While seated on a plane some years ago as others were still boarding, I recall seeing an older man wearing a cap that read, “Tea Party Patriot.” I just shook my head and turned away. To any rational human being, nothing about the Tea Party was in the least bit patriotic.
And here we are in the Trump era, and the exploitation of the word patriotism has reached a new low, perhaps best illustrated by Trump himself hugging the flag on a stage not long ago. The “Trump patriots” ate it up. What the hell has happened to our country? “Nationalism is our form of incest, is our idolatry, is our insanity. ‘Patriotism’ is its cult,” wrote the German social psychologist Erich Fromm.
Ask a so-called patriot what patriotism means, and he or she would likely reply, “It’s the love of one’s country.” Okay, but what does “love of country” actually mean,and how does it manifest itself today? It manifests itself by flag-waving, by “othering” minorities and targeting them, and by attacking synagogues and mosques. What Trump, his appointees, and his followers display can in no way be construed as a “love of country.” On the contrary, what Trump has brought to the White House is a love of his own appalling, out-sized ego, which he believes must be preserved at any cost: through lying, using ad hominem attacks on those he doesn’t like, obstruction to investigations into his illegal activities, and by calling the free press “the enemy of the people,” among other Trumpian iniquities. Where is the “love of country” these days? Clearly, Trump’s sycophants love their fearless leader, but they certainly do not love their country. Is simply being an American – especially a white one – enough to be considered a patriot today?
“Beware, O my friend, lest the people hereafter be too proud of their city, and imagine that to have been born in Athens is enough!” (Walter Savage Landor, from “Pericles and Sophocles” in Imaginary Conversations)
Ignorance comes into play here with people (voters, unfortunately) who have little, if any, understanding of the U.S. Constitution (except, perhaps, for the sacred, God-given Second Amendment) and of U.S. history.
“Democracy is the most difficult of all forms of government, since it requires the widest spread of intelligence, and we forgot to make ourselves intelligent when we made ourselves sovereign. Education has spread, but intelligence is perpetually retarded by the fertility of the simple. A cynic remarked that ‘you mustn’t enthrone ignorance just because there’s so much of it.’ However, ignorance is not long enthroned, for it lends itself to manipulation by the forces that mold public opinion. It may be true, as Lincoln supposed, that ‘you can’t fool all of the people all of the time,’ but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.” (Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History)
“Enthroning ignorance,” of course, is what happened with the coronation of the benighted Donald J.Trump. The British philosopher and author A.C. Grayling offers the following: “Goethe had long since remarked that nationalistic feelings‘ are at the strongest and most violent where there is the lowest degree of culture.’”
Yeah, that sounds about right: Neo-Nazis, white nationalists, racists, gun fanatics, conspiracy nuts, an uncaring, delusional, fascist, wannabe-despot president. They – and the members of Congress who support them – all claim to be patriots but, in reality, represent “the lowest degree of culture.” How much more of this must our nation put up with? How long will it take to rectify all of the damage they have already done? How can we stop the “lowest degree” crowd from defining who qualifies as an American these days, and a country-loving American at that? Diminish culture and we diminish civilization.
So what does a “love of one’s country” really mean? I would suggest that the words “respect for” should replace the words “love of.” And what would a respect for one’s country entail? Allow me to list just a few of the characteristics of genuine patriotism, in no particular order (I would welcome any additions to the list):
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A respect for our Constitution and for laws that are just (see my earlier diary on “The Dark Side of Positivism”).
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A respect for people in general, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation, whether American or immigrant.
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A respect for women and their right to control their own bodies, and for their right to equality.
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A respect for atheists, secularists, and humanists, as well as for those who embrace non-Christian religions.
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A respect for our nation as the secular nation that it is, dedicated to the founding principle that ours is not, and never was, a “Christian nation”; furthermore, so-called “religious freedom” laws are designed to allow the use of Christianity as a weapon to legislate discrimination and hate, and such laws must be revoked.
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A respect for the notion of “do no harm” on the part of the government (see next three bullet points in particular).
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A respect for science, particularly the scientific consensus that global warming is an imminent threat to us, our planet, and our posterity.
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A respect for ensuring clean water, clean air, and a clean environment.
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A respect for our public lands, our natural wonders, and the acceptance that they are not to be exploited by the fossil-fuel and mining industries.
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A respect for our allies and the establishment of a fair, reasonable, workable foreign policy.
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A respect for the concept that all Americans should be “haves” in the sense that everyone has, as a minimum, the essentials – income, food, shelter, good education, and accessible, affordable healthcare – to live a decent life.
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A respect for our right to vote in fair elections (i.e., no gerrymandering, politically motivated purging of voter lists, or the influence of foreign countries).
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A respect on the part of the U.S. president, his cabinet, and the members of Congress for the items mentioned above (i.e., not just on the part of the citizenry).
I realize I may have just described a utopia, but are these concepts really out of our collective reach? Apparently we can hand out trillions of dollars in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy without blinking an eye. In the era of Trumpian politics, of course, the ideals listed above seem to exist only in a separate reality. So where do we go from here? What needs to be done? Clearly,Trump and his minions in Congress must be shown the exit before we stand any chance of recovering our democracy. That’s why a Democratic victory is so vitally important. As true patriots, we face a formidable obstacle – an entrenched government built on ignorance, ego, corruption, obstruction, fascism, racism, and lies. Can we get enough true patriots together to overcome that obstacle? As stated in the Durant quote above, we need a wide spread of intelligence to make democracy work – yeah, good luck with that – along with energized Democratic voters. It’s difficult to be optimistic these days, but I shall do my best to remain so.