On Independence

By Jesse Roman

Be assured, the following is not an ode to the merits of patriotism. There are already too many of those in America. What is rarely considered, what seems to me an obvious omission, is the question of what patriotism actually means.

Is it synonymous with the kind of rah-rah nationalism that Daniel Webster captured in his 1850 speech when he declared to a frenzied crowd, ”I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American!”

Is patriotism blind faith in your country, its people, its leaders and its principles, warts and all the “conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it,” as playwright George Bernard Shaw once said.

My country, right or wrong is the pseudo-tribalistic mindset that's often used as the litmus test for ‘true’ Americans.

Personally, I have always had a hard time following that type of blind faith. My thoughts on the subject lie somewhere between those of authors Mark Twain, who said that “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it,” and author Sinclair Lewis, who believed, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

Patriotism cannot just be a love for your country. With that must come a willingness to question it at every turn to ensure that the people who govern it stay true to the guiding principles by which it was founded. Among those principles, as we all know, are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

I recently watched footage of a news broadcast that showed what can happen when so-called “patriotism” is taken to the extreme.

Taking offense to a Mexican flag, which had erroneously been hung a notch above the American flag on a pole in Reno, Nev., a man yanked down both flags in front of the owner, took the U.S. flag in his arms and tossed the Mexican flag on the ground. Then he said to the TV cameras:

“I took this flag down in honor of my country, with a knife of the United States Army! I am a veteran and I will not see this done to my country. If they want to fight us, then they need to be men. But I want someone to fight me for this flag, because they're not going to get it back!”



Some may look at this as a brazen act of valor. Others will cringe.
People can debate which reaction is right or wrong, but at least we have the freedom to engage in the debate. That¹s what makes ours the freest country in the world.

But to keep it that way we all need remain tolerant of other views, we must learn to compromise and we must stay vigilant of the fact that as Americans we are free to believe what we wish. If patriotism is used as a bludgeon to attack the moral fiber of free citizens and intimidate them into censoring their thoughts, then are we really free?