Great article, Charlie. I like how you point out the burgeoning difference between nationalism and patriotism. During the last decade or so almost every Fourth of July Mass I attended included a hymn by Sibelius. It is called “This is my Song”. The music is pretty uninspired but the lyrics are excellent food for thought. The lines show the composers great love for Finland yet acknowledges that all countries are part of this world. “ My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine. But other lands have sunlight too and clover and skies are everywhere as. BLue as mine. O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and mine.”
I guess it's a pretty good gig if you can convince the American public that your country's flag is a symbol of your political party? I mean most school kids throughout the country pledge allegiance to it each day, the Star Spangled Banner is played at basically every sporting event in the country, and its displayed throughout American government buildings everywhere. As you pointed out, most would argue that's what the GOP did successfully for a while (and why your flag sat in your Prius for years), but as an independent American, I'm glad to see Dems making a solid effort to return it to the mainstream - although they probably wouldn't shy away if somehow they could actually shift the pendulum all the way to American = Democrat.
The turning point for me was July 4, 2007, when I was working at Moravian College, and the lefty, atheist philosophy Ph.D. student put a large American flag next to his desk for the holiday. When we asked, he simply said, "it's my country, too." Before that, I tended more toward George Carlin's old bit, "flags are symbols, and I leave symbols to the symbol (sic)-minded." And I think a lot of overeducated left-leaners (and I obviously include myself in there) also did. But while it may have felt good, detached irony has never convinced anyone of anything. More problematically, it left a gaping void to define not only what patriotism is, but what America itself is. It was filled by precisely the people we hoped to prevent, and by the definition we sought to avoid. I'm glad to see more people are standing up and saying, "it's my country, too."
Especially in an age of rapidly advancing secularism, we need to shape the civil religion in a way that is both optimistic and accurate. Not just because he's the greatest tennis writer ever, but I increasingly believe that David Foster Wallace was correct in his 2005 Kenyon speech that we all worship something. Americans by and large are forsaking the supernatural at a rate unseen in the country's history--as you know, "nones" are now the single largest group,m and for the first time ever, the median American does not regularly attend religious services. Are we going to worship some bigoted ethnonationalism? Are we going to worship some vacuous, circular Robin DiAngelo b.s.? Or are we going to worship a culture that takes pride in its pluralism? It's up to us, and I'm glad to see, since at least BHO's 2004 convention speech and maybe since Clinton's first term, the Dems are trying.
Beautifully put, as always. On top of it's other more serious flaws, Christian nationalism is just plain boring. It's tired, narrow, and simple. And I think there's something to be said for a civic culture that celebrates differences without emphasizing them so much that it's impossible to have a common purpose. This is so tough to achieve, obviously — and I love Carlin as much as the next guy — but symbols do matter, particularly as focal points of belief and worship.
I am guilty of teetering on my disappointment at the lack of true patriotism being replaced by nationalism as evidenced by the Trump Republican Party. Pleased to see the Democratic Party responding in a more positive position.
Great article, Charlie. I like how you point out the burgeoning difference between nationalism and patriotism. During the last decade or so almost every Fourth of July Mass I attended included a hymn by Sibelius. It is called “This is my Song”. The music is pretty uninspired but the lyrics are excellent food for thought. The lines show the composers great love for Finland yet acknowledges that all countries are part of this world. “ My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine. But other lands have sunlight too and clover and skies are everywhere as. BLue as mine. O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and mine.”
I guess it's a pretty good gig if you can convince the American public that your country's flag is a symbol of your political party? I mean most school kids throughout the country pledge allegiance to it each day, the Star Spangled Banner is played at basically every sporting event in the country, and its displayed throughout American government buildings everywhere. As you pointed out, most would argue that's what the GOP did successfully for a while (and why your flag sat in your Prius for years), but as an independent American, I'm glad to see Dems making a solid effort to return it to the mainstream - although they probably wouldn't shy away if somehow they could actually shift the pendulum all the way to American = Democrat.
The turning point for me was July 4, 2007, when I was working at Moravian College, and the lefty, atheist philosophy Ph.D. student put a large American flag next to his desk for the holiday. When we asked, he simply said, "it's my country, too." Before that, I tended more toward George Carlin's old bit, "flags are symbols, and I leave symbols to the symbol (sic)-minded." And I think a lot of overeducated left-leaners (and I obviously include myself in there) also did. But while it may have felt good, detached irony has never convinced anyone of anything. More problematically, it left a gaping void to define not only what patriotism is, but what America itself is. It was filled by precisely the people we hoped to prevent, and by the definition we sought to avoid. I'm glad to see more people are standing up and saying, "it's my country, too."
Especially in an age of rapidly advancing secularism, we need to shape the civil religion in a way that is both optimistic and accurate. Not just because he's the greatest tennis writer ever, but I increasingly believe that David Foster Wallace was correct in his 2005 Kenyon speech that we all worship something. Americans by and large are forsaking the supernatural at a rate unseen in the country's history--as you know, "nones" are now the single largest group,m and for the first time ever, the median American does not regularly attend religious services. Are we going to worship some bigoted ethnonationalism? Are we going to worship some vacuous, circular Robin DiAngelo b.s.? Or are we going to worship a culture that takes pride in its pluralism? It's up to us, and I'm glad to see, since at least BHO's 2004 convention speech and maybe since Clinton's first term, the Dems are trying.
Beautifully put, as always. On top of it's other more serious flaws, Christian nationalism is just plain boring. It's tired, narrow, and simple. And I think there's something to be said for a civic culture that celebrates differences without emphasizing them so much that it's impossible to have a common purpose. This is so tough to achieve, obviously — and I love Carlin as much as the next guy — but symbols do matter, particularly as focal points of belief and worship.
I am guilty of teetering on my disappointment at the lack of true patriotism being replaced by nationalism as evidenced by the Trump Republican Party. Pleased to see the Democratic Party responding in a more positive position.