I hope everyone’s having a great 4th of July (at least those of us in the States, folks from other countries can be forgiven for not thinking too much of it).
July 4th, along with Thanksgiving, is one of my favourite holidays. That may surprise some folks. It’s not like the house is decorated in red, white and blue. I’m not wearing a flag pin, the Pledge of Allegiance makes me uncomfortable and I’m not that into fireworks. But external trappings aside, I consider myself to be a very patriotic person. I just don’t define patriotism as being synonymous with “flag waving.â€
Patriotism to me is not about loving your flag, or thinking that your country can do no wrong. To me, patriotism is the love of the ideals that founded the country. Thinking that your country can do no wrong or that you should love the flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance is no more than nationalism. If you had been born in any other country, you would be equally “patriotic†to that nation. The United States was not born from such nationalism, instead we were founded with a belief in 18th century enlightenment values. The first paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence are filled with such ideals:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
As a country, we have not always lived up to these ideals, but it is the ideals themselves and not the trappings that are important. This is the reason that the president is subject to the rule of law. This is the reason that criticism of the government is a patriotic act and that refraining from such criticism when justified is an act of cowardice. It is only when citizens criticize and elected officials act on such criticisms that the country can improve and come closer to the ideals that we were founded upon.
Have a happy 4th of July.