Bush's Worst Legacy -- The Desecration of "Patriotism"

Reasonable people can disagree about which of George W. Bush's disastrous decisions will prove to have damaged the American people most.

After all, he is the president who decided to invade Iraq for reasons that all proved to be false and then proceeded to mismanage that war horribly. With the help of a Republican Congress he proceeded to take the country from a budget surplus to a multi-trillion dollar deficit which our children and grandchildren will have to deal with. He shredded the Constitution as he eliminated the rights of habeas corpus and gave himself the right to spy on American citizens in unprecedented ways for any or no reason at all. In addition, he destroyed our reputation and credibility in the world by presiding over agencies that use torture and treat prisoners in ways that Americans never have in the past. Before Bush, we could rightfully claim to be a moral country that refused to torture and demean people in the same ways as those countries we have criticized in the past. No more.

A strong case could be made for each of these damaging missteps to be designated as the worst.

But my vote has to go to the way in which Mr. Bush has twisted the meaning of "patriotism" and turned a powerful important concept into an empty and meaningless slogan.

Since the Iraq war began more than five years ago, Bush has repeatedly referred to the great sacrifices that are being made by patriotic Americans. The truth, of course, is that more than 99% of all Americans have never even been asked to make any sacrifice at all.

The cost of the war is closing in on $1 trillion and yet there has never even been a conversation about how our country is going to pay for it. The vast majority of Americans have been given a tax cut as the bills our children and grandchildren will have to pay balloon into the stratosphere.

The actual fighting has been done by a large number of Hispanics seeking a fast track to U.S. citizenship (which they often receive posthumously) and a disproportionate number of men and women from rural communities whose economic opportunities are limited and who may be attracted by the $100,000 enlistment bonuses and $500,000 death benefit available to our soldiers. A small fraction of our soldiers are well educated or have chosen service to their country over attractive employment options.

No one in Washington ever called for a draft or mandatory government service of any kind during this war. Bush himself has never even suggested that it would be a patriotic act for a young man or woman to enlist.

In an unforgettable July 4th speech two years ago, Bush called on patriotic Americans to pray for our troops and to write a letter to a soldier serving in Iraq. He never mentioned volunteering to serve our country or suggested that anyone do so.

At a news conference three months later, Bush suggested that the most patriotic thing Americans could do to help the war effort was to "keep shopping" to support the economy. It was the same request he made during the week after 9/11 when Americans were shaken by the attack and looking for way to serve their country.

The people who seem most proud of their patriotism today show it by displaying a decal declaring their support for our troops (whatever that means) on their cars and by calling talk radio shows to castigate Democrats and liberals who don't understand that we are facing an evil enemy. The "patriots" I know personally have no interest in paying for this war or in having their children or grandchildren fight in it. But under Bush's definition they are patriots all.

On July 4th I attended a session at the Aspen Ideas Festival where former Republican Congressman Jack Kemp, Stanford history professor David Kennedy, and Harvard government professor Michael Sandel discussed "Patriotism and the Presidency in 2008." The entire discussion focused on the history of the word "patriot." Each of the panelists defined patriotism as the feeling one gets when we hear the national anthem or seeing gargantuan American flags that are made big enough to completely cover football fields.

At no time during the discussion was "shared sacrifice" ever mentioned. It showed the extent to which Bush has succeeded in redefining a once proud term.

I believe that when historians and the rest of us look back on The Bush Years, the phrase "Keep shopping" will stand along side Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake." Each quote captured the arrogance of leaders who were steeped in a sense of privilege and entitlement and were completely out of touch with and indifferent to the suffering and challenges their decisions created for millions of common people who paid the price for their selfish and misguided decisions.

Comments

[dhinds]

The truest American Patriot is Dennis Kucinich

[Titonwan]

Yeah, the lizards have taken over. There are a few patriots left in Washington, but they're castigated and ignored. Big monies from the Banks and Corporations have flooded the Capitol and we'll probably never know which how much of the National Wealth is in off shore accounts. How do you stop it when you have the perfect Republican Neocon Mole in the third most powerful job in the Nation? How is the war going to cease (it's now looking like at LEAST two years now, with lots of G.I.s left behind permanently) and when will we get our fourth amendment rights back? This is a "Democrat" doing this to us! Nancy couldn't have done a better job if she was listening to K.Rove himself... wait... And the final nail in the coffin is the corporate sponsor "AT&T" who was not satisfied to get off on illegal data mining for this criminal white house, but now has their logo plastered at the DNC in Colorado. Rubbing our noses in it, is the way I see it. Things are going to happen fast now...

[ilikbshbtntgeo]

Patriotism, like religion, is a concept used to get the ignorant underclass to fight the wars of the ruling class.

"Imagine no countries ... its easy if you try" - John Lennon.

[sand cat]

I certainly agree he poured more gasoline on the fire, but face it: "patriotism" has been a dead word for YEARS.

[flabingo]

I just finished reading Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. It is chilling to read. Look up the reviews on Amazon. Every Voter should be required to read this book

[gettysburg]

I pray for a draft every night. Let's level the playing field. I guarantee you a lot of so called patriotic flag wavers would have a whole different attitude if their children and grand children were forced to go to Iraq. Wars are easy when other people's kids are the ones dying.

[lgellman]

Bush and his handlers know this which is why it was never even an option.

[catzoned]

Remember Bush was inaugurated Jan. 20, 2001 and by Feb. 27, 2001, Qwest was refusing to turn over personal information of their customers to the new Bush administration. (Google the date) What we do not know is why Bush needed, or wanted, to obtain personal, warrantless, and intrusive information and illegal wiretapping. Why did he spy? Did he want to spy on other politicians or did he know about the pending 9/11 attacks and did nothing about it? All of America deserves an answer to that information! Remember 9/11 HAD NOT happened yet. Oh my, my, there are many, many questions about this Bush administration that remain unanswered.

[newbridge]

Patriotism means so many things. Since the 2000 selection of President, most Americans have learned that one way to be patriotic is to stay informed and attentive. To call our leaders to task if they are not doing things right. Democracy thrives on informed consent. We have had informed consent taken away from us by all of Bush/Cheney's last seven years.

We had no informed consent when they:

-lied us into war
-did not tell us they were spying on us
-decided torture and kidnapping people was the American way
-ruined our reputation with the world
-promoted democracy at the point of the sword

Surely, we all know we have been scammed by now. If you love this great country you will take it back from the traitors who gave it away.

[daffey]

Loved the first line. A clever take on the old ‘reasonable people can disagree.’ But as for the meat of the point. There’s a lot of good in this one, but in all fairness, there's one point that shows the result of old revolutions gone bad. It isn’t Bush who has twisted the idea of patriotism. That honor goes to - the sixties brand of liberalism. When I was growing up, patriotism was a byword for loony at best, and a basis for the misery of humanity at worst. It was never, ever a ‘powerful and important concept.’ In the popular media, patriotism was Frank Burns, or Archie Bunker. They were the flag wavers. Those who opposed them? Did they offer a variation on patriotism? Nope. Hawkeye and Meathead and a host of commentators and scholars reminded us that patriotism was like the butter churn: a relic of the past, and those who evoked it were to be suspected of wanting to start wars and nuke babies. So it was that by my graduate days, you could find essays and college texts questioning if patriotism could ever be good, or if there even was room for it in ‘modern enlightened society.’ Since human nature abhors a super-vacuum, it was logical that anyone now could step in and define things their own way. So while Bush can certainly be accused of twisting the concept of patriotism, it appears he is neither alone, nor the first to do so.

[bluesoul]

"Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings. Steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"
Bob Dylan

[harriscrl3]

Patriotism in Rethuglicans eyes mean fighting wars. It does NOT mean love of country. They are many ways you can show Love of country fighting wars is just one of them granted its the most extreme but its NOT the only way to show love. Love of country also means putting America first it means negoitiating trade deals that are beneficial to most Americans not big corporations it means finding a way to deal with the 47 million Americans that dont have access to healthcare, it means protecting our enviromnent and our natural resources, it means ensuring that our children can compete in a global economy it means PROTECTING Civil Liberties, it means ensuring civil rights for groups that are discriminated against, it means responding quickly and efficiently when there is a natural or man made disaster that threatens our country and its people. Thats what Patriotism define as love of country means. We need to cease using this extreme definition of patriotism because its the extreme and they are many more factors and it also does not include most of the population. Only about 1% of people serve in the military there has to be other ways for the 99% to be patriotic other than flying a flag and wearing a freaking pin made in China.

Carol

[BCubedReg]

Fighting wars is not patriotic. Fighting in defense of a nations values, ideals and way of life is patriotic. Just fighting wars is not patriotic.

That's why the war in Iraq is a sham.

[Cathexis]

The worst thing the Right has done is to mask Nationalism and Jingoism as "Patriotism," thus diluting the true significance of the term.

[lgellman]

Carol--

I agree with what you're saying. As I said, I think what has been deleted from the equation over the last eight years is the concept of shared sacrifice. There are many ways to be patriotic but the meaningful ones all involve active participation. Under Bush's definition it has become a spectator sport.

[luckyt]

Carol, I don't know if you served in the military, whether or not is not as important as your profound understanding of Patriotism. I remember the pride I felt when I pledge to defend the Constitution and my Country against foreign as well as its domestic enemies in 1963 and the hurt when I came back as a young Marine from Vietnam in1965. Just recently I sent off my Marine Sgt nephew on his third tour of Iraq, I told him this is the life you chose- serve with honor, you serve God, Country, and Your fellow Marines. While My nephew is in Iraq our President is in China making hypocritical speeches about freedoms that he wishes to impose on the Chinese while he erodes ours. While our men and women are dying our Media is bestowing Patriotic accolades so that he can justify another one of his vacations, he has no other reason for being in China except to go to the Olympics. How many other world leaders are there as a show of Patriotism?

[Toonadude]

Shared Sacrifice? Remember Jimmy Carter's cartigan sweater? Remember the ridicule?

What we are today blossomed under the Reagan years. And Reagan didn't force us into the me first, greed is good mode....he just unlocked the cage of what we already had inside and didn't make us feel guilty about letting it out. Similarly, we can't blame Bush for getting us drunk. We were already too drunk to care when he crashed the party in 2000.

So yeah, I just got back from stumbling through the mall in a prozac induced haze and just in time for American Idol. Gotta run now though. A new natural male enhancement product is being advertised and I don't want to miss something important.

[aprogressivepatriot]

Heartbreaking, yes. But while President Bush is perhaps the worst offender, he is not the first to declare ownership of patriotism and contort it into meaningless, even dangerous bravado. That has been happening for some time. I think right-wing politicians were just more subtle about it in the past.
These guys speak to the topic far better than I can: truepat.org -- In their book The True Patriot they discuss how patriotism has been hijacked by the far right and ceded by the far left. Especially important topic in this election season! Amazing book in many other ways.

[jschoder]

Patriotism has never been a value. It always was an instrument to control the poor and exploited.

It always has been a game of make-believe. Believe that the CEOs of Exon&Friends actually have the same interests as the below-minimum-workers "paid" by them. Companies won't hesitate to outsource jobs to third-world-countries and fire people if it increases profits.

What is the interest of a country?
Creating the biggest military in history (which couldn't defend it on 9/11)?
Providing non-profit health care for its population?
Creating a sustainable society or to continue destructive exponential growth?

The US government is used to make up a big thread to your security: Neither the german emperor (WW1), Hitler nor the Sovjet Union actually wanted to attack or destroy the US. And a small group of criminal murders (called terrorists) isn't a thread to the security of a country.

[Transit]

"Keep shopping" and don't worry! We're making progress. God how can you keep listening to that crap. If that's what patriotism is all about ( and it looks that way) then maybe we should go back to the old catch phrase "Eat the rich". That would at least put them on notice. Imagine the scene of patriotic zombies scavenging through wealthy neighborhoods.

But enough about horror movies or what some would call the "Bush administration". Yes, we've allowed George Bush and those people of the same mind set to take our country away from us. It's our own fault. While we've indulged in patriotic bumper stickers, lapel pins, country and pop songs and painting the American flag on everything that holds still for two minutes, they've raped this country of the very foundations that made it a beacon to the world.

We have to reconnect. "Shared sacrifices" is one way to do that. There are about 25 countries that have the draft but offer alternative service instead of serving in the military. Young people work in hospitals, day care centers, with the elderly and in many other functions that benefit the community. A few countries draft non-combatants. There are enough pros and cons here to keep the talking heads going for years. But basically we've got to redefine patriotism and this would be a good place to start.