by Richard A. Cheatham, Press Media Group, LLC
There are lots of people out there loudly proclaiming their patriotism and love for America these days. You see it everywhere bumper stickers, billboards, TV and radio programs. Wars throughout history, and in just about all cultures and countries, have typically stimulated patriotic revivals.
When you express your love for “America,” specifically which “America” are you talking about? There are obviously many visions of America and they’re frequently contradictory. You can’t love all of them.
In addition, not all parts of “America” are worthy of love and admiration. A few notable examples of parts of America’s past that are not particularly attractive are slavery (which existed legally under the Stars and Stripes far longer than it did under the Stars and Bars), treatment of American native people, internal disputes resulting in at least 620,000 American corpses on American soil in four years, internment of Japanese (yet not German) American citizens during World War II, recent disgusting abuses of prisoners in American military custody, etc.
One vision of the American ideal was as a voluntary federal republic of states with most political power residing in individuals and in local communities. This vision presumed also that Americans could live up to the title “citizen;” self-sufficient, proud, jealous of their individual liberty and always vigilant in its defense and preservation against all threats, foreign and domestic.
This vision presumed that Americans would think and act for themselves, that they would expect to take care of themselves, to pull their own weight and to be proud of their self-sufficiency, that they would eagerly contribute to causes in which they believed, that they would need no one to tell them much about what they had to do or couldn’t do.
Another vision of America presumed a powerful central government, more an empire than a republic, perhaps even with dependent and subordinate territories and colonies in distant places. That vision was of a strong and bold nation with a powerful, virtuous elite born to lead the unwashed masses who were expected to be good followers, willing sources of heavy taxation and occasionally even cannon fodder. This vision required many armed soldiers, ready and willing to follow any legitimate order (and any order from above was, by definition, legitimate).
This vision also required mountains of laws and intricate, voluminous regulations protecting the many powerless subjects from oppression, for they would be incapable of protecting themselves. This vision also presumed that a large percentage of the income of ordinary citizens would be taken from them through taxation to fund the multitudes of protection schemes conceived and implemented by their wise leaders.
Do you really love America? Which one? You can’t be proud of all versions of America. You owe it to yourself and to other American citizens to know specifically what your patriotism is all about. Not everyone shares your vision, whatever it is.
©2005 by Richard A. Cheatham. All rights reserved. Mr.Cheatham is a professional speaker/writer whose weekly column, “Drawing Back The Veil” appears weekly in The Lynchburg Ledger. Mr. Cheatham is syndicated through Press Media Group, LLC, 434-332-2845. Contact him through, Living History Assoc., Ltd., at www.LHALtd.com or DrawBackVeil@aol.com.