Patriotism

What I have to say will likely offend. I do not mean it offensively (mostly), but I grow so tired of the way we are talking about our problems. I may lose readers over this. And I may even lose friends. But I have to be true to my convictions and write from my heart and with my innate capacity for reason.

I'll begin with the point that has been wearing at me for weeks now.

*clear throat*

If you are hoarding weapons to protect yourself from, or rise up against the government, you are NOT a Patriot. You could make a compelling argument for being a rebel or a revolutionary. Niether of which is a bad thing. But by the very definition of the word, you can not be a Patriot.

The other day after having been annoyed by and argued with a number of people over this point I decided to sit down and read 12-14 dictionaries. All looking up the same word. And with the exception of one (and of course Urban Dictionary which does not count) they all said the same thing. Either a kind of surface to air missile or one who loves his country and supports its interests.

Now in America we seem to see the idea of Patriotism differently because we started off rising up against the government. That line of rebellious acts have lasted our entire history and in this modern era manifests with our distaste at the direction of our government. But we have the problem of being told from the time we are very very young that we live in the "Best Country in the World". We're told it so often and for so long that we are compelled to believe it. Though I couldn't tell you who is with any certainty I know that it's not us at the moment. We're so ideologically divided and wrapped up in our own since of rebellion and self importance that our true greatness has slipped by unnoticed.

Now, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else at the moment. Simply because the way my life and health are currently I honestly couldn't live anywhere else. I'm not in love with my country the way so many profess to be, but I don't have enough against it to arm myself against the tyrannies I perceive, be they real or imagined, I'm not here to judge, I lack the data (and desire to find the data) to do so.

There seems to me to be a growing movement in a number of social and internet circles that can only be described as "The Cult of America". It seems to believe that America is and will forever be a bastion of hope in a savage and tyrannical world, and that the influence of the outside world is what's to blame for the fall from grace. "If we would just go back to the Constitution" they say, "Then this will all sort itself out". The Founding Fathers were like prophets channelling the power of the divine into the perfect union created by the Constitution.

Though I think that the founders of the country were unarguable smart men, and arguable wise men, I don't think they were as good at a perfect government as we seem to want to believe. If they were confident in their abilities as "Founding Fathers" then they probably wouldn't have worked in a means of changing it.

I completely agree that we've gone far from the ideals set down by the Framers. But that's generally the nature of Ideals. In the real world it's almost impossible to hold them indefinitely. Particularly when the world they were written for and the world that currently exists are so different from each other that we would have a hard time speaking the same language let alone agreeing on what makes a good government.

Now I agree that what is going on right now is not okay. The liberties we're losing and the things that our government is doing are not things I can support as an ethical and moral human being. However I don't think that our answer lies completely in the past. There are some really good ideas in the Constitution, but it's not the end all be all perfect government. How can I say this? Cause what's in there led us to the point we are at now.

It is the seed from which our current government was grown.

And yes in this metaphor we could return to the seed and try and grow it differently. But we're going to run into the same problem again. It is a document from another age. Making it work in the modern era is a truly monumental task. Because in a lot of ways the strangeness that is modern Washington is our attempt to reconcile the modern world with these good ideas from a bygone era.

Now, I'll never be the one to say I have the answers, particularly when I'm lacking the data, but I would imagine a better way to go would be to strip it for parts. Take all the good ideas and make them truly work in the modern age. We wouldn't have to devote thousands of hours and millions of dollars trying to "interpret what the Framer's intention was" like it's "Hills Like White Elephants" in freshmen English. We could write it in clear modern language. We could incorporate things things like the internet and television. We could create a modern Constitution for a Modern World.

I know it's not going to happen. But a man can dream can't he?