Peace Is Patriotic

October 6, 2008

Our checks at the Center on Conscience & War have the very small tag line: Peace is Patriotic.  I find that I often have to remind people that.  I find it intriguing when there are so many instances of great quotes from all stripes of political leanings supporting that concept.

John Tower, Republican former U.S. Senator from Texas, said:  “Sometimes when we talk about freedom we mean the freedom to be exactly like me. That’s not freedom.”

Yet I work with people who are offended by the use of patriotic symbols and others who believe that I cannot be patriotic because I oppose the use of the military as a foreign policy.

Justice Robert H. Jackson, U. S. Supreme Court Justice, said: “Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.”

Ironically, one of the delights of my job is the ability to travel around the United States and meet its great people and see how they differ and how they are the same and to see the glorious country in which I live. I have seen Iowa in the depth of winter, Maine in the height of summer, Texas during the spring wildflowers, New York in the glory of fall colors.  I have listened to jazz in DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Austin and New York.  I have listened to rock music in DC (well I do live here), Seattle, San Francisco and Baltimore.  And country music, hip hop, rap, grunge and folk music as well.  I have seen pioneer museums in 5 states so far.  Planetariums in 3 states.  Aquariums in 4 states and countless zoos and animal preserves.

I can’t even begin to talk about the food!

I relish ever time I sing “This Land is Your Land!” as much as I squirm with the jingoistic “God Bless America.”  The salient difference between those two songs is the difference between loving your country unconditionally and loving your country blindly.

Mark Twain said: “Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.”

Of course, it is part of my job to work to make sure the government deserves it.

“The most important office of government is citizen.”
—Justice Louis Brandeis