Stars and stripes for now

At the height of the Republican primary season, many nomination hopefuls have attempted to out-American their opponents. Even the rhetoric in President Obama's State of the Union Address dripped with images of national pride and military supremacy. This happens in virtually all political contests in some shape or another. Remember a few years ago when the conversation was about flag pins?

But does this patriotism verging on nationalism resonate with young voters? Many Millennial voters can smell brown-nosers a mile away and often satirize the political pandering. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's "Team America: World Police" opened the floodgates for popular shows like "Saturday Night Live" and "The Colbert Report."

So what does patriotism look like today? How many can stand up next to Lee Greenwood and say "I'm proud to be an American"? Well over half a century removed from the Greatest Generation's accomplishments, what do we take pride in? The Millennial generation finds itself in the shoes of our grandparents and great-grandparents: in hard times. With the economy upside-down, the most technologically advanced generation sits on the sidelines as baby boomers attempt to piece their lives back together. But we should not seek out our patriotism across the ocean in military prowess. America has used up its political capital. We are no longer the revolutionary country. We are the new Rome: overreaching and imperialistic. We should no longer gauge our goals on Rick Flair's notion that "to be the best, you gotta beat the best."

Patriotism should be more than the Olympic hockey teams and Landon Donovan. In fact it should be more than rioting in the streets after the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Frankly, no nation with millions of homeless citizens should be so brazen to call itself number one.    

No, I have very little pride in my American inheritance. However, I do have hope for America. I believe that someday we can stop looking to the sword for our sense of worth and instead to the helping hand. America needs to look in the mirror, gaze past the veneer of military prowess and notice the blemishes of poverty and discrimination. When the U.S. starts to fix its problems, the Millennial generation will put away its faux-patriotism and remember what genuine pride feels like.