Still Hung Up With the Flag

Support your country 100% of the time. Support your government when they deserve it.
-Mark Twain

A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.
-Edward Abbey

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
-George Bernard Shaw

[Patriotism] is love tempered by wisdom and powered by goodness and obligation.
-Paige Edmiston

I heard an interview with Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer, co-founders of The True Patriot Network. They've written a new book, aptly titled The True Patriot, in which they declare:

"...when you unpack true American patriotism — the idea of country before self — what you discover is a moral framework that goes back to this nation's founding, and that is inherently progressive. Living by such principles as service, stewardship, tolerance, and equality of opportunity, true patriots show that devotion to this nation means working to help America reach its exceptional potential and promise."

I like that better than "Love It or Leave It," don't you? Eric and Nick's raison d'etre is to convince political progressives (we used to be liberals but that's a dirty word now) that we should reclaim the word 'patriotism,' which conservatives have so successfully used against us (another one being God). Their tagline is "Patriotism is Progressive."

The last quote above comes from their website, www.TruePat.org. Paige Edmiston, a senior at Federal Way High School, Federal Way, Washington, just south of here, won a $25,000 scholarship from The True Patriot Network for her essay What True Patriotism Means to Me: A New Breed of Superhero for the 21st Century. I feel better now. I'm counting on Paige to carry my flag while I stand at attention with my hand over my heart.