Anchorage Daily News

It was military appreciation night at the Aces hockey game last weekend. It's always a great time when the sell-out crowd honors those who serve and protect our nation.

Announcer Bob Lester did a terrific job encouraging the fans and honoring the troops. A sergeant from Fort Richardson sang the national anthem and everything stopped, including the concessions. Many placed their hands over their hearts.

This is standard operating procedure at the Sully. I once overheard a newcomer, who was befuddled by the inactivity while trying to order his hamburger, say wistfully, "We don't do it this way in Ohio." I think he liked it.

You don't have to take a course in political science and read Tocqueville to appreciate this country. If not an Aces game, just go to the Federal courthouse next time there is a swearing-in of new citizens.

I became a citizen two years ago along with 40 or so others from over 20 different countries. We listened to patriotic music and took the oath of allegiance. Trust me, everyone was all smiles. America is the land of opportunity, and I suspect that naturalized citizens may very well appreciate this more than those born here.

Someone read a letter from the president that celebrated the ideals of the country. It said, in part: "The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, and that no insignificant person was ever born."

An acquaintance visited China a dozen years ago. He asked an artisan in a local market to carve into ivory the Chinese phrase for "freedom." The vendor looked around carefully and then said, "Yes, come back in an hour." After picking up his curio he stopped at a local hotel and put the carving on the reception desk. The clerk immediately said "Ah, freedom, you must be from America."

She didn't say Australia or Germany or France. She said America because everyone knows that is what our country stands for. That's why so many people immigrate here. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Freedom to own property. Freedom, period.

Now I suspect a few are rolling their eyes at this point. That doesn't make you unpatriotic, but it's a sign! I do believe that there are too many citizens who want to talk much more about what's wrong with America than what's right.

Focusing too much on the negative can be dangerously self-fulfilling. We can talk ourselves from a rough economic patch into a deep recession if everyone hunkers down in a worried state and stops spending. It's fine to be self-critical, but too much can really undermine our society and confidence in the nation.

President Jimmy Carter described the America economy in the late 1970s as in a state of "malaise" and added to the gloom. The optimism of Ronald Reagan and his "morning in America" vision helped shake us out of that funk.

I voted in my first election this November, and while I voted for the other guy, I can only wish our next president, Barack Obama, good luck and Godspeed. He has some big challenges and will no doubt make some difficult choices.

Patriotism is hard to define. But to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart, I know it when I see it. Patriots get behind their country's big choices. They support the troops as well as their mission. They hope the president succeeds, no matter who they voted for.

It is the time of the year when we count our blessings, one of which is to be a citizen of this great country. It really is the home of the brave and the land of the free.

In the spirit of the holiday season, recall George Bailey's journey in "It's a Wonderful Life." Try to imagine what the world would look like without the United States. For all its faults, it is a force for good and a beacon of light for so many throughout the world.

Jeff Pantages is an investment adviser who lives in Anchorage.

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