Towards a new patriotism
I've been meaning to write this piece for, well, a few years.
For too long, conservatives have convinced Americans that patriotism is what they say it is. On SiriusXM, the conservative talk channel is called "Patriot". A vile neo-Nazi outfit is called the "Patriot Front". The likes of Donald Trump constantly talk about their definition of "patriotism".
An article in the New York Times begins thus:
Growing up in Benton, Ark., Malaya Tapp loved celebrating the Fourth of July with her family. “We would go to parades and see firework shows and hang out with friends,” she said. “It was always such a fun holiday.”
But now that she is an adult — she’s 18 and entering college next year — commemorating the holiday isn’t so simple.
It started in 2020 when the Black Lives Matter movement spotlighted many of the injustices across the country. “I lost a lot of my patriotic feelings,” she said.
It's people like Ms. Tapp who will save America.
I say this because it's time for those of us to the left of the Republican Party to reclaim patriotism.
We are the ones who recognize that our Union needs perfecting.
We are the ones who know that for all our faults—and they are many—there's no other nation on earth like ours.
We are a nation born out of revolution based on an ideal: That all people are created equal. We are not a nation of blood and soil. You volunteer to become an American. You cross mountains and oceans, deserts and forests, to get to this country to have a chance to better your lives.
This country took in my family from a vile dictatorship. This country didn't expect my parents to speak perfect English. It allowed us to make lives here that we would have been unable to have had in Cuba. It gave us new life.
Tell immigrants fleeing persecution that this country is not worth saving.
Tell refugees who face death at home that we're fatally flawed.
They know all our flaws, all our shortcomings, and yet this is the destination of their desires.
We are the most powerful nation which has ever existed in world history. But we don't seek to conquer foreign lands. We don't seek to establish colonies. After the Second World War, we helped to rebuild a shattered world. Yes, this was to our benefit. But it was also the right thing to do.
Look at China. Look at Russia. Do you want them to be global hegemons? Their systems are what the likes of Trump want to have for America.
We are the true patriots. We see where things are wrong, and we strive to fix them. We don't engage in empty, mindless jingoism. We want this nation to work for everyone, even those who hate us. No one is an unwanted stepchild in the family we seek to create and strengthen. All are welcome to the table of bounty.
Patriotism is knowing when your country failed, and still standing by it. When it fails, you work to repair it. When it bleeds, you work to heal it.
It's hard being a real patriot. Because there are so many false ones traducing what you do. But we have to be in the ideological fight. We cannot surrender the idea of patriotism to those who have no inkling of what it really means.
Patriotism is freedom. Patriotism is making sure no one goes without. Patriotism is ensuring that everyone gets fair treatment. Patriotism means that your worth rests solely on the fact that you are a human being, living in this country, not on your wealth or your power or your pedigree.
Let freedom ring. Let freedom ring.
Postscript
I leave you with this:
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