Progressives Disdain America but Love Being Free to Do So

This July Fourth, that sacred day when we commemorate the hijacking of the American continent by a gang of white supremacists in a desperate bid to hold onto their slaves, I have a question for progressives: What do you want this country to be?

I understand the many frustrations with its flaws. We all have those. I understand anger at the myriad inequalities and injustices. The work of progress is never even close to complete.

But is there anything that would actually make them love this country? Do they understand why so many people—not only in America—admire it?

Ben Rhodes, a former Obama White House official, captures in a new book, “After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made,” the progressive’s lament on glimpsing a familiar American flag these last few years. “I’d look at the flag that once stirred such emotion in me and feel absolutely nothing,” he writes.

Perhaps in Mr. Rhodes case, like in Michelle Obama’s we’ve reached a point that you can be proud of your country, only when your boss or someone in your immediate family is running it.