Exclusive — J.D. Vance on July 4: Leftists ‘Are Trying to Make Us Hate our History’

Leftists want Americans to hate their own country ahead of Independence Day, J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat from Ohio, said on Friday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow.

Democrats and the broader left frame the United States as a nation born in sin in need of political salvation through leftist ideology, Vance observed.

“What I really hate about what the left is doing right now is … that they’re trying to make us hate our history,” Vance remarked. He determined that left-wing historical revisionism is not done in good faith “to learn lessons from our history.”

A unifying affectionate view of national history facilitates social cohesion and healthy functioning, Vance held.

“Unless you have that real deep sense of patriotism that makes you feel like you’re connected to the traditions of the past, inspired to make your country better for the future, then you can’t actually accomplish anything,” he said. “You’re not a real country if you don’t have a sense of your history.”

He continued, “On this Fourth of July, especially given, what’s going on politically, we should say we’re proud to be Americans. We take pride in our traditions, and we’re looking to build something better for the future, because if we don’t, then what’s the point of this whole American project?”

Disconnecting Americans from their history makes them more vulnerable to governmental control and manipulation, Vance warned.

“When they take away our pride of place, when they take away our pride in our own history, what they really do is they make us easier to control, and they make it harder for us to feel that inspiration that’s necessary to continue building this country instead of plundering it, which is of course what so many of our ruling class are doing,” he said.

He concluded, “Get out there on the Fourth of July, wave that American flag, get happy about what we’re doing, because this country is still a very great place despite all its problems.”