The Pharisees of Patriotism
August 12th, 2008 by Kyle
Maybe the middle of the Olympics isn’t the best time to mention it, but Alex said it too perfectly to pass up.
America is more than just the land located between certain sets of borders, and it’s more than just the institutions of voting, checks and balances, and all that. At its heart, the United States is a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” In other words, the heart of America is its ideals.
True patriotism, in the American sense, has nothing whatsoever with putting a flag on your car’s antenna or saying the Pledge of Allegiance. It has everything to do with being devoted to the idea that all human beings are “endowed with certain inalienable rights.”
As a citizenry, we don’t share a religion, language, ethnicity, or culture. What we do share an idea, an idea way to big to be contained by the bonds of mere nationalism. Anyone demanding a pledge of allegiance or requiring displays of devotion is begging to be lied too. Alex called those that do “Pharisees of Patriotism” I like that, I hope the term catches on.
What does that have to do with the Olympics? Nothing I hope. Certainly you can root for your team and feel good about it. I, for one, will be cheering on the man-beast otherwise known as “Michael Phelps” all week. Also, I want to see Lebron James dunk over Yao Ming, Vince Carter Style. We can all revel together in the shear wonder of the 1000m Canoe race, right?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Fun with Balls, Political Sundries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.