Okay, so....two recent posts were about the uglier side of patriotism, or what really more appropriately could be labelled as nationalism -and yes, there is a difference between the two. Most definitely a difference.
Patriotism is wanting what is best for the country, and having the proper spirit to be willing to sacrifice on your own end, to inconvenience and possibly even endanger your own life and routine, in order to benefit the country, to create a more just society. We have had many such patriots in American history. Patriotism is something that we can take pride in. It is more than mere speech making, pandering for cheap applause or catering to what potential voters would want to hear. It is Paul Revere (and the less famous William Dawes) taking a midnight ride to warn people that the British were coming. Those that affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence, and who risked everything by so doing if the cause proved unsuccessful showed patriotism, and no small measure of courage. Those Americans who fought the British, even though the army was a small, ragtag and motley band that lacked proper uniforms and supplies, and left blood marks from their feet upon the snow, yet kept up the fight, these were patriots. I could go on through American history, but let us see some more recent examples for modern times, during the Civil Rights movement. Those who took the "Freedom Buses" to actively protest the Jim Crow segregation laws in the South, those who sat in protest in the "Whites Only" sections of restaurant and other facilities, those who marched under close police watch, and who got hosed and attacked by police dogs, these were all patriots. You can argue that Lyndon B. Johnson, whatever else you may think of him, acted in a patriotic manner when he signed the Civil Rights Act into law, knowing full well the political ramifications, and even acknowledging that this action of his would cost the Democrats huge politically in the future (boy, was he ever right about that one!).
These were true patriots, because they put aside what was easy and convenient, and which would not have put them in the way of harm. But they sacrificed, they put themselves at risk, and did something with real risks, in order to create a society that was more just than the one that than existed. Even if one does not agree with such actions, there has to be some measure of admiration for the willingness to endanger oneself, to inconvenience oneself, in order to create a better society. A British general once essentially laughed at Gandhi's notion of "nonviolent action, assuming that this would be too passive an approach to work, and that the only thing that could defeat British guns were more powerful, or at least more numerous, opposing guns. But he was wrong, Gandhi succeeded, and this general had gained a strong measure of respect for Gandhi afterwards. Gandhi was an Indian patriot, and is celebrated all over the world today, although some people still feel that he betrayed India. That is a discussion for another time. But no one can contest his sacrifices to try and create a better and more just country.
Now, contrast this with a spirit of false patriotism, which really is just an ugly but familiar nationalism, which has been prevalent in the United States recently, particularly in the last few decades. This is a nationalism that does not seek to inconvenience anyone, but rather to use the apparently irresistible lure of convenience and ease in order to justify the unjustifiable. This is an ugly spirit that poses as something far more noble, but which is actually dishonest in the heart, and to the intellect. This is a divisive spirit, claiming itself to be true patriotism, but which is nothing but a lock step march of arrogance and ignorance of the manipulators and the manipulated. A patriotism that shows a lack of unity and charity domestically, essentially enforcing policies and a spirit that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, and leaves power to fewer and fewer hands while blaming the poor and less fortunate for their problems. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, this is a patriotism that states, pretty boldly, an American Supremacy, that tells the rest of the world, essentially, that we are better than them, with common slogans like "USA #1" and Presidents, prominent leaders and politicians, and often common Americans continually proclaiming that this is the "greatest country in the world", a "Shining city upon a hill", and other such sentiments. What is the rest of the world supposed to think, after all, when George W. Bush, of all people, says that "The twentieth century ended with a single surviving model of human progress"?
Noted American literary lion Mark Twain once said, "It is easier to fool people than to convince people that they have been fooled."
How right he was.
In this age of easy and quick answers to everything, when our worst, knee-jerk reactions and ugly instincts seem to win out systematically over a more careful and thoughtful approach, we collectively accept as "patriotism" a self-serving and polarizing spirit that makes us comfortable with our prejudices. Instead of trying to create a more just and equitable society, like those truly patriotic examples that were mentioned earlier in this piece, this artificial brand of patriotism would have us believe that nothing is more noble and "patriotic" than excessive self-interest, or greed. It is this logic that has seen "hard won gains, fall like the summer rain", to borrow from the lyrics of Midnight Oil's "One Country". So the rights of workers are being flushed down the toilet, in the name of balancing the budget and in the interests of a less intrusive and smaller government - although strangely, a bigger and more intrusive government presence is acceptable when it spies on citizens or imprisons them in the name of fighting terrorism. Speaking of which, our rights are gradually being scaled back and are under attack, and often by those who most loudly proclaim the greatness of America and it's freedoms, even while attacking those same freedoms. George W. Bush himself infamously said that Americans have too many freedoms, and he and his team worked hard to contain these freedoms. The PATRIOT Act, so-called, is the perfect example of this. There is nothing patriotic about this act, and there is outright intrusion of ordinary citizens involved. I mean, how is being able to see what people take out from public libraries really fighting terrorism? Did you know that the PATRIOT Act II that the Bush Administration was working on would have had a clause in it allowing the government to revoke the citizenship benefits of Americans who criticized the government too much? Don't believe me? Read this article from 2003, from no less of a source as CNN, and see if it is not true:
. http://edition.cnn.com/2003/LAW/03/06/findlaw.analysis.mariner.patriotII/index.html
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Eisenhower once said "We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security." He also famously warned of the "military industrial complex" in his farewell address.
While on Eisenhower, let me get another quote from him in this piece, which is truly fitting: "A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
Yes, we face a lot of problems, and solutions are not easy. We cannot hope to find an quick solution, or to vote in some amazing candidate into the highest office and assume that he or she will wave a magic wand and fix all of the nations problems.
I have quoted fairly liberally in this piece, but sometimes I like borrowing on the wisdom of others that came before. So, I will conclude this on yet another quote that I think is apropos. Here is one final quote, one which I believe that I have used before on this blog site, but which is so good and widely applicable, that I not only will use it again now, but will probably use it again in the future, to boot.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them."
Albert Einstein
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