Patriotism

A friend of mine recently put a peace symbol with a background of stars and stripes on her blog, and to me it conveyed the idea that loving peace and being patriotic are not perpetually opposed. And as is my wont, I decided to blog forth. To wit:

There are those who believe (to borrow from the old Battlestar Galactica TV show) that there are only three tests of patriotism. They are:

1. Do you support President Bush, without question?
2. Do you support the war in Iraq?
3. Are you a Republican?

Answer "no" to any of these questions and you get a free examination of your patriotism, your role in American society, and your probable ultimate fate at the hands of these self-important patriotism goobers.

I think it's possible to answer "no" to ALL of those questions and still be a genuine patriot, a real patriot, not some flag-waving numbnuts who mistakes blind obedience for loyalty and who knows only what his handlers at Fox News want him to know.

To be sure, I do occasionally run into liberals that I have to describe as "America-hating". I'm not sure why, but their disgust with US foreign policy in particular has reached such a point that they don't see anything good about America at all. It's all bad, as they loudly espouse, and the Republican goobers say "See?? We told you so, all liberals are America-hating boobs!"

But it's possible (I think) to disagree vehemently with US foreign policy and to find fault with other aspects of America, such as the steady decay in educational standards, gentrification, trust-fund hippiedom, spectacular overconsumption, and an increasing preference for waging the Kulturkampf instead of debating and implementing coherent public policy, and still be a patriot. The heart of America is the Constitution, and by defending it against an overzealous Executive, I feel I'm more patriotic than they are. And don't even begin to belabor me with "we have to bend the rules to win the war" argument, because I refuse to debate on the basic of carefully-promulgated public fear.

But it goes farther than that, farther than just defending the Constitution. There are things about America that I am genuinely and unabashedly proud of, regardless of what lunacy the Administration or its lackeys is getting up to on any given day. In the near future Bush will be gone and cooler heads can begin to undo the damage he caused, but meantime these great American things of which I speak will still be there, as worthy of admiration as ever.

Such as? NASA - any time you read about an airliner having improved efficiency, who do you think did the basic research in aerodynamics and propulsion? The NOAA - the first step in healing the planet it observing it closely, and nobody does that on a global basis like NOAA. The National Weather Service - how many lives a year are saved by the warnings and watches that come out of this organization? Predicting the weather is hard and the NWS gets it wrong sometimes, but we'd be in a world of hurt without it. The USDA - mistakes happen, as the recent tomato salmonella outbreak demonstrates, but on the whole, the USDA does an admirably good job of safeguarding our food supply with what strikes me as a pitiful minimum of resources. The FDA - again, mistakes happen and the FDA isn't immune to the pressures of money and politics, but by an large it does a good job of keeing useless or dangerous drugs off the market. Not as good as it could, but at least it tries. Most other countries rely on the US FDA to do their work for them - "What? The FDA approved Maalox? Then by cracky we will too!"

The National Transportation Safety Board - the steady decrease in fatal accidents over the years owes directly to the NTSB and its mission of investigating accidents and finding out why they happened, and for recommending technical improvements where appropriate. The National Interagency Fire Center - in those years when it seems that the whole American West is burning down, I'm comforted to know that there are professionals who are managing the difficult and expensive regional wildfire effort for me.

There are other examples, some I know of (like the US Coast Guard) and some I don't know about. But the point is that these are agencies and organizations that I'm proud of. When people ask me if I'm a patriot, I think of these agencies and the work they do that allows us all to have better lives, and I think "Yes, by damn I am a patriot." And I'm a patriot even if I that this current administration has spawned some of the most disastrous foreign policy mistakes the United States has ever seen at the hands of a President that refers to the Constitution as a "goddamned piece of paper."