Unpatriotism

I don't think I "love America" in the sense I usually see it used. At the same time, I don't think of myself as anti-American, nor do I think of myself as pro-people-usually-labeled-our-enemies. Rather, I simply think that such nationalism is a harmful concept.

Let me explain by way of example. My local newspaper (the Tulsa World) ran a feature on Independence Day in which they asked various people what they loved about America. Most of them answered some variant of "freedom." That's a pretty good answer, really. I'm pretty fond of freedom myself. The problem comes when these people discuss how America is "the only country in the world where we can do and say what we want." The problem comes when they say things that are blatantly untrue.

It's true that America has quite impressive protection for individual rights. The Bill of Rights is an amazing piece of legislation. It is not true that other countries do not also respect individual rights. It is not true that other countries place no value on freedom or democracy. To suggest otherwise is nothing less than myopia, a myopia caused by our preoccupation with loving America, rather than its virtues.

I do love America. But the America that I love is an ideal, a dream--a dream of equality, of freedom, and of fairness. It is an America that does not exist. We still live in an America where women make less than men for the same work. We still live in an America where whether or not you can marry the person you love depends on whether or not society approves of that love. We still live in an America where the color of your skin matters as much as the content of your character--not at all times or in all places, but that reality is ours.

When I say "I love America," I don't mean that America we live in. I mean that I love democracy--for all its flaws, for all the stupidity of the crowds, no system delivers rulership into the hands of the ruled as well, no system as adequately solves the moral problem of governance by force. I mean that I love the concept of individual liberty, the idea that no matter what, a person has certain rights as a human being. Isn't that the core principle of humanism, after all? I love freedom of speech. I find it absolutely repugnant that, in some European countries, it is illegal to deny the occurrence of the Holocaust--although I find the Holocaust abominable. I love due process and protection from authority and equal protection under the law and the belief that all human beings are created equal, Deist overtones aside.

So when American elections are unfair? When America tortures its prisoners? When America denies due process to terrorism suspects? When America's latent sexism or racism rears its head? I don't love America then. And so that's why I say I don't love America--because I don't give two shits about this particular piece of land, or this particular group of people. I care about the principles and promise behind the name and behind the location far more than I care about the nation in particular. If America ever abandoned them, it wouldn't be an America I could love.

I think this obsession with America-loving only serves to reinforce a status quo. It works as a thought-terminator: I like America. I associate trait X with "America." Therefore, I cannot allow trait X to undergo change. Several times during the health care debate I heard that this was "not the American way." No arguments on economies of scale, or the value of decentralized systems, or other arguments I can think of. No, government interference in the health care system was wrong because it didn't fit our vision of America, and we love America, don't we?

Nationalism is a dangerous concept. It allows us to make mental shortcuts. Too much care for a particular country causes us to morally demote all the others. As a humanist, I consider it my duty to look beyond labels motivated by history and the current state of affairs, and see the commonalities. Do I love America? I love only the aspects of America that are universal, and not truly part of America at all. I love the parts of America that can be completely decoupled from this patch of earth. So I call myself an unpatriot--someone dedicated to the same high principles as the original American patriots, but where they saw their goal as freedom for a nation, I see our goal as a species in the coming century to be freedom from nations.