A man in red prison garb walks a thin line, hunched and defeated, holding up an American flag that simultaneously pierces his back. The caption: “How Problematic Is Patriotism?” That’s how The New Yorker and its ideological allies see this country. The flag isn’t a symbol of sacrifice and freedom; it’s a wound. Patriotism isn’t a virtue; it’s a plague. These writers, cartoonists, and readers are a despondent people. They are perpetually ungrateful for what is, by any honest accounting, the greatest birthright a human being can receive. They are immune to the privilege of simply being born here — born into a country that hands them the freedom to publish, criticize, and mock. They use every one of these gifts to fixate on America’s imperfections while ignoring the ocean of blessings surrounding them. To answer this whimpering writer’s question: Yes, national pride in America is “worth trying to salvage.” And no, patriotism is not problematic. It is necessary, and it starts with refusing to despise the very country you claim to want to improve. Before making the case for American pride, it’s worth being clear about who is arguing against it. The New Yorker’s “How Problematic Is Patriotism?” ran May 25. Their May 4 cover, “Red, White, and Kinda Blue,” showed a melancholy George Washington slumped at a table, blowing a party horn, drinking a dirty martini. The accompanying text sneered that there was plenty to celebrate about America’s birthday: “Climate catastrophes are still somewhat frequent … and you’re free to express your opinion, as long as you keep your voice down and remember who you’re talking to.” Last year, a cover showed Lady Liberty behind prison bars, 100 tallies scratched into the wall, because President Donald Trump’s first one-hundred days had apparently caged freedom. Another depicted her on a tightrope, because democracy was “hanging in the balance.” In January 2024, they drew Trump as Hitler. In February, they showed the Founders — Hamilton, Franklin, Madison — being escorted out of the Oval Office like fired employees, boxes in hand, watched over by armed, masked Praetorian guards, their point being that cutting federal bloat is anti-American. They have spent years bashing the Founders, our symbols, our president, and the 77 million people who voted for him. They call themselves defenders of democracy while their own party leaders push to pack the Supreme Court, stack the Senate, and abolish the Electoral College. They declared democracy dead under Trump while ignoring that his opponent was installed at the top of the ticket without a single primary vote. This is not good-faith criticism. This is a campaign to make Americans ashamed of their country. To mock her and to mock you. They’re wrong. America is not a burden. It is the greatest experiment in human freedom the world has ever known.  She was founded on a self-evident truth — not a government decree, not a racial grievance scorecard, but a moral claim written into the architecture of the republic: that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our Founders weren’t utopian dreamers or progressive airheads. They were battle-tested realists who understood human nature’s capacity for tyranny and deliberately built a constitutional republic to contain it. In today’s America, it’s leftists who are trying to tear down our constitutional republic, destroy individual liberty, take away property rights, and centralize government in the hands of a few. From the blood-soaked fields of Lexington and Yorktown to the moon landing and the smartphone in your pocket, America has generated more wealth, innovation, opportunity, and freedom for more people of every color and creed than any other nation in history. Millions still risk everything to reach our shores, not because they want to live under oppression, but because they know what the Left refuses to admit: this place is exceptional. America is winning. Our president has brokered the end of multiple global conflicts in barely over a year. Our military is crushing tyrants and terrorist networks. Our children are receiving tax-advantaged savings accounts at birth to jumpstart the American dream. We are leading the AI revolution that will reshape the world. After four years of timid retreat, America is acting like the global hegemon again. The engine of prosperity roars forward. That’s why people still come. That’s why freedom still lives here. And that’s why tearing down the greatest force for good in human history would leave the world darker, poorer, and enslaved to the very tyrannies our Founders bled to reject. For most people I know, the great frustrations of daily life are gas prices and expensive coffee. It sounds small, but it’s actually a testament to how good we have it. My biggest complaint isn’t political imprisonment or starvation. It’s that my latte hasn’t been under $4 since the last time President Trump was in office, and gas that was $2 in February crept back up to $5. Of course there is disease, grief, and disappointment in every corner of life. We should work to reduce all of it. But in the context of human history, in the context of what most of the world endures, Americans have it the best. America, to me, is still pie and summer picnics. It’s riding horses and watching football. It’s working hard, day in and day out, to build a life worth living and passing down. It’s a flag that doesn’t pierce you; it covers you. I love my country. I’m proud of it. I’m a patriot. We all should be.