I love America. I love our country. There’s a lot of talk currently about who loves America and, by the judgement of some, who does not love America.
But what does it mean to love your country? Let’s look at it. Really think about why you love America, and what that means. We have soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coasties who are fighting for our country right now — why are they doing it?
I love the flag. It’s a good flag. It’s pretty. Each part means something. But it’s a piece of cloth. I love my NY Yankees cap, with the NY logo on it, but I’m not prepared to die for it. It’s a symbol — a rallying point — and what my cap means to me is that it represents the Yankees. I love the Yankees. So, our flag is not loved for what it is, but what it represents, and that does not take us any closer to discovering why we love America.
I love the land. I love Delaware with its dense soil, Alabama with its sandy soil, and New Mexico with its desert soil. But dirt is dirt. What makes our dirt any better than North Korean dirt? Going out a bit on the magnification, we have borders. I love our side of the border, but does that mean I shouldn’t love the Canadian side? Borders are made by humans — I’ve read the Bible, and it doesn’t mention the Rio Grande as a border. Not once.
I like our national anthem. It’s not the best national anthem. It’s a song that’s hard to sing — it’s so hard to sing that we applaud when someone gets through it without screwing it up. Read the third and fourth stanzas — I don’t think I love that part.
I love the people. We’re a great people. I love all Americans, because they’re Americans. But does every American love every other American? Did the Nazis marching in Charlottesville mean to express their love for all Americans, or some Americans? Puerto Ricans are Americans, and we’re surely not showing them much love right now. Puerto Ricans are dying because the nation they love has seemingly abandoned them, and all we can talk about is how much money they owe to Wall Street (his words, not mine). If I’m honest (and occasionally I am) I have to say that Sheriff Arpaio is as American as I, but I don’t see a lot to love in him.
I guess when I get down to it, I love America because of what we represent, and what we can be. Diametrically the opposite of Lebensraum, we had plenty of land a couple of hundred years ago, and we needed people for it. Come one, come all, was our mantra. There’s a place for you and opportunity for you, if you come. That’s what I love. Our land of opportunity. But are we still the land of opportunity? We’re throwing kids out of the only country they have ever known, simply because of “rules.”
I love our stated sense of equality. All “men” (ahem) are created equal. I love that. I love what it means. But of course it has not always meant what I think it means (hat tip to Princess Bride). Slaves were three-fifths of a person. (en.wikipedia.org/… ) Where did the “created equal” part come in? We fought the Nazis, while maintaining segregation at home and in the military. Did none of the Americans at Bastogne stop and say, “Wait. What?” No. They fought for our ideals. They fought for what we represented, for our hope, not for what we were at the moment.
We love America (or, I love America, and I hope you do, too) for what we can be. We love us for the road we’re on, and that is a road to becoming ever better. Right now, we may not be where we want to be, but we have to keep the hope that we’re on the right track.
But I’m not so sure we’re on the right track now. Our President said the athletes kneeling at the anthem had nothing to do with race. That’s easy for him to say, through his optic, but I’m not so sure he’s right. I’ll bet if he had been thrown into debtors’ prison after his many bankruptcies, he might have expressed some dissatisfaction. I think it’s all about race. It’s about one brave man who saw that his America was not on the track he wanted us to be on, and expressed his dissatisfaction about it. It’s about one brave American who saw his brothers and sisters being gunned down in the streets by police who were sworn to protect them, and wanted to say he was not happy about it.
Folks, one of our weaknesses is that we can be damned sanctimonious. Our Founders gave us the right to express dissent.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
How is it freedom of speech if, when you express your grievance, you have sanctimonious dotards (I had to work that word in somehow) saying you should be fired? What was it we always said? “I may not agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” (Fact: Evelyn Beatrice Hall said that when describing Voltaire’s philosophy.)
So, after all this moralizing and speechifying, it comes down to this. We love America, each of us, and for a myriad of reasons. When we’re aggrieved with where we see our nation going, we should be able to express it without fear of retribution from the rich and powerful.