Patriots and Patriotism

True American Patriot is a bodacious and possibly pretentious name for a blog. It, however, is a necessary name for a crucial activity. True American Patriots now must speak out for the defense and conservation of True American Patriotism. We are in danger of loosing True American Patriotism because we have left its definition to and allowed its desecration by Radical Republicans, Bush II neo-conservatives and neo-fascists, and theocratic religious fanatics of all persuasions. This blog presents a conservative discussion and defense of American Patriotism within the fundamental meaning of conservatism.

An antiquated dictionary definition of a patriot is “(o)ne who loves his (sic) country and zealously supports its authority and interests.”[1] This conception with its emphasis on authority and blind loyalty made the KGB true Russian patriots and the Gestapo true German patriots. The definition is not appropriate for American patriot and the patriotism of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington and their relationships with the United Kingdom and King George’s leadership, policies, and pronouncements.

A more suitable definition of an American patriot is a “person who is devoted to and ready to support or defend his or her country.”[2] A patriot loves, serves, and will defend one’s country. The core are the conceptions of “one’s country,” “loyalty” and willingness to give or sacrifice. The loyalty is to country rather than political office holders. It is reasonably argued that patriotism compels defense of one’s country from external threats to its territory, people, and sovereignty, and internal threats to its freedoms, values, traditions, and well-being. Patriotism does not oblige blind obedience and fidelity to a particular government or elected or appointed set of official, politicians, and their pronouncements and policies. American patriotism compels a skeptical stance toward authority and promotes a generally reluctant obedience. We are a nation founded in 1776 on disobedience toward governmental authority. A patriot will have to oppose a particular government, a set of politicians controlling the government, and policies when the policies are counter to the country’s welfare and interests. A 19th. Century conception of patriotism equated it with virtue.

The conservative scholar Walter Berns[3] discusses, patriotism is a collective identity with the whole. A patriot is one who demands the rights of citizenship and fulfills its obligations. Patriotism is a mutuality conception: the patriot gives one’s life to the country but has a right to expect mutuality: the country will give its protection and provide security, a mutual support function. Patriotism requires love, loyalty, and service to one country. It does not equate country with a particular government and its officials and their policies and rhetoric or even nation-state. It involves country. Patriotism is antithetical to globalization with its globalization’s reduction of national boundaries and nation-states importance as interferences with global economic markets.

True American patriotism is the subject matter of this blog. In this vein future blogs will explore the patriotic implications of a Bush II impeachments; Bush, fascism, and the imperial presidency; enemy combatants as Presidential treason; the imperative separation of church and state (or a nation primarily populated by Christians v. a Christian nation); a nation of immigrants with a history of ethnic cleansing; ethnic nationalism and racism; globalization and patriotism, and other topical guidance for a True American Patriot.

And speaking of patriots and patriotism, I leave you with some questions to ponder: Where are the twins? What happened to the other Bush brothers? Where were Pat Buchanan, George Bush II, Dick Cheney, Newt Ginrich, Tom DeLay, Rush Limbaugh, Trent Lott, et. al. during the Viet Nam war? Does God really shoot the breeze about politics with Bush II and Tom DeLay?
[1] Webster’s seventh new collegiate dictionary. (1961). Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co. p. 818.

[2] Hawkins, J. M., & Allen, R. (Eds.). (1991). The Oxford encyclopedic English dictionary. NY: Oxford University Press. P. 1063.
[3] Berns, W. (2001). Making patriots. Chicago: University of Chicago Press