “the Squad” and the Democratic Socialists of America. For a decade, they chased federal power and fed the grassroots a steady diet of Trump derangement instead of defending core values.
Jewish Democrats are now sounding the alarm—and the party still isn’t listening.
The polls say it all: One party has lost faith in its country, rejected the system that made it great, and tolerated a surge in antisemitism within its own ranks. If you think this anti-American, anti-capitalist, antisemitic strain is confined to the far-left fringe — Zohran Mamdani, Bernie Sanders, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Graham Platner — think again. These are now mainstream Democratic positions, marching in lockstep with open borders, calls to abolish ICE, and open contempt for law enforcement.
The irony is sharp: This radicalism may yet hand Republicans continued congressional power in 2026. But elections alone won’t save the Republic. America needs at least two parties that are relatively sane. If Democrats won’t reclaim a basic commitment to capitalism, confront antisemitism, secure the border, and rekindle some love for the country they seek to govern, the American experiment will be in genuine peril — not in 250 years, but sooner. Every American who still believes in this country must be paying attention, speaking up, and demanding better.
The gravest threat to America isn’t coming from abroad. It is growing from within.
Ford O’Connell is an attorney, a veteran Republican operative and political analyst, and adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
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