Traveling around the world, there’s no question that Trump has made it harder to be American. There has always been a fair amount of explaining involved, but there’s no way to rationalize the inexplicable and indefensible, except to note that we are all involved in fighting for freedom in our home countries now. We have to stand tall and accept that being an American now involves a certain amount of embarrassment over the greed, racism, and chauvanism spewing from the White House.
We’ve gotten some rare respite from these feelings surprisingly by hosting the World Cup. Most of us are pretty ignorant of the beautiful game. Who knew a red card meant that a player was ejected from than game and one more, but it’s been wonderful to see and hear the oohhs and aahhs from foreign visitors first discovering America, even if it’s a hard swallow to take pride in Buc-cee’s, knowing that every dollar spent is enriching its far right, archconservative Texas owner.
At the 250-year mark, patriotism is still contested as part of the political division in the country. Conservatives see this is their sole preserve and liberals seem to resist making an equal or superior claim. Reading a lead article in a recent New Yorker, the author claimed he was almost 25 years old before loving America and being a patriot crossed his mind. I found that hard to believe and alien to me, possibly because I was raised in the West and South. How did he miss scouting and its constant refrain? Where was he at the daily assembly when the flag was raised, or when everyone stood for the Pledge to Allegiance at the beginning of class? He correctly listed a litany of the country’s shortcomings, and it’s not a short list, but that’s what the fight is about, it not something to shy away from or hide your head. In the same issue, his article had an antidote in the story of a pilot in Ukraine who was so committed to the country that he and his comrades were flying daily missions to take down Russian attack drones as private citizens on their own time and money. Patriotism was life and death in that piece.
I’ve been reading a number of books timed to the 250 years. A recent one made the correct case that we are an unfinished revolution and was rife with examples of how that has played out over the decades. Another put our own revolution in perspective at the time when the whole world was changing, and we were not quite as fundamental as we might think in our own self-regard. As a young country, we still have a lot of work to do in the trenches far from fireworks and celebrations.
Why should progressives surrender the flag? Why should we stand second to anyone in love of our country? George Orwell, cited in the earlier article, is right. The problem is not patriotism, it’s nationalism. Loving your own country, doesn’t mean hating other countries and their people. In fact, it can help you understand why others also love their native lands. Travel the world, and you’ll find out how lucky and privileged you have been to have been born an American, warts and all. Realizing that, accept the burden to make sure America becomes even better and takes seriously its responsibility to the rest of the world. Why not pledge some allegiance to that vision of America? That’s what patriotism should be all about.