Today is the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Much has been written about that event and the motivations behind it and the significance of the sequence of events that followed. Today I thought about the meaning of the word Patriot, both then and today. The term is widely used today. Many people have chosen to label themselves Patriots, myself included. A Patriot has been defined as “A person who loves and strongly supports or fights for his or her country.” That is most certainly me, but it seems to me a bit more discussion is needed on the meaning of the term. Specifically, WHY do I love my country? Why do I support her? Why would I fight for her? And fight whom?
In the case of the original American Patriots the enemy was of course the British. Specifically it was the King and his rules and taxes and abuses, so perfectly symbolized by Tea. And we have to remember that these were by and large British citizens and the enemy was in fact their own government. The changes the king was making were incremental, and at some point it became too much for the colonists. The awarding of the tea business to a single company would not seem to be enough to provoke men to war. But these men saw the erosion of their liberties and they had a vision of what should be and they were determined to bring that vision to reality.
I grew up in St. Louis and I am a Cardinals fan. When they win games I sometimes hear myself saying “we won”, when in fact I had nothing to do with it. They are my team and I am happy when they win and sad when they lose, just like the Missouri Tigers and Lafayette Lancers. But those are associations, nothing more. The Cardinals are a fine team but had I been raised elsewhere they would probably not be my team.
We do not choose our country of birth, which is something I think is unfortunate. I wish I had become an American by choosing this great country instead of just being lucky enough to be born here. I don’t really know what people think who are born in other countries. I suppose the French are proud of their country, as are the Chinese, Egyptians, and the Germans. Nationalism is not Patriotism. It is a subtle difference, but nationalism involves national identity, for example a belief that “Germans are superior”. Patriotism is a love of what your country represents.
I am an American Patriot because I love what this country represents. The folks who threw tea in the harbor and spilled blood to create a new country were kind enough to write down what this country represented. You know the words. “…that all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…”. Things like Separation of Powers and checks and balances. We believe in limited government, civil liberties, states’ rights. We demand freedom of religion and freedom of the press. We are a Constitutional Republic and a representative democracy and our country was founded on free market capitalism. The people of the United States have always embraced personal responsibility and self reliance, along with honesty and voluntary charity and strong work ethic.
I love my country because I strongly embrace the values it was founded upon. I love what we represent. And so it is with great sadness and concern that I note the erosion of those very values. I realize there are people who have been born here that do not embrace the values above. They are not proud of this country, they are ashamed. They want to fundamentally transform what it is that we represent. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of what is right and wrong, and so I respect that some folks will spend their lives in opposition to my values. I will meet them on the battlefield of ideas and do honest battle to protect what I believe in.
But those are not the people I want to talk about. That is the enemy I know, and the honest ones will admit they do not share my vision and we can do honest debate about what is right and wrong. The people who are bothering me right now are called REPUBLICANS.
Not all Republicans, of course. As anyone with eyes has noticed there is a real rift in the Republican party. It used to be more subtle but is now a rapidly expanding canyon. I have been pondering this issue for some time, trying to get my head around it, and this last week it came into pretty sharp focus for me. John Boehner, our Speaker of the House, made things pretty crystal clear when he openly criticized right wing patriot types for forcing Republicans to stand up for certain principles against their will. He complained that he was forced to oppose Obamacare, and this week he refused to oppose a budget deal that will raise spending by $60 billion over the next two years.
I was reminded of Chris Christie complaining about the “libertarian streak” in the Republican Party that really worried him. Or John McCain and his stance on, well, everything. I am reminded about Mike Rogers and his endless defense of the NSA spying program. And Peter King’s stance on, well, everything. I am reminded of the opposition to Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and Rand Paul.
We have ourselves a government that has a problem. They have an addiction or two. Obviously they are addicted to spending. And just like any other addict, they are in denial. Nancy Pelosi says there is no spending problem. John Boehner says we can’t get everything we want, and so he and Paul Ryan give us a deal that raises taxes and spending and will only cut a $700 billion a year deficit by $23 billion over 10 years. I would call that denial.
They are also addicted to power. The Democrats are currently in power in that they have the presidency and senate. They will do “whatever it takes” (see my last blog post) to keep that power. Speaker Boehner, on the other hand, values gaining power over everything else, including controlling their spending addiction. These two groups are like Cardinals fans versus Cubs fans. All that matters is having your team win. These people are proud of their “team” and their “wins” and not so much about ideals and philosophies.
Michelle Obama famously stated that the first time she was ever proud of her country was when her husband got elected. I do not doubt that is true. For some the pride in your country is based on what you accomplish, rather than what you represent. We “won” both world World Wars, so that makes us cool. Or maybe it is because we elected our first black president that you feel pride, much like Michelle Obama.
I choose to stick to being proud of the ideas upon which our great country was founded. And that is what I am here to defend. Nowhere in this country’s charter is there room for handing $17 trillion of debt to our grandchildren. That is not “us”. This is not ok and something has to be done to reverse it. Those of us who understand what America stands for know that we are at a crossroads and this proverbial “can” must not be kicked further down the road. The party is over. It is time to stop enabling the addicts in Washington. We are going to have to be the adults in the room, and act like parents, and display a little tough love. It is time to bite the bullet, wean ourselves off, and choose a better future for our grandchildren over a shallow team victory today.
This country was not founded on statism or socialism. We were founded by men who knew what tyranny was and did their best to set up a structure that could avoid it. Those were smart men but they knew there would come a time when tyranny and power would have to be confronted. There comes a time in the history of every nation when the government gets too much power, and becomes addicted to itself. The men who threw tea into the harbor in Boston and wrote the Declaration of Independence knew that the process would eventually be repeated, and brave and smart people would once again need to stand up for principle.
John Boehner and John McCain and Peter King are not going to do it. They love their team, not their country. No, the people that are going to effect change are going to come from the common, good decent folks across this country that know right from wrong and have finally had enough. Like me, they wear a label proudly. We are Patriots.
No comments:
Post a Comment