While underage drinking by boys is said to double over this holiday weekend, and the beach cities to my south are expected to have nearly 400,000 flocking to festivities, there's one 4th of July report I'm not so quick to believe...
A recent Harvard study asserts that attending Fourth of July parades makes you more likely to identify as a Republican, vote Republican, vote period, and give money to political causes. So now celebrating your nation makes you a conservative?
The researchers noted that "the political Right has been more successful in appropriating American patriotism and its symbols during the 20th century" - which is pretty obvious, considering Republicans and conservatives grandstand on iconic, historical elements as part of their unchanging support of what they consider traditional values. There's a reason they're touted as the party of rich old white men - they keep it old school. But they suggest "there is a political congruence between the patriotism promoted on Fourth of July and the values associated with the Republican Party." Hmmm, why don't you ask a guy born on the fourth and we'll see...
The study postulated that Republicans tend to be more invested in the celebrations, and that GOP-dominated areas have "more politically biased" parades that "socialize children into Republicans." Well, you would expect a political faction that has attempted to co-opt patriotism as an extension of their their own to be more adamant about using that concept as tool to shape young minds to their cause. And I have no doubt that they have overt bias towards Republican rhetoric in their parades. I won't try to describe the bizarre way they've tied rain (which can cancel or diminish attendance at parades) into their unsound equation, but they claim children who attend at least one rain-free Fourth of July parade before age 18 are:
• two percent more likely to identify as Republican in adulthood
• four percent more likely to vote Republican by age 40
• about one percent more likely to vote at all
• three percent more generous with campaign contributions
But if July 4 celebrations appeared to have "a permanent impact on political beliefs and behavior", why are the numbers almost spilt between Democratic and Republican sides? If the authors claim, “In 2010, an estimated 144 million Americans age 18 or older celebrated Fourth of July by attending a barbecue. Another 98 million watched the fireworks or went to a community festivity, while more than 28 million saw a parade,” then surely a significant number of those people had done the same before they were 18 in the years prior. Yet there's only a negligible, single digit increase in Republican identification and behavior.
Yes, the 4th of July is a wet dream for God fearing, gun loving, red state Americans, but fireworks and waving flags is not a sign of right-leaning political tendencies...unless the same folks who continue to make patriotism solely their own say it is.
A recent Harvard study asserts that attending Fourth of July parades makes you more likely to identify as a Republican, vote Republican, vote period, and give money to political causes. So now celebrating your nation makes you a conservative?
The researchers noted that "the political Right has been more successful in appropriating American patriotism and its symbols during the 20th century" - which is pretty obvious, considering Republicans and conservatives grandstand on iconic, historical elements as part of their unchanging support of what they consider traditional values. There's a reason they're touted as the party of rich old white men - they keep it old school. But they suggest "there is a political congruence between the patriotism promoted on Fourth of July and the values associated with the Republican Party." Hmmm, why don't you ask a guy born on the fourth and we'll see...
The study postulated that Republicans tend to be more invested in the celebrations, and that GOP-dominated areas have "more politically biased" parades that "socialize children into Republicans." Well, you would expect a political faction that has attempted to co-opt patriotism as an extension of their their own to be more adamant about using that concept as tool to shape young minds to their cause. And I have no doubt that they have overt bias towards Republican rhetoric in their parades. I won't try to describe the bizarre way they've tied rain (which can cancel or diminish attendance at parades) into their unsound equation, but they claim children who attend at least one rain-free Fourth of July parade before age 18 are:
• two percent more likely to identify as Republican in adulthood
• four percent more likely to vote Republican by age 40
• about one percent more likely to vote at all
• three percent more generous with campaign contributions
But if July 4 celebrations appeared to have "a permanent impact on political beliefs and behavior", why are the numbers almost spilt between Democratic and Republican sides? If the authors claim, “In 2010, an estimated 144 million Americans age 18 or older celebrated Fourth of July by attending a barbecue. Another 98 million watched the fireworks or went to a community festivity, while more than 28 million saw a parade,” then surely a significant number of those people had done the same before they were 18 in the years prior. Yet there's only a negligible, single digit increase in Republican identification and behavior.
Yes, the 4th of July is a wet dream for God fearing, gun loving, red state Americans, but fireworks and waving flags is not a sign of right-leaning political tendencies...unless the same folks who continue to make patriotism solely their own say it is.
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