Thursday, July 3, 2008

The American Patriot


There has been a lot of talk about patriotism lately, from the local to national levels, from the quietest conversations at the coffee shop to the loudest babble on the cable "news" shows.

Patriotism emerges as a topic of conversation in our society from time to time, usually to be dusted off and to have its best rhetoric shined up for important occasions, such as Independence Day or hotly contested political races.

Understand, please, that I do not mean to malign or cheapen discussion of patriotism and what it means, in both historic and contemporary contexts. Open and frank discourse on the nature of patriotism, of our rights and responsibilities as citizens, is a crucial element in maintaining the health of all levels of civic life in our republic.

The problem, as I see it, is that the loudest voices speaking out on what it means to be an American patriot today are far more concerned with political one-upmanship than they are with exploring and conveying the true notion of civic love and commitment.

Most of the public discourse on patriotism that you will hear today is concerned primarily with determining who can lay more claim to patriotism, who has claimed the bragging rights for loving America more than the other side, who loved America first, who loves her most, who can display the largest collection of patriotic pins and banners (made with pride in China).

If you haven't witnessed this immature trivialization of American patriotism, I invite you to tune in to your favorite or least favorite cable news network and bask in the glory of competitive patriotism, an incredibly dignified exchange only rivaled by the social dynamics of a third grade playground.

But, the most disturbing trend in American discourse on patriotism isn't the inane squabbling over who waves the biggest figurative flag, but rather the ever-increasing tendency to equate patriotism with a blind and unquestioning reverence of political power.

Somehow, somewhere along the way our society has largely come to define the patriot as the one who poses the fewest questions and raises the least objections to policy, party and government in general.

This has created a very tidy dichotomy in American patriotic fervor: those who unfailingly agree with me are patriots, those who venture down a different path of political thought are, at best, less worthy to bear the name 'American.'

It is sadly ironic that this denigration of American patriotism has reached an all-time high on the eve of our two hundred and thirty-second observance of Independence Day, a day to commemorate the fact that our forefathers completely rejected a form of government to which they had previously been loyal adherents.

On July 4th, 1776 the signers of the Declaration of Independence, all highly respected and successful members of British colonial society, risked everything to advance a simple and yet daring proposition: that the people have the constant right and obligation to question and demand accountability of their government and, when necessary, to effect fundamental changes in the composition and course of that government.

In spite of the rhetoric that America is bombarding itself with today, the honored title of patriot is not to be withheld from those who scrutinize the government, who ask difficult questions and dare to publicly disagree with the powers of the day.

Patriotism, as it was defined and declared at our nation's founding, demands that each of us constantly question the government that we have created, that we keep our eyes on the path ahead and keep at least one hand on the reins that guide our republic.

As we set out to celebrate this Independence Day, then, I would urge that we view the day as not only an observance of our nation's historic birth, but more importantly, as an opportunity for all of us to reaffirm our obligations as custodians of American liberty.

Our forefathers declared our independence. We must bear the burden of continuously enacting that declaration, of ensuring that government continues to serve and survive at the will of the governed. Only then do we deserve to drape ourselves in the vestments of the American patriot.

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