On patriotism

It's a simple enough word. Patriotism: Noun. Love for or devotion to one's country.

But it's a slippery idea when you actually try and get your hands on it. The definition itself is full of words that are themselves hard to define.

So, when you start asking who's more patriotic than who else, you have to know what love is, and what devotion is...and it's really an art, not a science, at that point.

But my point in writing this is to say something I've been afraid to say for years. We on the left are always saying we're just as patriotic as people on the right, and getting indignant when they insist they're more patriotic than us.

But you know what? I'm simply not as patriotic as your average chest-beating right-winger.

I don't believe America is infallible, or that its actions are inherently good. The things America does are no better or worse than they would be if some other country did them, and it does nobody any good to walk around assuming otherwise.

I also don't believe that God favors America over other nations, or that America is God's chosen nation in the world. I don't believe in God anyway, and even if I did I'd find it impossible to accept that God would feel uncritically favorable toward a nation that, for a large percentage of its history, committed genocide against the native inhabitants of the land it was built on.

I think America is probably one of the ten best countries in the world to live in, and as long as the Republicans don't get yet another term in the White House I'll probably never move away. But I don't believe America has the best system of government ever devised. Nor do I think we here in America are the freest people in the world.

I want America to work well; I want all governments to work well because everyone deserves to be well-governed, and I want that for America especially because that's where I live, so I have a personal stake. But I think it's a stretch to call that patriotism. I mean, it's really just wishing everyone life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I find those words inspiring. I find the ideals of the founders inspiring, especially given the historical context in which they were expressed. But that doesn't make me want to beat my chest and shout about how great America is. It makes me hope everyone, American or not, can one day enjoy those inalienable rights.

Likewise, I find questions like "do you want America to win in Iraq?" sort of baffling. I don't think of the Iraq war the way I think of the World Series, where I want my side to "win." It's a bloody mess, and I disapprove of bloody messes, which is why I was against the war in the first place--it seemed to me you should have a much better reason before you started killing people. What I want has nothing to do with whether America "wins" because I don't think of whether America will look good first and foremost.

Similarly, I don't want Americans to die in terrorist attacks because I don't want anybody to die in terrorist attacks, not because I consider it some sort of insult to "my country."

I guess countries are sort of funny concepts to me. I want America to be well-governed and to be a good place to live and generally to be a force for good--which is exactly what I want for every other country, too. I don't take personal pride in whether America "wins" or not.

And I guess I'm tired of torturing the word "patriotism" until it gives me a definition I can use. I'll come right out and say it. One, I'm just not that patriotic. Two, I think that's a good thing. I agree with Oscar Wilde in saying "patriotism is the virtue of the vicious." "Loving" an artificial entity like a country stands squarely in the way of making that country a better place, because you get your own ego all tied up in it, and you lose the ability to make good decisions based on reality. And the U.S. ends up invading Iraq because too many people are too "patriotic" to see (or admit) that the country has been hijacked, at least temporarily, by trigger-happy liars.

Those of us for whom "patriotism" is not a motivating characteristic saw it first. Maybe it's time we rethought our veneration of "patriotism" a little bit.