How to Renew Patriotic Pride by Integrating Progressive Shame by Steve McIntosh

Dear Friends of Developmental Philosophy,

We’re pleased to share Steve McIntosh’s new Substack article, written to mark America’s 250th anniversary. The article, titled: “How to Renew Patriotic Pride by Integrating Progressive Shame,” proposes an enlarged form of inclusive patriotism. 

Even as the majority of Americans continue to love their country, despite its faults, within progressive culture over the last several decades not only has patriotism been declining, there has arisen in its place what can perhaps best be identified as “reverse patriotism.” But as Steve argues, progressive culture’s antithetical stance toward traditional patriotism can be seen as a necessary step for our further growth. Simply put, the antithesis makes way for the synthesis.

Drawing on the dialectical logic of cultural evolution, Steve shows how the tension between traditional patriotism and progressive reverse patriotism can give rise to a post-postmodern synthesis—a more inclusive form of culture and a more mature sense of national belonging.

Read the article here: 

https://open.substack.com/pub/stevemcintoshphilosophy/p/how-to-renew-patriotic-pride-by-integrating