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Incidentally it occurs to me that Europeans ought to be grateful the left in America still clings a bit to patriotism. If they adopted the sensible position and rejected its use as the yardstick of eligibility to lead, if they rejected patriotism, they'd promptly lose every one of their elected seats and then what would you have, you'd all be dreaming of the days there were patriotic American liberals wouldn't you.

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[i]I'm not familiar with exactly how the countries where patriotism, benign or malign, is virulently unpopular political fodder, got to the point of enjoying that state of affairs.

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When Gene Rutherford, 65, tries to make sense of the meteoric rise of Barack Obama, and the rampant enthusiasm for him among younger Americans, he thinks of the local mall, where as director of operations he often deals with teenagers.

"Kids today have been given everything they want, and don't have to work for it. They have no respect for authority," said Rutherford, standing at the bar at the Elks lodge here. "They'll make remarks right to the face of the [mall] cops. I get to the point where I want to do something," he said, cocking a fist as if to threaten a punch. "But the police say we can't, that we just have to stand there." It makes him worry for the country. "I see it going the Roman way."

...

Trying to sustain itself amid the city's changes is the local branch of the Elks Club, the 140-year-old fraternal organization, which like similar groups is losing members. Rutherford, who served two terms as his branch's "exalted leader," sees a link between falling membership -- from 1,200 a decade ago to 680 today -- and Obama's popularity among local youths.

"Kids want to think for themselves -- they don't care what Mom and Dad say," said Rutherford, a burly man with a Manhattan in his hand. "This was a Republican stronghold, but it's changing very quickly because it's 'Mom and Dad, you're Republican, so I ain't ever going to be one of them.' "