Ellington

Zack Exley, the organizing director of the populist MoveOn.org, challenges Americans to move past divisive patriotic rhetoric to something that can bring the country together: "Perhaps as old political categories such as left and right lose their relevance, we can aim for a new political unity based on a new kind of patriotism. Let's leave behind the hollow patriotism which is based on disdain for and fear of others. Instead, let's define a new patriotism -- one that expresses our unconditional love for America and lives up to our responsibility to our fellow Americans."

He also writes: "The solution is to reject false, jingoistic patriotism, and to embrace a patriotism based on the unconditional love of one's country. Note: that's unconditional love, not unconditional approval. Like a parent loves a child, or a child a parent, we love our country because it is our country. Period.

"Beware: This type of patriotism brings with it much more responsibility than the kind based on superficial, conditional love. Once you accept responsibility for your country in the way that a parent does for a child -- or a child for a parent -- then you're really committed. When your country misbehaves, you can't just roll your eyes as if you had nothing to do with it."

Previous Comments

ID

77070

Comment

By the way, you can get directly involved with MoveOn.org's grass-roots efforts simply by clicking the following link. Talk about desk chair activism: http://www.moveon.org/

Author

ladd

Date

2003-07-05T12:19:08-06:00