America's Flagging National Pride

[From Economist.com:]

JUST as some people have a better self-image than others, so it seems do countries. In a poll of 33 nations by the Reputation Institute, a branding consultancy, people were asked to rate their trust, admiration, respect and pride in their country. The results are presented as an index. By this measure, Australians are almost as exuberant about their country as they are about sport, and lead the list. They are followed closely by Canadians. Americans, normally a patriotic and positive bunch, are perhaps being affected by the recession. The limited self-regard of Brazilians belies their reputation as a sunny, carefree people, but the Japanese are gloomiest of all.

--"Who admires their country the most?" the Economist.com (9.29.09)

Yes, if you click on the link above or below, you'll see the sobering news that America's self image is flagging, lost in the middle of those many countries with a tepid, tentative assessment of their national identity. But, perhaps it's more than the recession. It is possible this is a clear sign of the conflicted, sometimes polarized cultural and political condition of the American public. Almost everyone I know is concerned--or deeply concerned--about some quality of what American is, is becoming, or no longer is. We, as a nation, as a cultural and political collective, are handling national and global cultural, economic and political change poorly, at best.

Of course, to one extent or another, that is the way it has always been with human nature and changes in culture, economics, and the global order--yes, in America, too. The only difference is that we are now the closest thing there is to the leader of the world's market-driven democracies. And even if that global order is unavoidably, necessarily changing toward a broader, shared leadership role for the US, it will make the transition better, healthier for all if our polarized and polarizing political leaders can manage to be more honest with each other and us, and just more constructive about it all--that is, if they will wisely lead. Then the American public can make the necessary adjustments, find our common identity and interest again--and again see ourselves as the great country we all know we should be.

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14536817&fsrc=nwl