Grand Old Flag

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Still, it’s hard to sing the praises of a nation whose leaders regularly treat the rest of the world with open contempt and whose dominant culture glorifies getting over giving. From the point of view of other countries in the global community, you have to admit, America is not always a good neighbor. We play our music too loud, drive our vehicles all over everyone else’s lawns, and like to shoot out the streetlights on the weekends.

Yes, we are richly blessed. And, yes, I’d rather be living here than trapped in the terrifying squalor of a Palestinian refugee camp or in a cinder-block apartment building amid the political and economic chaos of post-communist Russia. But that doesn’t mean I need to run Old Glory up the flagpole every time American soldiers are deployed somewhere around the world or my local Chevy dealer announces a factory clearance sale.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN to be progressively patriotic? How do we celebrate a love of country in a way that feels authentic, in a way that honors the strides we’ve made and recognizes those we still need to make? Remembering our history is a good start—acknowledging the power the American idea held for those who came before us, and working to keep it alive for those who will follow. I can proudly wave the flag in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, Margaret Sanger and Susan B. Anthony, Samuel Gompers and Cesar Chavez.

I can also be an unabashed patriot for my neighborhood and happily pledge my allegiance to folks down the street who pitch in when one of us is in need. And I’ll wave the flag gladly to celebrate our all-American right to be left alone by government, and for our free press, and for the privilege of challenging our elected representatives.

I’d also argue that patriotism does not need to focus only on national holidays. I rather like thinking of our annual May Day Festival in south Minneapolis as a patriotic occasion. Here we are, 10 or 20 thousand souls basking in the first marvelous days of spring and espousing all sorts of lefty, anarcho-pagan beliefs, and I’d like somebody, just once, to unfurl an American flag and stubbornly hold court about how it’s a pretty great country that doesn’t send out the National Guard to shut this thing down.

Why not unfurl the flag next time you march against some local injustice, reveling in the rights our nation bestows on dissenters? Why not belt out “America the Beautiful” next time you picket in support of an environmental or labor cause? It might remind you and your comrades of the shoulders you’re standing on.

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