While July 4th might be the day to celebrate our nation, Americans are generally far less proud of their country than they once were. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL) recently appeared on Fox News's Sunday Night in America and spoke of how to rekindle our sense of patriotism, saying we need to re-encourage serving the country by various means and the need to "get our educational system back."
Rep. Waltz clarified that the decline in national pride evidenced by a recent Gallup poll was not without merit, citing various factors such as the housing crisis, the Obama Administration, the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the education system.
"In some ways, it is a little bit understandable if you take a step back and look at the housing crisis. You look at eight years of the Obama Administration literally going around the world and apologizing for the past sins of America. You look at 90% negative coverage of [former President Donald] Trump when he came in and tried to fix things, and then look where we are now. They go through the COVID lockdown, only to find that it was made up. One of the things that the COVID lockdowns exposed was the rot in our educational system, and that goes all the way down into elementary school. This generation is being taught that America is inherently racist, misogynist, colonialist, and a force for bad around the world and in their lives," said Rep. Waltz.
As a result, the Florida Congressman suggested that conservatives must retake the educational system and that more veterans should be in Congress. Lastly, "I think we need to get back to national service."
However, Waltz said this was not conscription or mandatory. Instead, "You can go into national parks, inner city tutoring, rural medicine, FEMA volunteer corps, or the service, but you learn leadership, discipline, fellowship, and teamwork, and you do it with fellow Americans who do not look like you. And you get that sense of understanding like the Greatest Generation had, and so I think there is a lot we can and will be doing moving forward to make Americans serve and appreciate each other again," Waltz concluded.
