Am reading about the Middle Ages again. Has me thinking about a lot of things, but this comes to mind in a striking way:
Our sense today of “patriotism” and love of country. How little it’s evolved since the Middle Ages, and how we have no excuses for that lack of evolution.
An evolved form of patriotism would be one that desires the bluest skies, the purest water, the cleanest, most beautiful rivers, lakes, oceans, mountains, valleys. That evolved form of patriotism would want to work toward improving and enhancing that country’s environment, virtual and physical infrastructure, educational system, arts, parks, farms, main streets, heath care system, and so on. In short, a modern, logical, rational, common sense form of patriotism would be one that sought to make life better in that nation for all, not just for the rich, not just for a select few. For everyone.
A primitive, illogical, irrational and bizarre form of “patriotism” exists today. It truly boils down to this: Root hard and loud for conquest, be it economic, religious or military. Like fans in a stadium. Like cheerleaders on the floor of that stadium. Root blindly for the wealthiest to get wealthier. Root blindly for wars and more wars and more wars. Root blindly for a renewed encroachment of religion into our daily, private lives. Those who appear to control that word (patriotism) today do not show any love for their country, in reality. They show a misguided, distorted, counterproductive and counter-factual love of mayhem and inequality. They know not what they do . . .
Invest! Invest!! Invest!!! A true love of country would mean a serious investment in the things that make life beautiful, meaningful, exciting, stimulating, joyful. True patriotism would entail investment in all the arts, in the teaching and appreciation and creation of art, music, literature, crafts, philosophy and so on. It would mean the formation of special academies, sanctuaries of learning, production and appreciation, libraries, lecture halls, concert halls. It would mean bringing the arts to the people and the people to the arts … outside, in beautiful new parklands, and inside, in beautiful new concert and lecture halls. It would mean the creation of a New Atlantis.
It would involve a true commitment to national ideals and goals. It would mean that public monies would go to public projects that benefit all of us, not for private profit and private gain. In our national ship of state, we can’t allow powerful interests to work against each other and the rest of us, pulling that ship this way and that, going nowhere fast or crashing against the rocks. That’s not patriotic.
Love of country means actually loving that country. How can one claim to love a country through war, conquest, rapaciousness, greed, sleazy backroom deals, gaming the system or the imposition of narrow agendas that benefit the few? That’s not love of country. That’s love of ancient hierarchies.
Patriotism would also entail making sure government protects our freedoms, our rights, our privacy. It would mean protecting and defending the Constitution, not corporations, not the wealthy and the powerful, not those who seek to end-run the Constitution. It strikes me as one of the most obscene perversions of original intent that present day “patriots” think the wealthy and powerful need so much protection and defense, while the powerless and the poor and the middle can just eat Antoinette cake.
In short, the word needs very close scrutiny and profound reevaluation, today, now, this second. One’s country is not an abstraction. Corporations and armies do not represent that country. The wealthy and the powerful do not get to stand in for “the people”. Our countries, across the globe, consist of the land itself, our waterways, our farms, our skies, our arts, our sports and culture as a whole. Enhancing all of that, beautifying, protecting, developing all of that, improving our environment in every sense of that word … that’s what love of country is.
