The last refuge of a scoundrel

For most people today, patriotism and what it means will be the last thing on their minds. For most people, July 4th, is a day of family, friends, food and fun. And there is nothing wrong with any of that. In fact, if you asked them, I'm sure the great majority would say that getting together with family and friends for food and fun is the way they celebrate the independence of our country, and thus is indicative of their patriotism.


Unfortunately, however, the Bush gang has taken much of the fun out of the July 4th celebration. George W. Bush has besmirched, not just our nation, but the Oval Office. He has tried to make patriotism equivalent to imperialism, war, jingoism, and his particular penchant for a dictatorship.

He and those who march along side and behind him have, for the past seven years, declared that anyone daring to question the actions of this fool for a president is an unpatriotic, dangerous, evil supporter of those terrorists who would destroy our country in the name of Allah.


Samuel Johnson, on April 7, 1775, made this famous statement:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Why he said that on the eve of the War of Independence is not known -- there is no context -- but that doesn't make it less significant.

Not so many years ago, when Barry Goldwater, then a Republican senator from Arizona, decided he wanted to be president, the mantra of his followers was "My Country, right or wrong!"

At the time, some people, in order to show what they thought of Goldwater and that slogan put bumber stickers on their vehicles which read: "Goldwater, my (picture of an ass)."


Robert Scheer of Truthdig, reminds us that patriotism, has a variety of meanings, not all good. He refers to the "Farewell Address" of President George Washington, in which Washington offers his country advice for the future. Washington hopes that the "men" running our nation "may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ..."

Scheer writes, "We are downing in the 'impostures of pretended patriotism,' used to cover the lies that got us into Iraq, the defense of torture and the violation of our basic liberties. In the name of patriotism, we presume a God-given American right to reorder the world to our liking, masking the vice of unfettered greed as an obligation of national security."

Barack Obama, sometimes criticized for not wearing an American flag replica in his lapel, in a recent speech in Independence, Missouri, quoted Mark Twain, who wrote that "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." Obama also said that while we hope our government would "stand up for our ideals," when it does not "then the dissent of ordinary Americans may prove to be one of the truest expressions of patriotism."

Here Obama was actually quoting Thomas Jefferson, who said, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism," and "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."


Ambrose Pierce once said that "Patriotism is fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and as irrational as a headless hen."

Or as Louis Bunuel put it, "God and country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed."


Patriotism isn't waving the flag or wearing a flag pin, or pledging allegiance, or blindly trudging in the footsteps of a nation's leaders. Patriotism has nothing to do with most things we do on July 4th. Patriotism is not the parroting of certain phrases or words reeking of the pretense of love of country.

Patriotism is to stand firmly for the fundamental principles and ideals on which this country was founded. It is to believe in and act in accordance with the Constitution, including the first ten amendments. Patriotism means to stand up and protest and to overthrow those who would blithely ignore our fundamental principles and ideals and under various pretexts -- even the pretext of protecting our country -- violate our fundamental principles and ideals.


We might do well to remember, on this July 4th, the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands that the purity of its heart."