8 Ways to Sunday

This evening I found myself on a political commentary site called The Constitutional Matters Project. CMP lets authors on both sides of American politics post articles, apparently the more far out and divisive the better. I usually avoid these name-calling competitions, but someone had pointed to this site as having a cleverly-implemented comment form. I was there to check it out as inspiration for a site I’m developing, and ended up reading an article about patriotism.

The article, written from the “conservative” perspective, was typical of the kind of Radical Right nonsense that’s practically self-parody. What motivated the article, however, was a fallacious far-Left argument that I’ve heard repeated ad nauseam. It makes me just as mad as it made the right-wing CMP author, but my reaction is very different.

This post started out as a comment on CMP about true patriotism and its incompatibility with blind party allegiance. It became almost as long as the original article, so I ended up posting it here. Warning: mild rant ahead.

The CMP author, Edward Daley, starts with this:

The other day I heard a liberal assert that patriotism is really just xenophobia wearing a happy face, and that people who wave the flag and shout “God bless America” are nothing but ignorant fools, full of false pride and hatred for foreign cultures.

I lean toward the left politically, and I think this liberal has a narrow and idiotic view of patriotism. True patriotism involves a willingness to both protect your country from outside threats and to protect it from its own leaders.

The Right’s sometimes blind faith in the government (as long as it’s Republican) is just as stupid as the borderline self-loathing of those furthest to the Left. Contrary to what the current Republican leadership would have us believe, the United States government is partly responsible for our current problems in the Middle East.

• America helped fuel the already simmering Iranian Revolution by assisting the Shah of Iran’s government in a coup against the Prime Minister of Iran (Operation Ajax in 1953).
• The United States funded and armed the nascent Al-Qaeda, who were then mujahedeen fighting against Communist forces in Afghanistan (Operation Cyclone, 1980s).
• Our government even funded and armed Saddam Hussein during and after Iraq’s war against Iran.

Each time, our choices were driven by either a thirst for foreign oil or a desire to contain a distasteful ideology (Communism or Islamist theocracy). These goals are not inherently bad, but the methods we’ve used have come back to hurt us again and again.

The actions I’ve mentioned here were conducted in secret, but we know about them now. So why does the Right continue to support the kind of strategies and ideas that have proven so disastrous in the past? Isn’t conservatism rooted partly in the notion that we should look to the past for solutions in the present, learning from our failures and successes? And what of liberals? Where are their bold ideas for a better tomorrow? I’m sorry, but strapping on a blindfold and throwing your arms open to the world is not a viable solution.

There’s a lot of talk from politicians on both sides, but nobody seems to be saying much that makes sense. Instead, most substitute slogans for solutions. Those of us with more than a thimbleful of common sense are left to watch the lunacy and wonder how our nation will survive the next fifty years with the values of its Founders still intact.

Let’s stop talking about patriotism as though it is only one thing or another. Patriotism is a defensive posture. It’s a determination to protect our nation from a variety of threats, both internal and external.

As voters we must be vigilant against corruption and mismanagement by our leaders. We must support a free, independent, and attentive press that will inform us of government misbehavior.

As citizens we must examine the motives of our foreign enemies and allies. We must keep an eye on the international stage, and consider how events abroad will affect us at home.

As human beings we must turn away from blind allegiance to party and demonization of those who disagree with us. We must forge a new understanding of ourselves as Americans first and party members second. Our leaders want to divide us for their own gain, and for the sake of our nation’s future we must refuse to be divided.

That’s patriotism. And I’m sick of hearing people make excuses for any substitute.