{"id":2705,"date":"2002-12-03T18:54:41","date_gmt":"2002-12-03T18:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.armedliberal.com\/?p=462"},"modified":"2002-12-03T18:54:41","modified_gmt":"2002-12-03T18:54:41","slug":"patriotism-reconsidered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=2705","title":{"rendered":"PATRIOTISM RECONSIDERED"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’\u0092m under the weather and under water at the same time right now, so didn\u0092’t realize until just now that Instapundit<\/a> and Jeff Cooper<\/a> both linked to me, so thanks guys!<\/p>\n

To Glenn, I’\u0092ll comment that while my posts are pretty critical of the DNC establishment, they are critical with an eye toward creating an unassailable Democratic hegemony<\/span>\u0085 – so watch out!!<\/p>\n

Jeff went back and looked at my post on patriotism and his response, and he came up with a very smart thing which I hadn’\u0092t completely thought through, which was to disassociate patriotism as \u0091love of country\u0092 from patriotism as \u0091supporting a strong national defense\u0092.<\/p>\n

He’s absolutely right, but reading him sent me off on a tangent (exhaustion does that), so let me suggest something slightly different to go along with his point.<\/p>\n

I know two really bad parents. One is a couple that simply refuses to control their children; they love them totally, and so, they explain, they love everything they do. Unsurprisingly, they are raising two little monsters. The other is a single mother who explains that everything bad in her life is the fault of her child, and that everything he does is wrong.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, her child is depressed, withdrawn and equally badly damaged.<\/p>\n

I’\u0092ll define patriotism as \u0093love of country\u0094. Both the parents above (all three of them, actually) claim to \u0091love\u0092 their children. But to blindly smile and clean up when your child smashes plates on the floor is not an act of love. And blindly smiling and waving flags when your country does something wrong is not an act of patriotism.<\/p>\n

But – \u0085there is a point where criticism, even offered in the guise of love, moves past the point of correction and to the point of destruction. It\u0092s a subtle line, but it exists. And my friend (who is less of a friend because I can’\u0092t begin to deal with her fundamentally abusive parenting) is destroying her child. And there are liberals who have adopted an uncritically critical view of America. Who believe it to have been founded in genocide and theft, made wealthy on slave labor and mercantilist expropriation, to be a destroyer of minorities, women, the environment and ultimately they argue, itself.<\/p>\n

I’\u0092m sorry but their profession of love for America is as hollow to me as that mother\u0092s profession of love for her son. Are those things true? As facts, they are an incomplete account of this country\u0092’s history. As a worldview, they are destructive and self-consuming.
\nI believe in progress and change. A long time ago, when discussing those convicted of Central Park Jogger assault and rape, I said:<\/p>\n

My reaction is actually surprisingly different. I’\u0092m thrilled. And excited. And proud. I feel bad for the youths wrongly convicted (although my bad feelings are somewhat offset by the admitted fact that they had been wilding – \u0085randomly assaulting innocent people in the park\u0085). I’\u0092m bothered by the fact that poor kids of color get worse legal representation than rich white guys like Skakel.<\/p>\n

But none of this changes the fact that I’\u0092m proud because we live in a society where we are willing to face up to and admit our mistakes. To correct them where possible. No politically connected prosecutor was able to bury the confession or prevent the DNA testing that ultimately appears to have exonerated them. I\u0092’m thrilled that we have been able to take the fruits of our technology and apply them, fairly and objectively to support the interests of people who would normally be beneath consideration. I’\u0092m excited because I believe that these tools\u0085 – the technology and the open legal system – \u0085that are the product of this society will be used in the future to prevent bad things from happening – \u0085like convicting the wrong people of horrible crimes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’\u0092m interested in why our three reactions are so disparate, and it cuts to one of my significant core issues, the alienation of many of us from our society and the overt disgust with all the instruments of government. In other words, the collapse of legitimacy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’\u0092m interested in why it is, when we correct the injustices of the past, and devise tools to ensure that it will be difficult to make the same mistakes again, we are dwelling on the \u0093Oh, no, we were so bad\u0094<\/span> rather than the \u0093we’\u0092re getting better\u0094<\/span>. See, I think that real liberalism\u0085 – the kind that builds schools and water systems and improves people’s lives\u0085 – comes from a belief in progress.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u0092s a difference of worldview, folks, a difference of philosophy. A dash of hope to offset the bitterness of history, that\u0092s what I believe it takes to love one\u0092s country.<\/p>\n

So thanks, Jeff, for making me think about it (and damn you<\/strong> for taking me away from my pressing work!!).<\/p>\n

(edited for punctuation and grammar)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’\u0092m under the weather and under water at the same time right now, so didn\u0092’t realize until just now that Instapundit and Jeff Cooper both linked to me, so thanks guys! To Glenn, I’\u0092ll comment that while my posts are pretty critical of the DNC establishment, they are critical with an eye toward creating an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}