It’s been hijacked by the right and abandoned by the left, but the principles of true patriotism — country above self, responsible stewardship, equality, shared sacrifice and service — are inherently progressive. The True Patriot challenges progressives to retake patriotism. Written in the pamphleteering style of Thomas Paine, it presents a manifesto, ten-principal plan, and moral code that reframe the concept of patriotism and return politics to what it once was: a civic virtue and responsibility that fueled the country’s founders.
true citizenship "...if we want great leaders, we must demand great citizenship of ourselves."
With these words the authors have identified the key to understanding what American patriotism is all about. For too long we have abrogated our responsibility, our duty, as citizens. Our country was founded by "We the People" but we have been absent landlords.
Even though I consider myself a conservative the authors of this little book make some very good points about how out of balance we have become as a nation. This book is a good starting point in a national dialog about where we're going.
I believe they're right when they say this could be the "Pivot Generation." Our future will rise or fall on the individual and collective choices we make today. Imagine one of today's leaders being quoted in this book. Who would it be? A person with those forward-looking values should be the next President. That person's job won't be easy, but isn't America worth it?
Great ideas behind the book I think the idea behind this book is a noble one. I commend them for being brave enough as progressive to claim patriotism. But there are some flaws in the idea behind this whole thing. First, Leftists, Liberals and progressives can not claim to be true patriots when majority of them view patriotism as a wrong idea. When most progressive activists undermine their own respective countries, be it the US or Canada, in the time of need. How can progressive claim they are truly in love with their countries when their peers keep playing the role of traitors and enemy enablers within our borders. Yes, it takes a few people like the authors of this short book to tell us that they are wrong, but these authors MUST correct the misdeeds and misbehavings of their own fellow progressives. All in all, this book is a fresh read.
An inconvenient vision I know, "inconvenient" has become the cliche of the decade. But the vision that Liu and Hanauer express in The True Patriot is so obvious, rings so true, that it must be its "inconvenience" that makes a market niche for a book to present it. It is a little red book for those weary of cynical manipulations by the power brokers of both economic and intellectual persuasions.
Capitalsim and Love The stated objective of this book is to explain that lefty, socialist progressives are really the true patriots at a time when most Americans are convinced that Republicans are the true patriots. The thesis is off and running with a little very twisted logic as follows: patriotism is, "country above self." This means,accordiing to the authors, that if you are a caring human being you will dutifully worship the state and cheerfully pay it higher and higher taxes in the belief that a caring, selfless, state monopoly can better spend your money than you can. It is a sentiment that would have made Karl Marx very proud.
Republicans, conversely, from Jefferson forward, believed that patriotism was about loving America because it was based on the principle of freedom from government. The American Revolution was fought for this freedom and after the Revolution there was indeed very little gov't to restrict freedom. Even after the Constitution was enacted the gov't remained extremely tiny. This is why, for example, modern Republican judges are strict constructionists, originalists, textualists, or conservatives. They want a small gov't like the one our Founders intended that enshrined the individual above the state. In America, freedom was not considered selfish.
Perhaps the second most important piece of twisted logic in the book has to do with the notion that American freedom is no dam good. The authors demonstrate this as follows: "we hear too much about freedom from gov't, taxes, and regulations and not enough about freedom to......" The idea here is that freedom is naturally selfish. The gov't must do good works because individuals or private groups, given their defective, selfish characters, surely won't. It is the exact opposite of the concept embodied by the American Revolution and Republicans.
The book is perfectly oblivious to the concept of a caring, loving, and gov't free capitalism and so can only imagine more and more taxation and gov't. It cannot consider that without the objective of securing a free lunch from the gov't, people will naturally revert to capitalism. This simply means that they don't get one penny or one free lunch until after they have produced something that others want to voluntarily buy. Everyone is encouraged to be a caring, loving, productive member of society who cares about their neighbors' needs, and addresses them. They are not encouraged to be looking for a free lunch that only gives rise to the need for yet another more sumptuous free lunch.
Is it really Patriotic to be ignorant to the point where you don't know that the sudden appearance of America, freedom, and capitalism did far more to end human misery than anything that came before or after? Is it really patriotic to be ignorant to the point where you don't know that most of the evil in human history was caused by gov'ts that were absolutely certain they were superior and doing the right thing?
good idea drowned in partisanship Much of what they say about the meaning of patriotism is true and I appreciate their going back to the founding documents but I don't think either of them knows any conservatives. I am one and know a good many others. Their concept of conservative individualism totally misses the mark. And as for conservatives supposed selfishness, they should look at the research reported in Makers and Takers.
This could have been a book that conservative and liberals agreed upon and, therefore, the basis for constructive conversation. Instead they try to persuade readers that those who oppose their political agenda are not nice people. It is a big disappointment.
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