Daily writing prompt

Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?

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I thought of patriotism as the kind of tribalism I encountered when I was young — people not only waving flags, standing for the national anthem and putting their hands on their hearts, but harassing and threatening anyone who didn’t. The mistreatment of immigrants and minorities, the blacklisting & ostracism of Communists or suspected Communists, the “patriotic” thugs I saw on TV as a child, beating up demonstrators, etc. etc.

It was the twenty-first century that first made me realize how deeply I love my country and care about it and its institutions.

First came 2000, and the shock of watching the Supreme Court appoint a president.

Then, almost on the heels of that, came September 11, 2001. It wasn’t just the carnage in New York City and DC that day, but the nightmarish aftermath, when the entire country seemed to have lost its mind. Attorney-client privilege, habeas corpus, the First Amendment were suddenly not hard and fast rules, but debatable. People in suits sat on Sunday morning talk shows, often opening with “I’m a liberal but…” then talking about torture and indefinite detention as things upon which moral and rational Americans could disagree.

And finally, came January 6, 2021, and the sight of a mob breaking into our Capitol, smashing windows and doors, smearing the walls with filth, threatening to kill people for daring to transfer power peacefully.

I love my country through and through, with my heart and with my mind. First, I love this country as most of us love our homes and family — its physical beauty, its foods, its accents, its folklore, music, literature, films…

But I also love its ideals, no matter how imperfectly they have been followed in the past.

I don’t care about whether or not the flag touches the ground or is folded properly. I don’t care if the person next to me isn’t reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

I care that the person next to me, even if I despise that person’s views, is free to voice their opinions, worship or not worship as they choose, run for office if qualified, vote if qualified, without fear of being destroyed for doing it. I care that our system of peacefully transferring power from one leader to another, one political party to another, remains intact.

And as I look at the upcoming election, I care about whether or not the man who already tried once to overturn our institutions and seize power does it again.

People like that — Hitler and Pinochet come to mind — often have a dress rehearsal before actually succeeding.