There has been a lot of talk recently about patriotism -- what it is, who has it, etc. I feel like a lot of it is self-serving and destructive and I just wanted to add my voice.
John McCain just said this:
Patriotism is deeper than its symbolic expressions, than sentiments about place and kinship that move us to hold our hands over our hearts during the national anthem. It is putting the country first, before party or personal ambition, before anything. It is the willing acceptance of Americans, both those whose roots here extend back over generations and those who arrived only yesterday, to try to make a nation in which all people share in the promise and responsibilities of freedom.
Obama said:
That is why, for me, patriotism is always more than just loyalty to a place on a map or a certain kind of people. Instead, it is also loyalty to America's ideals - ideals for which anyone can sacrifice, or defend, or give their last full measure of devotion.
I actually think the juxtaposition of those two quotes kind of says it all. Loyalty must be connected to an idea, not just the happenstance of birth. I would go further than Obama, though. The loyalty to a place on a map or a certain kind of people has to be rooted in something other than its mere existence. That something is community. And that community, in order to engender patriotic sentiment (and more than just the comfort of familiarity or convenience), must share in the common ideals that form the basis for patriotism generally.
What really gets me angry is when liberals, and Obama, or just anyone who one happens to disagree with, get labeled as anti-american, or america-haters or terrorist-lovers. A desire to change the country is patriotic so long as it is a desire to become closer to the shared ideals. Otherwise it is revolt. And that is essentially what these are accusations of -- that the labelee is a revolutionary, bent on attacking the foundational concept of the country, rather than fighting to make it more perfect, according to how they understand the shared ideals.
This is most present when one is perceived as disdaining some element of American culture. Like NASCAR or something. But that element of culture is completely unconnected with what America means. Finding some cultural construct to be low-brow and uninteresting does not make someone unamerican. Nor does disdain for arugula and Whole Foods. (Rejection of intellectualism is another thing, entirely, which I won't go into here.) Those are just cultural differences. There is no one "correct" "American" cultural identity.
Finally, I do this too. Not so explicitly and hatefully. But I like to think of My America as the right one. But that's not right. Some gun-toting, NASCAR-loving, Walmart-shopping Appalachian might feel foreign (to say the least) to me but I should feel a loyalty and allegiance to that person if I feel that they love, support, and fight for the same American ideals established by The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and the Post-Civil War Amendments. Even if their conception of what that all means differs slightly (within the range of arguable). I will strive to be more like that.
These are just a few quick thoughts in a continuing attempt at a coherent definition. What is your definition?