MY COUNTRY, RIGHT OR LEFT: Today, the Democratic version of patriotism seems to be an endless stream of resentment and self-loathing.

The woman leaned in and said under her breath, ‘Are you…’ — her voice lowered to a whisper — ‘… a Republican?’

I burst out laughing. We had said nothing political, not even anything political-adjacent, so I had no idea what made her draw that conclusion. I asked, ‘What made you think I’m a Republican?’

‘Shhhh…don’t say that so loud,’ she said. She gestured to my pants and headband and, again under her breath, said, ‘I just don’t see people your age, or any young people for that matter, expressing any patriotism, so I assumed…you know…’. She trailed off. ‘It makes me sad. My late husband came from Israel. He loved this country. So…are you?’

I did — I always do — my best to explain where on the political spectrum I exist now. Independent. Politically homeless. Not captured by either dominant party and not represented by them either. But I was raised by extremely patriotic Yankee liberals. Until recently, I voted blue-no-matter-who. My grandfather fought in World War Two and I thank God every day that he died the Christmas before 9/11 — it would have killed him to see America attacked.

Today, the Democratic version of patriotism seems to be an endless stream of resentment and self-loathing. I don’t believe this is representative of most moderate left-wing Americans. It’s fashionable among angsty, gender-refusing teens, journalists, the activist class and Robin DiAngelo liberals to hate America. But America, even ‘liberal’ America, is much bigger than all of them combined.

Flashback: “Hypothesis: We are under memetic attack, and our elites have been compromised as a result. Crazy idea? Not as crazy as the ones infesting our ruling class.”