I’m not sure when my sense of patriotism began slipping away. Maybe it was in college, when I was exposed to a more complicated version of American history than I had previously known. Or maybe it was later, as a journalist covering the protests of people who felt — legitimately, it often seemed to me — as though they had been shortchanged out of the American dream. Or maybe it was when I had the opportunity to travel to other parts of the world, where I met people who had access to things like free health care and who were baffled by the idea of American exceptionalism. 

Younger generations are not as patriotic as our parents and grandparents. Recent polls reveal that the percentage of Americans who are proud of their country has declined over the last several decades. Sadly, the fault does not lie with our children, but rather with their education.

The woke taxpayer-funded social justice warriors at National Public Radio ended a tradition started in 1988 on Monday, canceling the annual July Fourth reading of the Declaration of Independence and instead hosting more liberal thinkers in its broadcast echo chamber for a conversation on "equality."

“Celebrating U.S. Independence Day, President Joe Biden on Monday said freedoms in America were under assault and urged citizens to engage in ‘principled patriotism’ while the country faced economic challenges and national divisions.” (Reuters)

Both sides celebrate the birth of America and the continuing progress toward realizing its founding ideals, while acknowledging the country’s shortcomings.
 

A shooter fired on an Independence Day parade from a rooftop in suburban Chicago, spraying the crowd with gunshots initially mistaken for fireworks before hundreds of panicked revelers of all ages fled in terror. At least six people were killed and at least 30 wounded.

Authorities detained a person of interest in the deadly Fourth of July parade shooting Monday evening in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Police detained 22-year-old Robert E. Crimo as a person of interest in the deadly massacre after a brief pursuit, authorities said. A Chicago police officer spotted Crimo and attempted to perform a traffic stop when the 22-year-old fled, authorities said, according to CNN. Crimo, who goes by the name “Bobby,” was believed to be armed and dangerous at the time he was taken into custody.

A day of national celebration turned to tragedy Monday when a gunman killed six people and injured dozens more at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois -- leaving the nation grieving yet another mass shooting.

The suspected shooter, identified by authorities as Robert E. Crimo III, used a "high-powered rifle" in an attack that appeared to be "random" and "intentional," police said. They believe the shooter, who was apprehended later Monday, climbed onto a rooftop of a business and opened fire on the parade about 20 minutes after it started.

A gunman opened fire on the Highland Park Independence Day parade, killing at least six people and wounding more than two dozen others in the latest mass shooting incident to terrorize an American community.

The shooter, a white man between 18-20 years old with long black hair, who was last seen wearing a white or blue shirt, opened fire from a rooftop with a high-powered rifle and targeted spectators, according to police. He remained at large as of Monday afternoon.

“We the People” — we Americans — need to reconnect with the secret of our success. We are fixated on regress.

No, 1619 is not our origin story. Slavery is an old-world inheritance — a top-of-list sin, to be sure, but not a unique one.

Our treatment of American Indians was not our finest hour either. It started before 1619 and continued after the abolition of slavery in 1865.

An Italian wise guy, Machiavelli, said that the origins of all nations involve some amount of “force and fraud.”