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.

Pass Me Another Hot Dog, Tom

Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.

-Thomas Paine

I'm still ambivalent about the flag, but not about Independence Day. That's the kind of commemoration I can get into, "Question Authority" being one of my favorite mottos. Of course, when I became the authority--and an untrustworthy one, at that--upon attaining the ripe old age of thirty, that was a peanut of a different color: it was 1977 and poor ol' Jimmy Carter was in charge--and my daughter was born.

If the Revolutionary part of our founding as free and independent states could have been accomplished without the War part I'd be even more keen, but you can't make a hot dog without grinding ox lips, so I guess it was for the best in the long run.

The other day I heard an interview with Christopher Hitchens on NPR's Talk of the Nation. He's the author of a new book about the influence of Thomas Paine on the French Revolution as well as the American, entitled Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography. It is the latest in the publisher's series on "Books That Changed the World." Hitchens makes Paine's life sound like a movie screenplay (not necessarily a bad thing) and I wanted to rush right out and get a copy.

The writings of Paine himself are among a select few from that long ago time that are still in print. You can probably find Common Sense and Rights of Man in any book store. I've read books on Adams and Jefferson (my trip to Monticello was akin to a spiritual experience) and I think a biography of Paine should be on that list. The Paine quote above is a favorite of mine from my days as a staunch Unitarian Universalist. He also wrote a more oft-quoted line: "These are the times that try men's souls." Everybody's used that one.

If you haven't read about the Revolutionary War since high school, and if you particularly don't care for non-fiction (David McCullough's works being my first choice), I recommend a novel about John and Abigail Adams entitled Those Who Love by Irving Stone. It's an easy read and provides good historical background.

Have a great holiday and don't burn yourself.