A matter of rarity Yglesias is peeved that people aren't proud enough of America's art:

Eighty-one percent say they are "very proud" of America's armed forces (compared with 47 percent in 1996); 69 percent are very proud of America's scientific and technological achievements; 46 percent will go so far as to proclaim themselves very proud of American literature and art. Why are only 46 percent very proud of our literature and art? We've got some damn good literature and the art's just fine, thank you very much. Who's got better literature and art? Is it just that no one's ever been exposed to any American literature?

All the commenters to this post are missing one thing: people respect that which is rare. NO ONE can hang with America's military might. Ergo, 81% feel proud of it. Very few nations have anything approaching America's scientific might. Thus 69% support it (though that is a bit low IMO). But any dude with an easel or a pen can compete with America's literary and artistic "might". Barriers to entry are low, and art - unlike bombs or equations - has subjective rather than objective value. Thus only 46% are proud of it.