"Patriotism"

This is being sent on the evening of July 3, as my wife and I plan to drive to Massachusetts tomorrow morning to attend a family softball game, which was originally played in 1889. To the best of my knowledge, every game over those 135 years has ended in a tie.

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In the midst of celebrating the birth of our country, we should take a few minutes to consider how fortunate we are to be here. According to Freedom in the World 2023, only about 20% of the world’s population live in free countries. And median income in the U.S. is about ten times higher than for the world as a whole. We are far from perfect, but we keep striving; we should be thankful for the United States of America. It is okay to be patriotic.

 

I wish you a joyous 4^th of July!

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Patriotism”

July 4, 2024

 

“Spirit, that made those heroes dare

To die, and leave their children free,

Bid time and Nature gently spare

The shaft we raise to them and thee.”

                                                                                                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

                                                                                                                                Concord Hymn, 1837

 

“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened

than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

                                                                                                                                Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

                                                                                                                                Democracy in America, 1835

 

Today we celebrate our nation’s 248th birthday. It is the day when, traditionally, patriotism rises to its highest level of the year. Yet, many Americans are conflicted in their attitudes toward their country. We are divided to a greater extent than at any time since the Civil War. Identity politics has become ubiquitous. Anti-Semitism is experienced on college campuses. We cannot even agree on the definition of a woman. We are told that democracy is under threat: The Left cites January 6 and the behavior of Donald Trump and his claim that he will be a dictator for the first day. The Right speaks to the “weaponization” of the intelligence services – the Russian collusion fabrication by the Clinton campaign in 2016, and the statement by 51 intelligence officers, in 2020, that Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.

 

Patriotism, to those on the political extremes, is dependent upon who holds power. In 1905, addressing this concern, Mark Twain wrote an essay “The Czar’s Soliloquy” for North American Review: “True patriotism, real patriotism: loyalty, not to a Family and a Fiction, but loyalty to the Nation itself.” Twain was commenting on Tsar Nicholas’ habit of ignoring the needs of his people while meditating for an hour every morning after his bath. While Twain wrote 120 years ago about a monarchy that no longer exists, his words are applicable today. Patriotism is not based on family, personal biases or party affiliation, but of love for country – in our case the United States, with its history, complexities and opportunities.

 

Of course excessive patriotism – the wrapping of oneself in the flag – is off-putting and has been condemned by many. On April 7, 1775 James Boswell wrote that Samuel Johnson, taking a swipe at then prevalent jingoism, pronounced patriotism to be the last refuge of the scoundrel. A hundred and forty years later, disillusioned by the horrors of trench warfare on the Western Front, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) wrote the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est,” which ends with these haunting lines:

 

“My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old lie: Dolce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.”[1]

 

Nevertheless, patriotism is critical for the success of a nation. However, we seem to have lost our way. Divisive politics, with its emphasis on racial and gender identity rather than on a shared identity as Americans, has made us angry and sad. Following the recent debate many concluded that the “Biden-Trump reality show,” as Daniel DePetris put it recently in The Spectator, “is a reflection of our decline and an indictment on waning US global power.” But is it? I am not so sure. We are unique in the annals of nations. We are not British, French, Latvian, Chinese, Japanese, Israeli, Jordanian, Nigerian, Algerian, Angolan, Peruvian or Ecuadorian. We are all of them and many more. And, while we are each unique, with myriad skills and varying abilities, we are “We the people,” as the preamble to the Constitution begins. We live in a country founded under Judeo-Christian principles and governed by laws, not men. We have a Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of speech, assembly and religion, and a Constitution that provides equality before the law. We are free to peacefully protest what impinges on our beliefs. A secret ballot assures we can vote our conscience without fear of retaliation. We live in an economic system that allows individuals to rise as far as aspiration, talent, effort (and luck) take them. We have survived a British invasion in 1812, a Civil War, two world wars and four assassinations. As for our democracy: “It won’t be dismantled so easily,” wrote Matthew Hennessey in an op-ed in last Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal.

 

We should honor the memory of those who fought, died and won our independence 241 years ago – among them recent immigrants to what would become the United States of America. And we must never forget the men and women who fought and died in subsequent wars to keep this nation’s (and other nations’) people free. We should laud the Founders, imperfect though they were, for their vision embedded in the Declaration of Independence. We should study the history of our country, its perfections and its blemishes, and we should understand the three distinct branches of our government and how it operates. We should support the right of every individual to speak for what they believe. We can disagree, but we should not disparage. We should be respectful, not blasphemous. No matter our heritage, race, gender, religion, political affiliation, or economic class, we pledge allegiance to our “flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” As David Wolpe, emeritus rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, wrote in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, “There are people of good heart and good will, of soulfulness and love, all over this great nation.” Americans, wear your patriotism with pride. 

 

HAPPY 4^th!

 

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[1] It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. Owen was killed in France one week before the Armistice.