Liberals Shouldn't Let Conservatives Own Patriotism (And The Confederate Flag Has NO Business Flying Beside Our Flag)

I've spent 11 of the last 36 months traveling. From Austria to Cambodia to Honduras, I've blogged about how travel can teach you how to be happy; how travel is like being in kindergarten, college, and adulthood, all at once; and how there's no limit to how much you can learn (and teach) while abroad. I've seen wild orangutans, herds of elephants, five different hornbill species, 900-year-old temples, blue flame volcanoes (seriously!), and so much more.

Despite all this, when people ask me to pick my favorite country, the answer is easy:

America. 

​America is the best country.

You're totally welcome to disagree with me. It wouldn't upset or offend me if you picked Finland or Vietnam or Chile. 

And it really shouldn't offend you if I say America is my favorite country.  

Yet I expect in certain circles, there's something somehow offensive about having love and pride in a nation that, though imperfect, is incredibly awesome and progressive on so many issues. 

As Americans, we have a lot to be proud of -- beyond being "back to back World War Champs." (That's what the shirt I'm wearing in the title/header image says. Weirdly, I found that shirt at a market in Myanmar, but you can get your very own version on Amazon. Amazingly, it also comes in hat, and I just ordered mine.)

The United States – again, though. imperfect – was formed upon our "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," as outlined in the Declaration of Independence.

In other words, if you are the kind of person who displays bumper stickers and yard signs that say things like, "Black Lives Matter," "Love is Love," "Women's Rights are Human Rights," and "Hate Has No Home Here," then you are EXACTLY the kind of person who should be flying the American flag –these are liberal, American values!

On the other hand, you know who has no business flying our flag?

First of all, white supremacists, neo-nazis, alt-righters, and other hateful halfwits  who fly the confederate or Nazi flag alongside the American flag.

Y'all – WE WENT TO WAR WITH THOSE ENTITIES. IN WHAT WAY DOES FLYING THEIR FLAG MAKE YOU PATRIOTIC?

Rallying under those flags... is almost kinda like treason to the USA.

(Credit: Robert F Sargent/Getty Images)

Second, even if you're not some overtly racist neo-nazi, if you're a trump supporter, you likely have no business flying our flag, either. 

If you were simply Republican, I'd of course encourage you to fly your American flag. But if you're a trump-supporting Republican... I mean, how can you claim to be patriotic and love America when you're supporting someone whose actions and words undermine the very values this country is built upon?

You should be horrified by this man.

After all, as Jonathan Raunch and Benjamin Wittes, who both spent their professional careers "strenuously avoiding partisanship in their writing and thinking" until 2018, wrote in their March 2018 Atlantic article, Boycott the Republican Party:

The first [unforgivable sin] is [trump's] attempt to erode the independence of the justice system. This includes Trump’s sinister interactions with his law-enforcement apparatus: his demands for criminal investigations of his political opponents, his pressuring of law-enforcement leaders on investigative matters, his frank efforts to interfere with investigations that implicate his personal interests, and his threats against the individuals who run the Justice Department. It also includes his attacks on federal judges, his pardon of a sheriff convicted of defying a court’s order to enforce constitutional rights, his belief that he gets to decide on Twitter who is guilty of what crimes, and his view that the justice system exists to effectuate his will. Some Republicans have clucked disapprovingly at various of Trump’s acts. But in each case, many other Republicans have cheered, and the party, as a party, has quickly moved on. A party that behaves this way is not functioning as a democratic actor.

The second unforgivable sin is Trump’s encouragement of a foreign adversary’s interference in U.S. electoral processes. Leave aside the question of whether Trump’s cooperation with the Russians violated the law. He at least tacitly collaborated with a foreign-intelligence operation against his country—sometimes in full public view. This started during the campaign, when he called upon the Russians to steal and release his opponent’s emails, and has continued during his presidency, as he equivocates on whether foreign intervention occurred and smears intelligence professionals who stand by the facts. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has confirmed his nominees, doggedly pursued its agenda on tax reform and health care, and attacked—of course—Hillary Clinton.

In discussing this with my friend Ron Smith, who basically earned a PhD in history from home during his retirement, Ron made another interesting point:
​

 

Our "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" are currently under attack by the specter of authoritarianism as personified by Donald Trump and all of his dictator "friends" (Putin, Xi, MBS, Kim, Erdogan, Duda, Duterte, Orban, etc.).

The Trump Republican party has morphed from one which used to defend individual rights to one intent on limiting them by allowing foreign interference in our elections, voter suppression through gerrymandering, limiting ballot access and limited polling places, attacking the freedom of speech, the press, and peaceful assembly. In the process, the symbolism for which our flag was intended is getting subverted to loyalty to an authoritarian person and party. 

​

In other words, if you support trump, maybe you should take down your American flag and just fly a trump flag, instead. 

But if you love liberal values like free speech, free press, free elections, peaceful transfer of power, equality, free religion, etc. etc. etc... then you are exactly the kind of person who should feel pride in this country and what it stands for. 

If you love this country's entrepreneurial, inclusive spirit – if you love the progress we've made in terms of gender and racial equality (even though there's still work to be done) – then you are exactly the kind of person who should celebrate the American flag.

So why don't we? Because to many people, especially young ones, "patriotism" means something different than it did just a few decades ago. Ron Smith, reflecting on how the meaning of Patriot has changed in his lifetime, even calls for a redefinition of patriotism.

During the time I grew up in the post-WWII 50's and 60's, patriotism was not defined by military might or allegiance to a political party (let alone the president).

The cause of freedom was very much still on people's minds after the threat of Hitler and Imperial Japan. The way people expressed that freedom was through engagement in the community and community service.  This may have been through their church, volunteerism in Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, volunteer fire departments, volunteer ambulance corps, Civil Defense agencies, etc.


I remember my grandmother still walking to the ambulance corps building when she was in her 80's to volunteer as a dispatcher.  My father served as Civil Defense director for our local township, as a volunteer fireman and as a fire policeman.  He also served as the Cubmaster for our Cub Scout pack. My mother was a den mother for our cub scout den, and served in the ladies auxiliary of the local fire department. These were the things people did then to help out their neighbors. That was considered patriotic duty as much as serving in the military.

Yet today, people are not patriotic enough even to wear a mask during a virus pandemic or avoid social gatherings, which spread the disease. We need a redefinition of patriotism in this country. We can't go back to the 50's or 60's, but we can instill some of that sense of community and apply it to our entire human community on the planet.

The SARs-Cov-2 virus should be teaching us that people around the world are in this together. Same applies to global climate change. A true US Patriot would want to see our country take a leadership position in solving these global issues which affect us all. This would make us the beacon of freedom around the world with a flag that was respected. It would be truly Patriotic to offer this vision to the world, rather than one of global militarism and imperialism, the things that we declared independence from in 1776 and spilled the first blood fighting against on behalf of the United States of America.

​

Liberals, don't let yourself get swept up in the hysteria. No, the American flag is not a conservative symbol – in fact, may of today's "conservative" (as in, trump-supporting) values are deeply un-American.

No, the US is not "as dangerous for women" as Yemen and Afghanistan and Syria – if you really believed that, you need a serious lesson in critical thought. We are not perfect – but who doesn't still tear up every time they see or think about this:

Yes, many of our Founding Fathers, presidents, and other leaders have complicated legacies by modern standards – but if you really think we ought to be tearing down statues of Lincoln because freeing the slaves "wasn't enough"... I really don't know what to say to you. No one is perfect, we have a lot to be proud of, and, by future moral standards, even the best of us will one day be monsters. 

I even wrote a song about this. ​

We have so many amazing, liberal rights and freedoms in this country – when conservatives attempt to erode these freedoms, it's important not to let them co-opt our flag as a symbol of their backwards and un-American values.

If you're a liberal, the American flag stands for when you stand for. It's time to own it.