The Washington Post ran an analysis of this phenomenon, citing recent Gallup polls showing 15 percent of the population “want to leave the country permanently and even more say they would consider expatriating under the right circumstances.” A 2019 Gallup poll showed an appalling 40 percent of women under 30 said they wanted to move.
In this context, it should be reassuring that, as the Post puts it, “only a small fraction of Americans have actually taken the plunge.” According to data collected from the United Nations and the World Bank, the total population of American-born people living abroad amounted to 2.8 million as of 2020. This means less than 1 percent of Americans have actually made the move to another part of the globe.
In fact, the United States remains by far the prime destination for transnational migrants, drawing more than three times the number of newcomers as the runner up, Germany. America remains the third most populous nation on Earth, but ranks a remote 26th in terms of sending emigrants to relocate elsewhere.
Americans of different political perspectives may argue about whether we need a border wall to keep unauthorized migrants from entering the country, but no one has ever suggested that we need a physical barrier—some updated version of the Berlin Wall—to keep our fellow citizens from leaving. It remains remarkably easy for restive residents to exit the United States. Why, with so many millions reportedly expressing a desire for expatriation, do so few even make the attempt?
Another major survey of public opinion helps answer that question, and provides important hints on how to advance the elusive prospect of national unification. In the midst of a fiercely contested midterm election, a September poll by the Wall Street Journal asked about fundamental attitudes toward the nation: do you believe “America is the greatest country in the world?” Not surprisingly, some partisan differences emerged in the responses, but the overwhelming agreement on American greatness sent a far more important message. A near-unanimous 91 percent of Republicans agreed their nation was the greatest, but so did a landslide majority—61 percent—of Democrats. Overall, more than three-quarters of all Americans, even in this era of polarization, bitterness, and rancor, came together on the proposition that they lived in the greatest nation on Earth.
How could this conviction flourish at the same time that significant slices of the populace report thinking about leaving the USA behind? The answer lies in the necessary and important distinction between greatest and best. Many nations like Denmark, New Zealand, and Switzerland may charm visitors with their comfortable standard of living and civilized cultural heritage. But the adjective “great” carries additional implications, with synonyms including “heroic,” “grand,” and, most importantly, “consequential.” Other countries (like our Canadian neighbor, the first choice of actual American expatriates) may strike people as more comfortable than the United States, but few would suggest that they matter as much in world affairs. In terms of determining the future of civilization and the values of self-governance and personal liberty, the U.S., for all its imperfections, will continue to play the most significant role, and Americans instinctively want to be where the action is.
Over the last century, we Americans have developed a habit of thrusting ourselves into the center of history’s grand stage. It’s part of the reason that millions still prefer to live in global centers like New York and Los Angeles, despite the accompanying inconveniences and challenges. And that tendency helps to explain why Americans of every political inclination unite in the embrace of American greatness—the idea that their country matters uniquely. No matter how horribly we may feel the republic has been misled by Joe Biden or Donald Trump, very few of us, of any political orientation, feel ready to give up the idea of America’s singular and fateful significance.
That’s why the slogan “Make America Great Again” won’t work in the months ahead. It implies that national greatness remains fleeting and fragile, dependent on partisan switches that seem to occur in every electoral cycle. The tendency to yell “Lock ’em Up!” concerning one’s political rivals also contradicts the widespread public conviction that the nation’s fundamental goodness and nobility endures interludes of corrupt or inept leadership. Criminalizing disagreement over policy may excite your most committed supporters, but it won’t build durable majorities.
Such consensus already exists when it comes to gratitude and admiration for the nation and the opportunities it affords. Despite the frustrations that may lead a disillusioned few to indulge passing fantasies about escape to alternate homelands, the overwhelming majority of Americans choose to make their future here and affirm their shared belief in national greatness. In a new year that promises fresh hopes, the nation will benefit from a general recognition that patriotism isn’t partisan.
Michael Medved hosts a daily radio talk show and is author, most recently, of God’s Hand On America: Divine Providence in the Modern Era. Follow him on Twitter: @MedvedSHOW.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
