A VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Rich Trzupek
The Patriot
It�s amazing how certain words can have contradictory meanings and evoke contradictory emotions, depending on the person using them. Once again the word �patriot� has joined the hot list of words that swing both ways.
It�s not the first time that �patriot� has suffered for a split personality. It was a derisive word during the Viet Nam War, but it was eventually rehabilitated after the storm of 60�s anti-establishment fury finally blew itself out.
But history does repeat itself and, once again, those in the left have taken the word down a notch. This includes, of course, left-wing media types who can barely contain a sneer when they are forced to use it. Fellows like Tom Brokow and Keith Olberman nearly choke when they refer to �The Patriot Act,� but they haven�t started calling it �The Neo-Fascist Suppression of Americans Act.� Not yet.
On the left, the term is used with disdain. Not because, they are quick to assure you, they hate America. They say they love America, and I will take them at their word. But �patriot� refers to an America they want no part of today.
When the left hears the word, they hear propaganda, designed to cover up right-wing excess by waving the flag. They see images of thousands of 21st century stormtroopers, marching in lockstep. For them �patriot� is an excuse, a word used to justify American �aggression� and to silence the voices of dissent.
The mistaken notion that the voices of dissent have been silenced in this country is a subject for another column. Dissent is everywhere, from the big networks to blogs to bumperstickers. There was even a radio network dedicated to dissent, and if Air America was silenced, it�s not because the big, bad Bush administration shut them down. It�s because Al Franken still can not find an audience.
The voices of dissent are routinely mocked, but that hardly qualifies as suppression. That�s part of being an American too. If you can�t handle the heat�well you know the rest. And it�s not like the mocking doesn�t go both ways, or am I only the only one to tune into The Daily Show lately? Jon Stewart is a hoot. Completely wrong, but a crack-up none-the-less.
As a conservative, I know what the left says that I means when I use the word �patriot,� but I would prefer to offer my own definition, on my behalf and on behalf of the millions of Americans who share my beliefs.
Patriots do believe that this is our country, right or wrong. But we don�t believe that because we think America is always right or because we think its OK to be wrong.
We rather believe that America, like every nation on Earth, will err from time to time. While those errors are, regrettable, this nation�and every nation�should be judged by due consideration of both sides of the balance sheet. By that standard (and here is where left and right diverge) America has been, and continues to be, an enormous influence for good in the word.
We are, therefore, patriotic about American ideals like self-determination, individual responsibility and honor. We believe these ideals have made a positive difference in the world and, whether we stumble now and again or not, we believe that they are worth pursuing and the nation that embraces them is worth supporting.
We are proud, in an odd sort of way, of the dissenters as well. As angry as they can be, as much as they accuse of being (alternately) stupid, blind crackers or sharp, demonic plotters, they are allowed to have their say. That too is America. The opposition does not have to be respectful. It doesn�t even have to be loyal. All we require is that the opposition refrain from doing things like�oh, blowing up innocent civilians.
It is patriotic, in our view, to believe that liberty is a gift that the whole world can enjoy. We do not see that as forcing our form of government on other people. In fact, we see it exactly the opposite way. We believe that, given the gift of liberty, people can and will chose the kind of government that serves them best. Without liberty, they must succumb to the whims of the people who have the guns.
The alternative view, that there are people in the world who �can not handle liberty,� seems to us to be a terribly cynical, and borderline racist, outlook. If we are all equal, why should some people be unworthy of equality in this, the most important national concept of all: self-determination?
It is also patriotic to understand that patriotism is not always popular. The original patriots enjoyed, at best, the support of only one-third of the nation they would create, as the Revolutionary War languished over eight long years.
Abraham Lincoln stood up for liberty and his nation as no American, before or since, has. Yet, for the vast majority of his term in office, he was assailed by all sides as a boob, a dictator and a madman. America did not recognize Lincoln the patriot until the nation lost his services and had a chance to reflect on what he had stood for, against all odds.
No one is more patriotic than the soldier on the front lines. Whether they were shivering in a trench in Belgium in 1944, sweating in rice paddies in Viet Nam, or broiling under the Baghdad sun, the citizen soldier has served the cause of liberty faithfully and well. We owe more to them than we can ever repay and, though much of the world may spit in their direction, all of the nations on Earth owe them a debt as well.
They have stood up, time and again, not to conquer�as the dissenters would have it�but for liberty�s sake. The free peoples of Eastern Europe, Japan, Germany, France, Panama, the Phillipines, South Korea and so many other places on the globe are mute testimony to that fact.
It is patriotic to appreciate their sacrifice. The dissenting left seems to understand that too today, and that�s progress. While radicals spit on the soldiers who served in Viet Nam, this new breed of protesters seems, at least, to recognize that the courage and convictions of the soldiers engaged in a fight should be disconnected from their perception of that fight�s value. We can agree on this at least: our men and women in uniform deserve nothing but praise.
Most of all, a patriot stands up for what he or she believes. For that is the essence of America: a free, untattered exchange of ideas.
It�s an exchange that is almost always raucous, and occasionally downright nasty, but we all get our say. So long as we recognize that preserving that process is, ultimately, what preserves the freedoms we all hold dear, �patriot� will never be a dirty word.
