The real meaning of patriotism

On this sunny Fourth of July weekend, it's appropriate to pause and consider the true meaning of patriotism, a word that is frequently abused and misused during election campaigns. And once again this year the major presidential candidates, Republican John McCain, Democrat Barack Obama and their most fervent supporters are arguing about the "real" definition of patriotism.

While both McCain and Obama claim to be "patriots," they define this very American word in different ways in the current issue of Time magazine. To McCain, a genuine American war hero who spent five terrible years in a grubby North Vietnamese prison, "Patriotism means more than holding your hand over your heart during the national anthem (or) walking into a voting booth every two or four years and pulling a lever. Patriotism is a love and a duty, a love of country expressed in good citizenship." Sounds good to me.

But for Obama, the multi-cultural son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, patriotism is about "a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles. It's the idea that we can say (and) write what we think without hearing a sudden knock on the door ... It is the love and defense of these ideals that constitutes the true meaning of patriotism." As a journalist, I like that more modern definition of the word while recognizing that both definitions express vital elements of our national identity as Americans.

As Peter Beinart of the Council on Foreign Relations explains in Time, "Conservatives think patriotism is a tribute to the past" while "liberals believe it's a key to the future." Fortunately, true patriotism is a combination of both of those important concepts. I think it's downright un-American to condemn either side for being "unpatriotic" during a heated election campaign because our flag doesn't belong to Democrats or Republicans; it belongs to all of us.

Take the matter of American flag lapel pins, for example. Early in the current campaign, McCain wore one and Obama didn't on grounds that "true patriotism has nothing to do with little flags on politicians' lapels." Instead, he argued, "it's about actions ... It's about taking on your government when it goes astray." Well, without wanting to be too wishy-washy about it, I usually wear an American flag pin " as does Obama these days " but I also criticize federal, state and local governments when I think they've gone astray. That's my job as an Appeal opinion columnist and a responsible citizen.

So as we eat hot dogs, drink beer and wave our little American flags this Fourth of July weekend, let's remember that patriotism is more than traditional symbols. It's also about working together, in the immortal words of our Constitution, to achieve "a more perfect Union" for our children and grandchildren.

THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD

On a related topic, "The Post-American World" is the title of a best-selling book by Fareed Zakaria, the Indian-born editor of Newsweek International. He has written a brilliant analysis of the dramatic changes taking place throughout the world in the first decade of the 21st century. Zakaria describes a world in which the United States, as the only remaining military superpower, must learn to co-exist peacefully with rapidly emerging economic powers in Asia (such as China and India) and the Middle East.

"This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else," he writes. "At the politico-military level, we remain in a single superpower world. But in every other dimension -- industrial, financial, educational, social and cultural " the distribution of power is ... moving away from American dominance. That does not mean we are entering an anti-American world (as I wrote last Sunday), but we are entering a post-American world ..."

Zakaria reports that China's economy has grown by more than 9 percent per year for almost 30 years to become the world's second largest economy. The Chinese economy has doubled every eight years for three decades and more than 400 million people have been moved out of poverty to become a huge market for U.S. exports. And moreover, "the 20 fastest-growing cities in the world are all in China," which will host the 2008 Olympic Games next month.

India too is transforming itself from a backward Third World country into an economic powerhouse. Since 1997, Zakaria observes, "India has been peaceful, stable and prosperous." During the same period, the nation's economy expanded by 7 percent per year, which means that the average Indian will double his income in less than 10 years, an impressive accomplishment by any measure.

What are the implications of the developing world's economic progress for the U.S.? Zakaria provides a hopeful answer: "For America to thrive in this new and challenging era ... it need fulfill only one test. It should be a place that is as inviting and exciting to the young student who enters the country today as it was for this awkward 18-year-old a generation ago." I hope he's right. Happy Fourth of July and God Bless America!

Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City.