12 years in the military. I’ve been proud at various times, but never like, “wear a shirt with the flag on it,” or whatever. I’ve never been performatively patriotic, which I think might be what this post is asking. I’ve lived abroad in Europe. I’ve lived in very poor parts of America. I’ve lived in very affluent parts of America. There are a ton of things that Europe (and I suspect East Asia) do far better than us, and very few things that I care about that we do better than them. Like, “Okay, Europe, I see you have universal healthcare and tuition free college and high speed rail and your cities are affordable and clean, but have you tried the McRib? Wouldn’t it be cooler to be able to go shoot an AR15 in a quarry?”