Elections are one of the most important and crucial parts of democracies across the world. This past year in 2016, there was one of the most surprising and interesting elections in the history of the United States. So much of America was polarized and it was very difficult for most to find middle ground between the two candidates and those who found themselves in the middle found it hard to side with one of the two candidates whether it was because of policy or other events that made it hard for them to trust or respect the candidate enough to grace them with their vote. Patriotism alone made most Americans feel that they needed to vote and others bought into what some of the candidates said about patriotism. The main two candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, used patriotism to poke holes in the others campaign. Clinton pushed the idea that someone who used the slogan “Make America Great Again” must feel that America is not the greatest country in the world and that it has not been for some time, which would not necessarily be something a candidate would want people thinking about him. Trump simply used the fact that Clinton had and has been under investigation by the FBI for a couple of reasons and that it just logically would not make sense to vote for someone who’s integrity is at question and based on the result of the election a lot of the population just simply could not cast their vote in favor of Clinton and decided Trump would be what was best for the country as Trump had preached from the beginning of his campaign.

In the past elections have been defined by the use of patriotism and how the general population responds to this use of patriotism or just the presence of patriotism in the country depending on the time period and current events. In the newspaper article from the LA Times, a former mayor and politician Melody Carruth discusses how the current circumstances of the time require action from the population. Her article was published a year after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Carruth was adamant that the best way to come together and stand up to the terrorists and other enemies is to vote and try to put politicians in power who they feel will best represent the United States of America. This she said was a true test of our patriotism and no matter how often we talk about fighting for America or denounce terrorism we truly are not doing anything unless we act on the domestic front. Her goal in this article was simply to encourage her local area, the Los Angeles metro, to vote in the upcoming election. Her efforts were effective and many of Los Angeles’ population came out to vote in the upcoming political elections.

As discussed earlier, many people’s views of patriotism can be influenced by their political leanings. This is very noticeable and prevalent in mass media outlets and media sources that are known to have certain political affiliations and ties. In one of the articles researched this bias was clear. The article was published by the New York Times and the article was titled “Patriotic Opposition to Donald Trump”. This article shows how patriotism has led to the opposition of President-elect Trump. The author goes on to list specific events that he feels have led to this opposition. However, the New York Times has published many seemingly anti-Trump articles that show a clear and present bias against Donald Trump. This could lead to a mistrust by the reader since it is clear that there is a bias and that potentially facts could be portrayed in a way to convince the reader of this opposition, which was clearly the intent. Though the author does present accurate facts and events, it is apparent that certain things have been excluded in an attempt to persuade the reader. 

In other cases the articles do not show an apparent bias and even when looking at previous articles written by the author you cannot find a clear leaning. The article “New Poll Reveals Why People Didn't Vote in the 2016 Presidential Election” published by the Huffington Post and written by Craig Newmark, does not show a definitive bias. This article examines reasons that American voters were not as involved in the election as they were expected to be in the lead up to the election. A major role was patriotism and it expressed itself in many different ways. Related to the previous article, “Patriotic Opposition to Donald Trump”, many people just felt that they could not vote for a man of Donald Trump’s moral values for president and simply did not feel that he would solely work for the country’s success and not allow his own business endeavors to take priority in some critical situations. Though it did not appear that Newmark’s political views played a role in this article, for one because it was mainly analytical and statistic based, but also because Newmark’s political views have not followed a trend and he has supported various candidates in the past with different party affiliations. Mr. Newmark has had favored candidates in the past, however it does not appear that he sides with one of the two major parties as he has supported Democratic Senator John Kerry in the past as well as Republican Senator John McCain. 

A large percent of the population in the United States of America fall in the same category as Craig Newmark. Many people are not strictly aligned with a political party and that number continues to decrease as many states do not require their citizens be registered to one of the two major parties in order to vote in the primaries or in one case the caucus. A lot of people are independent and feel they are in the middle and have certain views of a republican and others that they may share with a democrat. This makes the candidates job even harder because once they win the nomination they have to begin to appeal to the middling population which can lead to some disdain from the far winged individuals who do not want any compromise. It can also lead to a level of distrust from the population which is also at an all time high. There is also a new rise in distrust for media as President trump has begun to call out major mass media outlets for reporting “Fake News” and has resulted in a trend of people calling out media sites for being fraudulent and developing articles and stories that progress their own agenda and the agendas of the political candidates that they “support”.

Another source researched was an academic collection of theories and other ideas that may tell us why things happen the way they do politically. As we know, to be a good politician you have to be a people person as well as be a salesman. You have to know what people like and what will lead them to side with you. You have to have a pitch to tell them that will hook them and get them on your bandwagon and keep them there until it is time to vote and the results are gathered. This collection goes in depth in discussing specific events and theories that politicians and academics have learned over time that have led to us being able to better understand the electoral process and other political proceedings. The collection was primarily compiled by Aleksandar PavkovicÌ and Igor Primoratz. The book is titled, “Patriotism: Philosophical and Political Perspectives”. The authors are well educated academics who have spent most of their careers in these specific fields and do not show a bias. However, generally speaking the well educated and professors tend to lean democratic in the United States party system. These men are not Americans so their political views most likely do not follow that same trend. 

Another source researched was “Nationalism, Patriotism, and Group Loyalty: A Social Psychological Perspective” by Daniel Druckman. This source used another source as its primary source for some of the information used throughout the book. The second source is “Crucial Decisions: Leadership in Policymaking and Crisis Management” published by the New York: Free Press and written by Irving Janis. The original source is a much broader topic however the second source has a large impact on the original source and many of its points are made known in the original source. The original is more on the topic of theories whereas the second source is more of how theories play out in the real world and provides some examples. The author does not tend to present specific examples but rather how some theories have portrayed themselves in the real world and how certain circumstances can impact these theories and cause them to become even more relevant. Since it is a scholarly article the author is clearly educated and more knowledgeable on the topic than someone not a specialist on the topic or perhaps their area of expertise. As it is brought up often, bias can play a huge role in the credibility of scholarly work. The author is an educated man and as studies have shown people of higher education tend to lean left and are typically democrat. However, the author did not show any bias and was generally stating facts and showing results from other studies and referencing other scholarly articles. 

The United States has not always done right and has had its fair share of mental lapses in the past but to move forward we must learn to forgive these mistakes and learn from them. As George Takei recounts an event in a Ted Talks where he and his family were sent to internment camps, for Japanese-Americans, during World War II. Throughout the video he discusses how his time in the camp shaped who he turned out to be, which is a successful actor, known for Mr. Sulu in Star Trek. He also says the time he spent in the camp changed his own definitions of patriotism and what a democracy really is. George Takei has worked to forgive the United States, his country, for their unjust ruling. He does not hold a grudge, he just simply wants the United States to grow from this and not to allow this happen again, which is common now with the growing, unjust, fear and mistrust of Muslims and other Middle Eastern peoples and the President Trump mandated ban from specific Middle Eastern countries.

These articles, novels, speeches, and collections of essays display why patriotism has played a huge role in the past on elections and will likely maintain a huge factor in future elections. Some of these sources are biased and show clear political agendas and leanings but that is what makes American media some of the best, writers and scholars can write, analyze, and discuss political topics and allow their political beliefs to bleed through and can sometimes lead to a more invested audience which in turn leads to a more invested population that wants to have an impact on the United States of America and the best way to do that is to vote and participate in elections at all levels or even run for political office. These articles display the freedom that we, as Americans, have that allow us to denounce our government and political candidates, within reason, without repercussions. The love we have for the United States is what motivates us to want to do what is best for our country and that is patriotism. Patriotism alone can change the world and when appealed to correctly can be the key factor in an election.
