Over the course of the last few political cycles, I’ve noticed a disturbing difference in the way we understand what it means to be a “real” patriotic American. In particular, it has become a sort of litmus test for political candidates. Debates rage that one candidate or another “hates America” or is “un-American.”
“I decided I won’t wear a pin on my chest. Instead I’m going to tell the American people what I believe…and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism,” Barack said in explanation. Now, President Obama wears that lapel pin. Every day. What was once an understanding of the values and principles the U.S. stands for has been reduced to a caricature in the form of a cheap metal pin. It is clear we have a patriotism problem. Politicking on both sides of the aisle have reduced patriotism to a propaganda weapon, to be used to emotionally pull Americans to one side or the other. They do this by packaging their ideas as if their position is more fundamentally “American” than the other side. By fostering this us vs. them mentality, they only serve to deepen our partisan divide.
Where this gets really dangerous is when the American passion blinds us to American faults. Caught up in such a fervor over the greatness of the American nation, we lose sight of the mistakes we need to learn from. We need to be wary of the flag-wavers who once defended Jim Crow laws and looked the other way when we interned thousands of Japanese-Americans during WWII. To call America “The Greatest Country in the World” not only sounds arrogant, but is unquantifiable. In all reality, we lead in little more than incarceration rates and the hours of TV watched in a week. Instead of claiming we are the greatest, we should focus on the fact that we can do better. No person, no party, no idea has a monopoly on patriotism. Patriotism, as defined by Merriam Webster, is the “love one feels for their country.” To be a patriot is to have a love for the principles that are at heart of American society: democracy, equality, fairness, justice, opportunity and Freedom of expression.
Let’s change the image of a patriot from the beer guzzling, cut-off denim wearing overweight person yelling about “Murica” clad head to toe in red, white and blue to something we can all be proud of. Let us instead judge a patriot in terms of their service to the wider community. It is in our service to others that we live the values we claim, and how we begin to build a better America.