Patriotism
Aemula Writer Spotlight - 7.3.25
A June Gallup poll suggests that American pride is at a record low, stoked by a historically sharp divergence of sentiments across partisan lines. While perceived polarization exceeds the actual differences in our beliefs, the ability to dissent and voice frustration with controlling political parties is central to the American identity.
No matter your perspective, we can all be encouraged by our ability to wield our right to free speech. The very act of questioning our country is an expression of patriotism and a reflection of our belief in its potential.
Aemula is fundamentally built on the principles of free speech and the desire to enshrine our rights into the foundation of our media infrastructure. Our faith in the American institution has withstood the test of time, but we will only face stronger challenges to these rights as we enter a new information age.
As trust in institutions continues to trend lower, we must instead build solutions capable of cultivating a credible community. By enabling censorship-resistant publishing, supporting individual data ownership, and lowering the barriers for expert sources to share information directly with readers, we aim to uphold our collective right to free speech. We should not have to rely on faith or stated missions when we can now verifiably prove that our media is free of outside influence and immune to censorship.
This week, we spotlight writers reflecting on patriotism and the values it represents. Their work captures a broad range of perspectives, grounded in a shared belief that open dialogue is essential to a healthy democracy. We encourage you to explore their work and consider subscribing to them directly.
Tangle
Written and curated by the editorial team of Tangle, an award-winning, reader-supported news organization offering clear, non-partisan coverage of major U.S. political stories by presenting arguments from the left, right, and center, followed by their own transparent analysis, as previously featured in our spotlight, “Expanding Worldviews”.
Do I love America?
“I often think of America as the New York City of the world: It’s the best country on the planet but it smells like piss and nothing really works how it’s supposed to. As I sit here thinking about this country — its partisan rancor, rising political violence, exportation of militarism across the globe, and often not-functioning Congress — I can see why so many people struggle to feel a love of country right now.
But the visibility of these flaws — the ability to not just discuss them openly but also elicit change and try to fix them — that is the fundamentally American project. We are a sometimes great, sometimes loathsome, eternally imperfect nation built on a set of ideas that are so fundamentally superior to anything else civilization has come up with that they’ve been copied and pasted across the globe.
And when you spend time in this place, when you view it with fresh eyes, it’s impossible to ignore how beautifully we’ve built a country to fit the needs, wants, and desires of so many. Ski or swim. Hard work or laziness. Religious zealotry or rabid atheism. Blue or red or purple or “mad and not paying attention.” Cheesesteaks or the tastiest Nigerian food west of Nigeria. I once counted six languages on a 30-minute commute to work in New York City; I once stopped at a peach stand in Mississippi and couldn’t understand the English that was being spoken to me by the American owner.
This is America.”
Never Close the Inquiry
Written by Nick Hagen, a former New York City lawyer turned writer focused on building mutual understanding and communication across the political divide, whose work is available on Substack and on Aemula!
Do You Trust the Federal Government to Do What Is Right?
“But as liberal as I may be, and as much time as I’ve spent in the college humanities courses so many conservatives blame for the country’s demise, and as cognizant as I am of America’s bona fide moral failings and misadventures both domestic and foreign, there’s a big chunk of my heart that is, or wants to be, red-blooded, eagle-loving, not-much-of-a-gun-guy-but-I’ve-shot-them-and-I-kind-of-get-it, Teddy-Roosevelt-is-my-personal-hero, Americanist American.”
The Liberal Patriot
Written and curated by the editorial team of The Liberal Patriot, a non-profit publication offering honest analysis and original commentary on American politics and public policy from a vital center perspective.
“The ubiquity and popularity of our culture is a testament to America’s rich history. It has gained traction over time not because we imposed it on other countries. As Chris Arnade has put it, “The global mass love for the US and its culture is genuine…[it] is an organic democratic process because US culture despite all the showy glitz is still at its heart democratic, because the US despite all its faults is still at its heart a democratic country, where the desires of the demos, and their interest, have outlets that don’t feel entirely chimerical and impotent.”
This relates to another proud achievement: America is one of the only places on earth today that can credibly claim to be a nation of immigrants and that has a history of successfully assimilating new immigrants into our society and watching them make invaluable contributions to it, such as Sergey Brin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Audrey Hepburn, Yo-Yo Ma, Nikola Tesla, Anna Kournikova, and Albert Einstein. There’s a reason why more immigrants have chosen to call America their home than anywhere else in the world (and it’s not particularly close).”
Are you writing on Substack? You can easily set up automatic cross-posting with Aemula to:
Instantly increase your earnings
Expand your audience
Verifiably own your work
Plus, you will have opportunities to access community resources and grants to support the content you want to create!
Cross-posting comes with no costs, no obligations, and you can stop at any time.
Just send a quick email writers@aemula.com to get started!
The Aemula platform is live at aemula.com! Claim your 1-month free trial today! All it takes is an email address and 30 seconds — learn more about creating an Aemula account here.
If you want to support any of the writers we spotlight in our Substack, we highly encourage you to subscribe to their individual publications. If you want to support independent journalism more broadly, we offer both paid and free subscriptions for you to stay informed!
All Substack subscription revenue is reinvested directly into the independent journalism community.
Follow us on X to stay up-to-speed on platform updates and the writers we are adding to our community!
We would love to hear your thoughts on our mission in the comments!
