There has been controversy about what it means to respect or disrespect the American flag and the country itself. What does it mean to be patriotic in 2017, and how have our ideas about patriotism changed over time? During this hour of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with historian and former Herbert Hoover Library and Museum Director Tim Walch.
At the end of the program Walch sums up one aspect: that we are able to have such a discussion at all.
"We are talking about it, and we are talking about it without apprehension or fear, that we can express our views, however controversial, without the expectation that we will be turned into the authorities or somehow be questioned about our values or beliefs. And so that is fundamental to the American experience and fundamental to what we mean about being patriotic," Walch says.
Donna Hoffman, associate professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa also joins the conversation. Listener calls and emails are also shared about what patriotism means to them.
