With Soul So Dead

If you want to know what people think, ask. They may tell you. A recent poll wondered if Barack Obama and John McCain were patriotic enough to be President. No, 25 percent said of Obama, 9 percent no for McCain, a grand total of 34 percent, over one-third, signifying sound and fury.

Time Magazine featured a discussion of patriotism in its Fourth of July issue, including invited statements from both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain. Time explained two versions of patriotism, conservative and liberal. Hey, it’s only journalism. According to Time, “Conservatives think patriotism is a tribute to the past. Liberals believe it’s a key to the future.” McCain wrote, “If you find fault with your country, make it a better one. If you are disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks, and work to correct them. I hope more Americans would consider enlisting in our armed forces… running for public office or working in federal, state and local governments. But there are many public causes where your service can make our country a stronger, better one than we inherited.” Obama offered, “The true genius of America—a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles…that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm; that we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe; that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution; and that our votes will be counted.”

Sen. Obama further addressed the subject of patriotism in a speech delivered in Independence, Mo., just before July 4. He paid homage to the patriots at Concord and Lexington but also Martin Luther King, Jr., the freedom riders, and the whistleblowers at Abu Ghraib. “Throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given. It was how I was raised; it is what propelled me into public service; it is why I am running for President. And yet, at certain times over the last sixteen months, I have found, for the first time, my patriotism challenged - at times as a result of my own carelessness, more often as a result of the desire by some to score political points and raise fears about who I am and what I stand for.”

“But surely we can agree that no party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism,” Obama said. He explained his “loyalty and love for country rooted in my earliest memories... sitting on my grandfather's shoulders and watching the astronauts come to shore in Hawaii… the cheers and small flags that people waved, and my grandfather explaining how we Americans could do anything we set our minds to do... my grandmother telling stories about her work on a bomber assembly-line during World War II... my grandfather handing me his dog-tags from his time in Patton's Army, and understanding that his defense of this country marked one of his greatest sources of pride.” Quoting Mark Twain, Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it, Obama adds, “But when our laws, our leaders or our government are out of alignment with our ideals, then the dissent of ordinary Americans may prove to be one of the truest expression of patriotism.”

Sometimes people confuse patriotism with political partisanship, militarism or jingoism. Not just my country right or wrong, but my country is never wrong or I’m never wrong. However, patriotism comes in more than just one flavor, or even two. Think Baskin-Robbins. But mainly don’t think you get to tell me if my patriotism is good enough. I love it about America that Walt Whitman loved Abraham Lincoln and that e e cummings sang of Olaf glad and big, who would not “kiss your f…ing flag.”

Copyright 2008 by William C. Cotter