The other day I saw one of those giant lifted trucks spewing black smoke behind two oversized flags. One was the American flag, the other was the ‘blue lives matter’ flag. When I see those trucks I assume that person is a racist and probably supported the attempted coup which almost took away our American democracy- the very thing we built our nation for. This got me thinking about what it means to be a flag-waving patriot.
Wikipedia says patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and attachment to one’s country. As a millennial liberal with an electric car I am probably the antithesis of big truck guy but I too am a proud flag-waving American
Frustrated citizens often say things like “I could never love a country that did so-and-so horrible thing”. Many of us would not want to wave a flag because they associate it with those horrors. But “Love of country” is not love of our government or their actions. You would be hard-pressed to find many throughout history who loved all the actions of their leaders. Whether ruled by a king, a Pope, a warlord or a muti-party democracy there will always be faults to find. There will always be room for improvement. Therefore the government must be excluded from the definition of patriotism.
What is our country if not the actions of our government, then? Here’s what it means to me. It means my family, my neighbors, my friends. It means BBQ and Philly cheesesteaks. I love cheering for our athletes in the Olympics. I love hiking in our National Parks. Have you been to Yellowstone? That’s our country! So is Elvis and John Steinbeck and Thomas Edison. If you think that slavery defines America then consider that there were also abolitionists who gave everything to fight it. If you think a mass shooting is what the flag represents then consider those who line up to donate blood in a crisis. Remember the words of the great American Mr. Rogers, “look for the helpers.”
No, the wrongs of our leaders are not what the flag represents to me. I have and will continue to vote in ways to make my country, state, and city better. I will protest injustice and vote with my wallet. I will speak out loud and fight for the laws and government that I believe in. I do that because I love my country. Call it my love language.
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and attachment to one’s country. You are my country. Even though I do not know you I will always fight to make your life better. I wave the American flag for you. Go wave the flag and let it stand for the goodness we believe in. Don’t let racists take our flag as a symbol of hate.
It’s funny to consider “love of country” to mean “the food, certain people, and beautiful landmarks”, while simultaneously condemning the actions of its government, and like half of the citizens who live there.
Not that I’m criticizing, mind. I struggled with this myself for a long time before finally coming to the realization that this country is like a problematic family. You’re told that you should love it even if you don’t like lots of aspects of it very much. Like an abusive parent.
I’m in my 40s now, and I’ve finally realized that that’s bullshit. I don’t love this country. I used to, but I’ve realized that I only ever loved the idea of this country while the reality has been a profound disappointment.
The barbecue is good, though. So that’s nice.
In my early 30s now, and I haven’t loved America for several years. 2016 was genuinely eye opening for this former Democrat. Watching the party I had supported since childhood, that I knew as the left most thing going, eat one of its own, absolutely tear itself to pieces to prevent even a semblance of a decent healthcare system… It broke the blinders, y’know? Once that happened it got me looking at things with a more critical eye, and when you do that, when you look at just about any aspect of this country with anything other than Rose white and blue tinted glasses, holy shit. It becomes real hard to love real fast.
Yeah. I was thoroughly disillusioned by what the DNC did to Bernie. Really pissed me off. Still voted for Hillary, though, because her opponent is a literal monster. I hate having to make that kind of choice every 4 years: “vote for the shitty candidate who will do very little, or vote for an actual piece of shit who will do everything in their power to strip all of the progress we’ve made in the 20th century”. It’s awful.
I tend to take Noam Chomsky’s stand on it. They’re is functionally very little difference between the two parties, but because of the republican party’s refusal to accept climate change, it makes them the single most dangerous organization in the history of human life on this planet. Couple that with their absolutely shit social policies, their inept economic policies and… Yeah. There’s little difference, but it’s enough of a difference to keep us slaves to this system.
I’m unfortunate enough to live in a deep red state, so my vote doesn’t count in a general election. I voted for Stein, because why not? I hoped she’d get the 5 percent and the green party could get federal funding. If I lived in a state where my vote actually counted in a general, I would have voted for Hillary, because the Republican party is the single most dangerous organization in history.
God this system sucks.
Little difference, except their inept economic policies, and their absolutely shit social policies and refusal to accept climate change…
I don’t know, man. Sounds like some pretty fucking big differences to me.
They are functionally owned by the same people, support the same macroeconomic policies. They work together to ensure a continuation of the same system. They are two arms of the same organization. The republican party moves policies to the right, the Democrats come in and move them marginally left, but less so then they were before the Republicans, and the republicans move them righter still. They work together to ratchet economic and social policies further and further rightward. This allows the parties to claim two positions, ensuring a maximum number of devotees, while functionally working towards the same goal. Differences between the parties are largely superficial. There is no real change within the democratic party apparatus. There is some attempts to move the party leftward, but as we saw in 2016, 2020, and just about every day in the house with The Squad, any attempt at moving things to the left of Center Right is treated as some evil that must be stamped out.
Hey - you’ll get no argument from me that the Democratic party sucks, or that it’s owned by the same lobbyists that own Republicans. That being said, the differences you outlined when saying that there’s very little difference are big fucking differences.