..."On inspection, the liberal and conservative brands of patriotism both have defects. In a country where today's nativists are yesterday's immigrants and where change is practically a national religion, conservative patriotism can seem anachronistic. To be Spanish or Russian or Japanese is to imagine that you share a common ancestry and common traditions that trace back into the mists of time. But in America, where most people hail from somewhere else, that kind of blood-and-soil patriotism makes no sense. There is something vaguely farcical about conservative panic over Mexican flags in Los Angeles when Irish flags have long festooned Boston's streets on St. Patrick's Day. Linking patriotism too closely to a reverence for inherited tradition contradicts one of America's most powerful traditions: that our future shouldn't be dictated by our past.

By defining Americanism too narrowly and backwardly, conservative patriotism risks becoming clubby. And by celebrating America too unabashedly--without sufficient regard for America's sins--it risks degenerating from patriotism into nationalism, a self-righteous, chest-thumping ideology that celebrates America at the expense of the rest of the world.

But if conservative patriotism can be too exclusionary, liberal patriotism risks not being exclusionary enough. If liberals love America purely because it embodies ideals like liberty, justice and equality, why shouldn't they love Canada--which from a liberal perspective often goes further toward realizing those principles--even more? And what do liberals do when those universal ideals collide with America's self-interest? Giving away the federal budget to Africa would probably increase the net sum of justice and equality on the planet, after all. But it would harm Americans and thus be unpatriotic.

Eminent thinkers, from Tolstoy to contemporary philosophers like Martha Nussbaum and George Kateb, have denounced patriotism on exactly those grounds: that it's wrong to prefer one's countrymen and -women to people in other lands. Patriotism, in Kateb's words, is illiberal; it "is an attack on the Enlightenment." There's a lot of truth in that. Liberals may love America in part because it aspires to certain ideals, but if they love it only because it aspires to those ideals, then what they really love is the ideals, not America. Conservatives are right. To some degree, patriotism must mean loving your country for the same reason you love your family: simply because it is yours.

When it comes to patriotism, conservatives and liberals need each other, because love of country requires both affirmation and criticism. It's a good thing that Americans fly the flag on July 4. In a country as diverse as ours, patriotic symbols are a powerful balm. And if people stopped flying the flag every time the government did something they didn't like, it would become an emblem not of national unity but of political division. On the other hand, waving a flag, like holding a Bible, is supposed to be a spur to action. When it becomes an end in itself, America needs people willing to follow in the footsteps of the prophets and remind us that complacent ritual can be the enemy of true devotion.

Patriotism should be proud but not blind, critical yet loving. And liberals and conservatives should agree that if patriotism entails no sacrifice, if it is all faith and no works, then something has gone wrong. The American who volunteers to fight in Iraq and the American who protests the war both express a truer patriotism than the American who treats it as a distant spectacle with no claim on his talents or conscience.

And no matter how they define patriotism, Americans should tremble before suggesting that any fellow citizen lacks it. Obama's original mistake was not in declining to wear the flag pin but in saying he had stopped wearing it because he saw "people wearing a lapel pin but not acting very patriotic." And that's what makes his current adoption of the symbol so shrewd. By opposing the Iraq war in the fevered year after 9/11--when some Bush supporters branded doves unpatriotic--he has already expressed an understanding of patriotism particularly beloved by liberals: patriotism as lonely dissent. Now he is expressing an understanding particularly important to the conservatives he must court: patriotism as symbolic devotion.

McCain has bucked his side as well. He has refused to bash illegal immigrants. He has championed national service, an idea generally more favored by liberals, which helps Americans devote themselves to their country without donning its uniform. And by crusading against Washington corruption, he has acknowledged how defective American democracy often is, something Reagan, with his airbrushed patriotism, rarely did.

So is wearing the flag pin good or bad? It is both; it all depends on where and why. If you're going to a Young Americans for Freedom meeting, where people think patriotism means "my country right or wrong," leave it at home and tell them about Frederick Douglass, who wouldn't celebrate the Fourth of July while his fellow Americans were in bondage. And if you're going to a meeting of the cultural-studies department at Left-Wing U., where patriotism often means "my country wrong and wronger," slap it on, and tell them about Mike Christian, who lay half-dead in a North Vietnamese jail, stitching an American flag.

And if anyone gives you a hard time, tell him he doesn't know what true patriotism is."
- Peter Beinart

You can read the rest of this article at Time.

To me, patriotism is respecting and defending the rights contained in the U.S. Constitution - just like in the oaths we took to join up.

When the Constitution is gone, the U.S.A. will be just another country, not worthy of special devotion. In fact it may be less worthy than nations which respect rights more.

Thank you.

Reading through the OP article, I detected a distinct, left-leaning perspective typical of the "main stream media". NY Times, CNN.

"Patriot", like "Christian", to a huge extent, defies definition. The fact of the matter is known only to God who sees man's heart and judges righteously. There is definitely a pratical aspect to the question though, requiring consideration. "Anti"-patriots are a detriment to the nation, patriots are a resource. By their deeds ye shall know them. Neither traitorus criticism nor jingoistic praise effectively contribute to the nation's well-being. On the other hand, sincere criticism is of as great a value as sincere praise, the two, together, help keep the nation, as a whole, centered. When either group achieves suffecient ascendency, the nation (nations in general) tends to go astray. As "good" citizens, we need to recognize that America needs both criticism and praise which, in contrast with most of the planet's nations, is a constitutionally guaranteed right of American citizenship. No constitution = no rights = no American ideals = no America, no more contention between conservative and liberal. So, as BabySupine says: "To me, patriotism is respecting and defending the rights contained in the U.S. Constitution".

"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons."

- Bertrand Russell

quote:

Originally posted by cheapthrills:
Reading through the OP article, I detected a distinct, left-leaning perspective typical of the "main stream media". NY Times, CNN.

"Patriot", like "Christian", to a huge extent, defies definition. The fact of the matter is known only to God who sees man's heart and judges righteously. There is definitely a pratical aspect to the question though, requiring consideration. "Anti"-patriots are a detriment to the nation, patriots are a resource. By their deeds ye shall know them. Neither traitorus criticism nor jingoistic praise effectively contribute to the nation's well-being. On the other hand, sincere criticism is of as great a value as sincere praise, the two, together, help keep the nation, as a whole, centered. When either group achieves suffecient ascendency, the nation (nations in general) tends to go astray. As "good" citizens, we need to recognize that America needs both criticism and praise which, in contrast with most of the planet's nations, is a constitutionally guaranteed right of American citizenship. No constitution = no rights = no American ideals = no America, no more contention between conservative and liberal. So, as BabySupine says: "To me, patriotism is respecting and defending the rights contained in the U.S. Constitution".

LOL

First of all, you basically said the same things about patriotism as the article did.

Secondly, I'd like to hear your interpretation of "left-leaning" - and it's amusing that you would make such an accusation after claiming to have read the article.

quote:

Originally posted by mcgreer:
LOL

First of all, you basically said the same things about patriotism as the article did.

Secondly, I'd like to hear your interpretation of "left-leaning" - and it's amusing that you would make such an accusation after claiming to have read the article.

OK, I'll acept that. My claim was I "read through" the post, I ment I started in good faith but when I got the feeling it was "left-leaning" ("conservative patriotism can seem anachronistic" kind of gave me the knee-jerk reaction) crap, I skimmed the rest. I still feel that it is a bit of a stretch to say that I said basically the same thing as the article. Ultimately I did say the same thing as BabySupine, "To me, patriotism is respecting and defending the rights contained in the U.S. Constitution".

“Patriotism varies, from a noble devotion to a moral lunacy”
W. R. Inge

McGreer.....Good article! Somewhat agree....somewhat don't!

At this present time in history, where Mexican flags are being inapropriatly displayed......there are countless Mexican illegals working for corporations that are dodging the American payscale for wages.......then on top of it all.....they send their money back to Mexico....a different economy.....and use the American Social system benefits freely. This is a real sore spot!

The Irish and Italians in America wave their flags as a pride and a symbol of their forebearers that came and built America. They aren't bringing their relatives here illegally in droves to undermine the system.

Blacks have their pride celebrations too and are not emptying Africa to abuse our system.

Therein lies some real differences!

There are a lot of Hispanic American's and yes, they too celebrate their heritage with flags and culture and their "Cinco DeMayo". But when illegals are marching to further break laws that they want overlooked......that's just not the way we do things in the U.S. It's sort of like letting the lunatics run the assylums!