What is patriotism? Is it just saluting the flag, singing the national anthem, getting choked up when the US wins a gold medal at the Olympics, stuff like that? All these expressions of patriotism are merely lip service. They are insubstantial. Or is it patriotic, as George Bush said, to go shopping? Hey, it's Memorial Day. Be patriotic. Go shopping. In a "me first" society, the values after "me first" are my family first, then my town or city or high school first, then my state first and then my country first. So real patriots don't actually put their country first; they put themselves first. Their quest for the "American Dream" is a quest for individual enrichment while they give lip service to "patriotism."
Real patriotism should be the quest to make the country a better place for the people living in it and by extension to make the world a better place for the people in it. Supporting the military is not necessarily patriotic if the military is engaged in activities that are destroying the planet, overthrowing democratically elected governments, supporting military dictatorships and fighting wars of aggression. (See "A Short History of US Overthrow of Democratically Elected Regimes or Why the Rest of the World Hates Us".) Patriotism is speaking out against such militaristic endeavors. On the other hand, World War II was a patriotic war because it stopped wars of aggression by Germany and Japan. It was one of the few "good wars." Certainly the Spanish American war was a put up job. World War I was a disastrous excercise in patriotism in which young men were just itching for a war in which they hoped to attain glory and be home for Christmas. It didn't work out that way.
The US government for the most part has foreclosed opportunities to be truly patriotic. Those opportunities would be to help construct things instead of destroying things, to help build infrastructure instead of destroying infrastructure, to enhance the environment and ecosystem instead of destroying it, to eliminate disease instead of creating it. Good deeds are left to private charity. Why? A government engaged in good deeds would be truly worthy of support and that would be truly patriotic. When a government's only activity is militarism, it's not patriotic to support such a government. When a government devotes the lion's share of its resources to the military, it is not caring for its own people or creating peace in the world. When a government cuts off support for the unemployed, it hastens their absorption into the destitute class. When a government is working to build peace in the world, participation in those kinds of activities is patriotic. The Peace Corps and AmeriCorps are two vastly underfunded programs which are truly patriotic. When the budgets for programs such as these exceed the budget for the military-industrial complex and patriotism is defined not in military terms but in terms of how much good America and her people are doing, then patriotism will be a valid notion. When the "me first" society becomes a "we're all in this together" society, then patriotism will be a valid sentiment.
This is from the AmeriCorps website:
In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service Trust Act, which established the Corporation for National and Community Service and brought the full range of domestic community service programs under the umbrella of one central organization.
This legislation built on the first National Service Act signed by President H.W. Bush in 1990. It also formally launched AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet the nation’s critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment.
The newly created AmeriCorps incorporated two existing national service programs: the longstanding VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program, created by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC).
Patriotism as now defined is based on militarism. Patriotic displays are expressions of militarism. Love of country is expressed in jingoistic terms: "We're number one!" Instead, war and militarism should be thought of as necessary evils instead of exalting them. The goal should be to eliminate them while at the same time building the foundations for peace and prosperity in the world. There should be opportunities for those who want to serve their country by eliminating poverty, building infrastructure, saving the environment, curing the sick and extending helping hands to the underserved and downtrodden.
God bless America.
