Mark Twain famously popularized the phrase, “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Nowhere is that more evident today than in recent polling on national pride, which highlights a sharp—and potentially misleading—political divide.

• The Gallup Poll: Measures “extreme pride” and finds a massive gap: 70% of Republicans vs. just 14% of Democrats.
• The YouGov Poll: Changes the definition and flips the script. It defines patriotism either as unconditionally supporting one’s country (50% of Republicans vs. 11% of Democrats) or acknowledging problems and seeking solutions (79% of Democrats vs. 43% of Republicans).

Both polls blur the distinction between nationalism and patriotism.

George Orwell on the Distinction: In his famous 1945 essay Notes on Nationalism, George Orwell wrote that patriotism is “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people.” By contrast, nationalism is “the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.”

In short, a patriot takes pride in what their country does when it aligns with noble values, while a nationalist takes pride in their country no matter what it does.

The aim of the U.S. system of government is to enable We the People (through the Bill of Rights) to work together towards “a more perfect Union.” That translates into maintaining what is working and improving what is not.

The political divide is over the balance of power. Systems such as Socialism and Communism centralize or monopolize power, which never ends well. In contrast, the U.S. Republic is designed to maintain a balance of power between the three branches of government and between the States. The terms of the president (4 yrs), Senator (6 yrs), and Congressman (2 yrs) vary to support more deliberate (vs. reactive) decision-making.

This struggle over power is not unique to Washington; we see the exact same dynamics play out at the local level. In county governments across the country, individuals and interest groups routinely seek power, operating under the assumption that what is best for them must be best for everyone.

What has truly been missing in our system of government—from federal oversight down to local administration—is a shared method for objectively analyzing a situation, developing data-driven solutions, and verifying if a change actually produces the desired result. To move beyond division, we need a proven system.

Discover the strategy, methods, and tools designed to bridge this gap at SuccessThroughQuality.com.

End Note.

PDSA – Model for Improvement – IHI