Elections are one of the most important and crucial parts of democracies across the world. This past year, 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. 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. Patriotism defined by the quality of being patriotic; vigorous support for one's country. This definition can only be viewed in a subjective sense. People will develop their own opinions on what patriotism and what it means to be patriotic. The main two candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, used patriotism and people’s developed definitions of 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 found that the population fed on the distrust of government. He used this to his advantage by distancing himself from the stereotypical politician and claiming to be a people’s person. Patriotism was his hallmark. He knew that historically the Republican Party was full of more prototypical “patriots”. Trump built his campaign on rallying support from the “everyday man” and claiming to make their lives better. He used the United States military strength to his advantage by claiming how much safer America would be if were in charge. Trump knew that the military and xenophobia would attract the “patriots” he wanted to gain support. Once he won the Republican Primary he toned it back and became a tad bit more moderate in an attempt to gain the support of the idlers in between. Patriotism is the name of the game and Trump used it excellently to rally support and it resulted in him becoming the 45th President of the United States of America.

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 will best represent the United States of America. As she said in the article, “While we may shake our fists at television images of Saddam, Osama and Milosevic, it is in the quiet voting booth that the true fire of patriotism burns” (Election Is an Important Test of Our Patriotism). 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. The article was published by the New York Times and the article was titled “Patriotic Opposition to Donald Trump”. This article’s goal is to get the reader to feel a similar disdain towards Donald Trump. It provides reasons and prior events that would justify a distrust of Donald Trump. 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. 

Biases are not always present and easy to follow. Some articles are very unbiased and even analyzing previous articles written by the same author you cannot find biases. This can be attributed to a heavy reliance of statistics. 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”. This would be a follow up on Trump following pasts elections attempts to gain support by appealing to the people’s feelings of distrust for government and mass media. This was a popular tactic by candidates in the 70’s following Vietnam and how patriotism was at all-time low. He wants the population to feel that he is the patriotic candidate because he knows how they have felt over the years and his disdain for government is the same as theirs. He wants them to feel that he wants exactly what they want.

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.
