Raining on the Parade

“I love America
more than any other country in this world,
and, exactly for this reason,
I insist on the right
to criticize her perpetually.”
James Baldwin



Shortly before July 4th of 1981
a reporter from the Washington Post
called and interviewed me
for a seasonal article on patriotism.
She had called the Boy Scouts of America’s
National Capital Area Council
and asked for the name of a recent recipient
of the rank of Eagle Scout.
They gave her my name and phone number.
She interviewed a number of people
besides me for the article.

Regrettably I was not as articulate
as I would have liked
but considering how many column inches I got
it probably wouldn’t have mattered what I said.
I think I have a copy of the article somewhere,
but with Lexis Nexis and online electronic archives
it’s no big deal to find it.

The thing is, she couldn’t have picked
a more unlikely person to ask
if she’d tried
as patriotism is something
I’ve never been comfortable with.


“No matter that patriotism
is too often the refuge of scoundrels.
Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising
remain the true duty of patriots.”
Barbara Ehrenreich


I guess my problem with “patriotism”
is due in part to being contrarian
either by natural inclination or by breeding.
The more I see large groups of people
all running together, lock step in the same direction
and volubly proclaiming that direction
as the best route
or the only route
to take
the more likely I am
to dig my heels in
and question whether or not
they know what the Hell
they are talking about.

Another part of it
is that I just don’t trust people in groups,
large masses united for or against something…
I seem to recall Sting
the musician/singer from The Police
drawing a comparison between
rock concerts and the Nuremberg Rallies.

It’s like organized religion.
I have no problem with religion
it’s the “organized” part
that makes me uncomfortable.
You get too many people together
and sooner or later they shift
from talking about what binds them together
to who they should burn at the stake
or ostracize as a heretic



“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.
When the loyal opposition dies,
I think the soul of America dies with it.”
Edward R. Murrow


The word patriotism
has suffered some pretty heinous and egregious abuse.

The OED, Merriam Webster & American Heritage
dictionaries on line have this to say:
Patriot:
One who loves, supports, and defends one's country,
One who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests
A person who loves his or her country, especially one who is ready to support its freedoms and rights and to defend it against enemies or detractors.

What does support mean?
To purchase a magnetic ribbon and stick it on your car?
Supports it’s authority ?
Sorry, I have trouble recognizing “authority”
not to mention supporting it.
Interests?
That word should be spelled “Intere$t$”
as all too often it refers
to the interests of large corporations
run by wealthy white men in suits.
Defend against enemies?
Who designates the enemies?
Is the Cheyenne nation our enemy?
Japanese Americans interred in Manzanar "relocation camp"?
Detractors?
The list of Patriotic Americans
who have been labeled detractors
traitors, Un-American and imprisoned
for their beliefs and expressing those
beliefs reads more like an honor roll




politicalhumor.about.com/od/funnyquotes/a/george-carlin.htm


Patriotism is entirely too often
too close to jingoism and propaganda
and too often drug through the mud of politics
for the selfish purposes of whomever
to allow me to be comfortable
using the word or describing myself as one.
The word has been bludgeoned into
meaninglessness, cheapened and debased
often by those who purport to be
patriotic most loudly.


Why is a law enforcement bill named
“USA Patriot Act” ?
Did you know some goofball decided
it had to be an acronym ?
"Uniting and Strengthening America
by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism Act of 2001”
You don’t think they were being ironic, do you?


“When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism
at the top of its voice,
I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands
and purity of its heart.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can recall being uncomfortable
as a child, standing and saying the Pledge of Allegiance
even though I couldn’t yet explain
how it struck me as a loyalty oath
and that having children recite it
children who very often didn’t understand it
or know the words

“…and to the republic for Richard Stanz,
one nation, invisible..”

as indoctrination and enforcement
of conformity by propaganda.

How can so many members of this nation
call themselves patriotic
when they identify this country
as a democracy
not apparently remembering
that it’s a republic?

Standing for the national anthem at football games
and NASCAR races reduces
whatever value it might have
by associating it with the violence,
commercialism and rampant consumption
that are part and parcel of both.
Don’t even get me started on invocations…


“The notion that a radical
is one who hates his country
is naïve and usually idiotic.
He is, more likely,
one who likes his country more than the rest of us,
and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us
when he sees it debauched.
He is not a bad citizen turning to crime;
he is a good citizen driven to despair”
H. L. Mencken

When an F.B.I. official refers to librarians as
”radical militant librarians” for refusing
to turn over a list of the materials you checked out
then they are sorely missing the point.
A policeman's job is only easy in a police state.

Part of patriotism
is being able to speak your mind
and point out problems
and work to make things better.
My idea of patriotism is exemplified
by people like Jeannette Rankin,
Scott Nearing, Dashiell Hammett and Eugene V. Debs
not Father Coughlin, Eugene McCarthy and David Horowitz

“In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary,
patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel.
With all due respect to an enlightened
but inferior lexicographer
I beg to submit that it is the first.”
Ambrose Bierce

brian.sneakyfrog.com/Patriot.jpg