I gave this sermon yesterday, and many people said they appreciated this message, particularly this week.
NEVER FORGET: you ARE patriotic!
“Patriotism”
Wow, what a week to be speaking about patriotism! Some of my friends are saying they are “not feeling very patriotic” in the days leading up to the 4th of July, the day we celebrate the birth of this country. You may feel the same way, but I hope you all read this with an open mind this morning. I’ve been collecting the thoughts and words of so many Americans this week, and I hope you will consider them with all the openness you can muster.
I’m going to make the case this morning that it’s time to rethink our reaction to, and our own definitions of, the word patriotism. Some of us get the heebie-jeebies when anyone talks about patriotism; to us, it conjures up visions of “performative patriotism”: flag clothing used to say, “I love my country more than you do!”, exclusionary “patriotic” songs, public displays of flag-hugging, or endless recitations of the “Pledge of Allegiance”.
So let’s start with a definition of patriotism, which is: “Love for or devotion to one’s country.” Or, you might prefer this one: “feeling of attachment and commitment to a country.” This week, I read the transcript of a panel discussion at the John F. Kennedy Library in 2003. One of the panelists, Louis Menand, said this: “I want to suggest that patriotism, or love of country it is this: when you’re born, you’re handed certain things. You’re handed your parents, you’re handed the color of your skin, you’re handed your gender. And you’re handed the place you were born, New York City or the United States of America. You can do something with those things ...choosing to do something with them rather than simply taking credit for something you had nothing to do with. That’s patriotism.”
I’ve been thinking about the concept of patriotism a very long time—probably since the early 1970’s, a time of great unrest, and massive changes, in our country. It was a time when there were those who dared to suggest ways to improve our country, who dared to state that justice was not equal to ALL citizens of the United States. That’s when I first heard the phrase, “America: Love It or Leave It”. For reasons unknown to my 12-year-old self, when I heard someone say that, I felt “my hackles go up”—my jaw would clench and I felt very defensive for some reason. I knew instinctively then that there was something wrong with those words, and now I know full well why I felt that way. To me, any heartfelt discussion ends when the other person says something so offensive. Because I want to make MY country better, because I want MY country to be the best for all citizens, I have to leave??? That makes no sense. Sadly, that mindless, thoughtless statement still is thrown around today.
Do I love my country? Yes, I do. I love the ideals of free speech, equality under the law, and the basic ideas of this democracy. I love to vote, and I love that I can vote. I love the part of the Declaration of Independence that says I have an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I love that the Statue of Liberty spells out our welcome to others: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." I appreciate that my country welcomed my ancestors not that many years ago. But, as with any relationship, while I love my country, I know it has flaws. It can be a better country; this is a country that is only as good as the citizens force it to be, because my country is a stubborn entity!
Do I support, am I committed to, my country? Yes, I do, and yes I am. I pay taxes, I vote, I read about and follow the events taking place here. I applaud and cheer when the leaders of my country do something to make the world a better place, and I voice my condemnation when the leaders of my country do something that would hurt the world. I call and write to my representatives in Congress, and in the state of Indiana. And, I am committed to always being aware of what is happening in my country, by following the news and supporting the journalists who bring us the news. I show my diligence as a citizen by contributing to organizations who make sure our laws are upheld fairly (the ACLU).
Do I defend my country? Yes! When justice is done because our laws are good, and people make sure those laws are followed, yes, I do defend my country with enthusiasm.
James Baldwin, in his book Notes of a Native Son, said it more succinctly, "I love America more than any other country in this world and exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
We have to always remember the United States of America is not just its' leaders, it is the people who live here. We call the White House and the Capitol building “the peoples’ Houses” for a reason—they belong to US, not the current occupants.
Theodore Roosevelt said it best: "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
After this initial discussion, perhaps you still feel like the people Jane Coaston has described: “There is…this growing cynicism. And I would say it’s a form of doomerism; this [feelng], this place sucks. It will always suck. There’s nothing we can do. Everything is bad.”
Here’s what Thomas Jefferson might reply to you: “When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object,…it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed.”
I put it to you: We, the people of the United States, were born of patriots…and dissenters. Whether your ancestors were Indigenous, stating that the law of the white interlopers was unjust, or if your family tossed tea into the Boston Harbor—protesting taxation without representation, or if your ancestors escaped famine and strife in another country only to find themselves exploited for labor here, and raged against the injustice of that, or if your foreparents were brought here in chains to be slaves for white people, and for generations have tried to be seen as equals under the law, YOU were born of patriots.
Today, we are going to hear from a lot of those rabble-rousers, those protestors, those PATRIOTS who love this country and want it to be a better place for all. Every one of these people have been lauded as great Americans.
Let’s put these first quotes in the column of, “It’s a long fight for justice for all. And we have to fight every day.”
Abigail Adams to John Adams March 31, 1776
“I long to hear that you have declared an independency—and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments, 1848
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.”
You MUST be involved! Make the comfortable…uncomfortable. Listen to what other patriotic rabble-rousers need, and help them! As my shirt says, “Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.”
Martin Luther King Jr. cautions, in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail April 16, 1963:
“We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal”. But I am sure that if I had lived in Germany during that time I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers even though it was illegal….
I must make[an] honest confession to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers…. I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens’ Counciler of the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who Is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence justice; who says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season”. Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.”
Do not be deterred. NEVER let someone tell you, “America, love it or leave it.” The fight is here, it’s important, and it IS American.
Paul Robeson, actor and singer, was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities on June 12, 1956. Here is a part of the exchange between Mr. Robeson and members of the Committee:
“In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being. Where I did not feel the pressure of color as I feel it in this Committee today.
Question: Why did you not stay in Russia?
Answer: Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no Fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?”
If this week taught us nothing else, it reminded us to always hold our leaders accountable. It IS patriotic to question, and to VOTE, against anyone in power who fails to follow or uphold the laws of our country. Ben Franklin replied, when questioned about the work of the committee who were crafting the Constitution, that they were creating a “Republic, if YOU can keep it”. It’s our very basic patriotic duty to make sure the powerful are held accountable. And, we’ve had to do that over and over and over again, throughout the history of the United States.
George Mason, a participant in the Constitutional Convention, issued this warning in 1787:
“The president of the United States has no Constitutional Council, a thing unknown in any safe and regular government. He will therefore be unsupported by proper information and advice, and will generally be directed by minions and favorites; or he will become a tool to the Senate…
The President of the United States has the unrestrained power of granting pardons for treason, which may sometimes exercise to screen from punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the crime, and thereby prevent a discovery of his own guilt.”
Margaret Chase Smith , the first woman elected to both houses of Congress, stated this in her Declaration of Conscience (in response to the McCarthy “witch hunts” for Communists), in 1950:
“Mr. President: I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national suicide and the end of everything that we Americans hold dear….I think it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some soul-searching—for us to weigh our consciences—on the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America—on the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges.
I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution. I think that it is high time that we remembered; that the Constitution, as amended, speaks not only of the freedom of speech but also of trial by jury instead of trial by accusation…
Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism,…ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism—
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right to protest;
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn’t? Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would have set in.”
And just this week, Cassidy Hutchinson weighed in on the actions of a former president when she appeared before the January 6th Committee of the House of Representatives:
“Ms. Hutchinson, do you recall seeing this tweet, in which the president said the vice president did not have the courage to do what needed to be done?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: I do.
REP. CHENEY: Ms. Hutchinson, what was your reaction when you saw this tweet?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: As a staffer that worked to always represent the administration to the best of my ability and to showcase the good things that he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated and disappointed, and really it felt personal. I — I was really sad. As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic.
It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie, and it was something that was really hard in that moment to digest, knowing what I've been hearing down the hall and the conversations that were happening. Seeing that tweet come up and knowing what was happening on the Hill, and it's something that I — it's still — I still struggle to work through the emotions of that.”
As we have heard from rabble-rousing, questioning Americans: to be patriotic, one must be willing to fight—constantly--for the ideals of our country. Our country was built on the ideals of equality, justice, and building and sustaining a country that would then make positive contributions to the rest of the world. I think the founders of this country hoped that other countries would look to us as an example of how a government should work; a government elected by a free citizenry, a country where every one of its' people worked together to make it, and then the rest of the world, a better place. A people that worked together for the common good, not just for themselves.
I close with the words of President John F.
Kennedy, "Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global
alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life
for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort? In the long history of
the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending
freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility
— I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any
other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which
we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the
glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask
what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but
what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask
of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you.
With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of
our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love."
THAT, my friends, is patriotism.
Thank you.
Copyright 2022
