Posted by Dan Ewert : 3/28/2003 02:32:00 AM (Archive Link)
One of the things I keep reading from the anti-war crowd is that their demonstrations are patriotic. Barbra Streisand loves to crow about how her dissent is just that. Problem is… I don’t think it is patriotic. Most definitions I’ve come across define patriotism as a love of one’s country or a feeling inspired by the same. In that sense, then sure, you could maybe describe some dissent as patriotic. It’s rarely put in those terms, though. Instead, the act of dissent itself is supposed to be patriotic which is absurd. The exercise of a legal right doesn’t equal patriotism. Some guy could start a communist newspaper that denounced everything American and called for everything short of armed rebellion but The New York Times is still in print. Ha, ha… joke! The point is is that such a paper would be perfectly legal in the U.S. and would be exercising its First Amendment right, but you’d be hard pressed to find somebody who would describe it as patriotic. Back in my hometown of Topeka, KS, there’s a raving lunatic named Fred Phelps (if you want to see how nutty he really is, gird yourself and go here) who says all sort of outlandish things about America, but nobody would consider him patriotic. In fact, the loonball would probably be insulted if you did. Anyway, the exercising of rights is not patriotic. If it were, then I’m patriotic for going to church, owning a gun, not owning a slave, voting, and paying my taxes as enumerated in various constitutional amendments. So no, dissent is not necessarily patriotism.

Given that, most of the current dissent we’re witnessing in the country is not patriotic either. Seeing as how most of the demonstrators view American power (political, economic, and military) and American leaders as evil, love of country doesn’t seem to be their primary motivation. Doing or saying anything that would be complementary to America, even generally, would be tantamount to similar adoration of its hated institutions, policies, and even the blessed rights they are exercising. So to good ol’ Babs, let the message go out… dissent? Sure, go for it! Just stop calling yourself a patriot when you’re doing something unremarkable which is protected by law.