The Patriot's Cause

                                       Ah yes, these indeed are times that try our souls...
​But why should we be exempted from the fate that all before us similarly experienced? Certainly those who questioned the legitimacy of bondage to a King entertained the likelihood of an early death: nevertheless, they persevered in imagining the possibility of freedom... Certainly those who fell under the unhesitating advance of a new civilization -- and who saw the buffalo nearly exterminated and their lands stolen -- and brought to the very edge of oblivion, they are discovering anew that they are the "Still Standing Rock"... Certainly those who were captured, beaten, chained, kidnapped, and sold into slavery -- to live for generations in the white-man's bondage -- providing 250 years of unrequited toil -- a toil that in 1860 accounted for 80% of America's gross national product -- they are still living under a too-slow-resurrection of the dream of "and justice for all"... 

As much as any other time, "our time" could very well be the reference point for these words of our first President, George Washington: "Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism". We see, quite clearly today, the many people who quickly grab the banner of our liberty and wrap it around their wicked minds and bodies (like the NRA): anything for a buck. Referencing those who fought in wars past, these scoundrels mistake the meaning of defending liberty and recast it, in a fervor of nationalist pride, as fundamental to the existence of flag and anthem: when in truth, every battlefield represents a failure of both imagination and political will to actually be just in all of one's dealings... Wrapped in the flag and clutching the Bible, these scoundrels cultivate hatred towards fellow citizens who, with rational argument, disagree and point to a higher light and a radiant possibility...

"The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain" (Sen. George McGovern). The person who always agrees with -- without ever a questioning thought -- a nation's police or dominate political power, is never to be trusted: he has sold his thinking mind to the lowest bidder. Nationalism, gussied up as some sort of dignitary, is a whore, exactly like the Queen of Greed: while this nation teeters on the brink of disaster, it is sold out for a buck by phoney patriots. Political corruption, like a roaring lion, is stalking the rooms of power in this White House, this Congress, and the halls and offices of the billionaires and corporations who have surrendered their national identity for the unlimited privileges of profits-without-end... The citizen who is dressed in the flag, is still naked underneath: like in the "Emperor Has No Clothes" of folk-tale old, the true patriot says in protest and resistance, "but he has no clothes"...

​On the other hand, the patriot's cause is still that of Abraham Lincoln: "My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth." True patriotism does not extol the goosebumps that derive from seeing a flag fluttering in the wind: not while children go to bed hungry: not when excuses are made for the white man's slaughter of innocents with weapons of war: not when millions of citizens suffer excruciating systemic injustices: not when the sacredness of soil, water and air are minimized for the profits of unregulated-exploitation: not when women are not equal before the law: not when civil and voting rights are attacked for political gain: not when the well-being of future generations are put at risk by the unbounded lust of men in mindless pursuit of "more and more": not when religion and guns have more value than living and breathing human beings: of course, these "not when's" could go on indefinitely, but I'll not trivialize your intelligence with an endless list...

If you actually love this country, then you know that it is but a part of the love you hold for every people. If you actually "drop a knee" before the Holy One of your heart, then you know that that Holy One is way beyond the limits of your particular theological perspective. If you actually carry forward the patriot's cause, then you know that your country needs an active citizenry, vigorous in the pursuit of justice for all: equality before the law: a police that serves and protects everyone regardless of race, gender, or status:  an economic system that prioritizes people over profits: and a political order that is transparently in service to the betterment of all and not in the pockets of a billionaire elite. The patriot's cause is the lifting up of everyone in the liberty of a shared opportunity and a shared prosperity. The patriot's cause is the progressive notion that we are all worthy of the very best: and that the pursuit of the "very best" is the primary function of every level of government: work on this if you call yourself by the sacred name of patriot! If you can't or won't, then wrapping yourself in the flag is nothing more than a veil of deceit and moral corruption... and the national anthem a comic's funeral dirge...