Dissent & Patriotism
By: Alan Bedenko
Date: July 4, 2006
Craig of Northcoatsonline starts up a discussion of patriotism. In order to prove what patriotism isn’t, he plucks the low-hanging fruit; quoting Cindy Sheehan:
The star-spangled banner, which I can now see whipping in the wind outside of an airport terminal where I am writing this from does not fill me with pride: it fills me with shame and that flag symbolizes sorrow and corruption to me right now. The flag represents so much lying, fixed elections, profiting by the war machine, high gas prices, spying on Americans, rapid erosion of our freedoms while BushCo literally gets away with murder, torture and extreme rendition, contaminating the world with depleted uranium, and illegal and immoral wars that are responsible for killing so many. A symbol which used to represent hope to so many around the world now fills so many with disgust.
Craig suggests that Sheehan can’t be patriotic because that “pride” she doesn’t feel is patriotism’s sine qua non.
That dictionary definition of “patriotism” is incomplete, it left out pride. To me, patriotism is not only a love for America and a devotion to it — it’s also a lump-in-the-throat feeling of pride about our history, our principles and our accomplishments. Now, Cindy would no doubt claim a great love and devotion to America and would protest that her anti-Bush, anti-war campaign only demonstrates it.
Cindy Sheehan is easy to pick on because she’s an outspoken, lefty, anti-Bush, woman who sometimes says and does outrageous things. In fact, the constant criticism of Sheehan that I hear from the right proves Coulter’s mouth to be so wrong.
Craig left out this part of Sheehan’s piece:
I often get told that I should “love America, or leave it.” This is ridiculous logic and empty rhetoric. I love the country that I was born in and I love Americans…I am an American and so are my children. Casey was born and died a fine American who was abused by the same leaders that are abusing the world as I type. I could leave if I wanted to and, in fact, have received many offers to be an ex-patriate in many friendly countries. However, I want to stay and fight for my country. I want my country and the flag that symbolizes it around the globe to stand for something that we can all be proud of again.
Under Craig’s law, to be a patriot, one must have, “pride about our history, our principles and our accomplishments.” So, continue reading what Sheehan wrote:
BushCo and the neocon regime embarked on this disastrous misadventure in Iraq to prove to the world how strong and virile Pax Americana is. Their abjectly failed mission, which was evil and corrupt from the beginning, has not proven how strong our nation is, but, on the contrary, how weak. However, the neocons have managed to prove, that how, with the “mightiest” war machine in the world an insurgency in a country smaller than the state of California can hold their false freedom and deadly democracy at bay. One other thing that the neocons have proven is that America is no longer the moral touchstone of the world but is a nation that commits torture and crimes against humanity with the presidential seal of approval. BushCo has destroyed any credibility our nation ever had in the world and all of us need to fight to regain it and thereby redeem our own souls.
Because Cindy Sheehan is proud of America’s principles and promise, she is indeed a patriot. Because she believes that the recent illegal use of torture, and abrogation of the constitutional separation of powers is abhorrent, she is indeed a patriot. Because she has a vision for an America that regains its morality and ethics; that we no longer thumb our nose at international law and treaties to which we are bound, and that we abide by our own laws and principles, she is indeed a patriot.
And the piece Craig selected to prove his point actually proves that Sheehan does have that “pride about our history, our principles and our accomplishments”. It’s what’s going on now that she can’t stand.
I don’t have to agree with everything Cindy Sheehan says or stands for to recognize that she is a patriot. After all, what Cindy Sheehan says is tame in comparison to, say, the daily chatter on Free Republic; is she any less patriotic than the freepers who wave the flag high and wide, yet advocate for the imprisonment of political foes and the establishment of a one-party state?
Ironically, Craig agrees with Sheehan; that one can love one’s country, yet be extraordinarily disappointed with its current affairs:
When Jimmy Carter was President and our Iranian embassy employees were held hostage by a third-rate mullahcracy, our military was so weak it couldn’t rescue them and our economy at home was crashing, I still loved America and felt pride in it. When Bill Clinton ordered our troops to slink out of Mogadishu, refused to address Bin Laden’s threats in any meaningful way and used the IRS to attack his political enemies, I despised him — but still loved and felt pride for America.
Jimmy Carter wasn’t America, Bill Clinton wasn’t America and neither is George Bush. I happen to be a Bush-supporter but I’m able to distinguish between the people currently in power who make up the government and the rest of us who make up the country. Cindy Sheehan and a good portion of the left evidently can’t.
The difference is that the malfeasance of which Craig accuses the Carter and Clinton administrations didn’t fundamentally alter what America stands for. We’ve lost battles before; we’ve ignored ominous foreshadowing before (see August 6, 2001 PDB, delivered in hand to Crawford); we’ve had American troops slink away without responding to an attack (see Beirut embassy and Marine barracks 1983/4), and we’ve had Presidents abuse power before (see Nixon).
None of that stuff is news.
The erosion of separation of powers, the unprecedented expansion of executive power, and the de facto legalization of de jure illegal torture takes away that moral authority that used to go hand in hand with our military might, and made us the superpower that won. This trumps any and all of the malfeasance Craig lists.
In essence, Sheehan can be freely criticized, as can Michael Moore and any other righty or lefty who says outrageous things.
But the reason they say those outrageous things is that they are patriotic; they love their country and are distressed by its current direction. They remain proud of the country and its principles, but “despise” its current government when it ignores those very principles.
Their outspokenness about wanting to make America better underscores their patriotism. And the same goes for the most outrageous and outspoken conservative.
Because our country is made great by a plurality of ideas being discussed and debated. Sometimes intemperately, but almost always peacefully.
Happy 4th - whether you agree or disagree.
Alan Bedenko is the author of the website BuffaloPundit.com and a contributing author to many other blogs. He is the president of the WNY Coalition for Progress. This column originally was posted on BuffaloPundit.com
© Alan Bedenko, 2006.
The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent those of the WNY Coalition for Progress.
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