For the left, disagreeing with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton was grounds for calling you unpatriotic, but it's an unspeakable outrage to question the patriotism of those who ostentatiously refuse to stand for the anthem. Hell, they said opposing tax hikes was unpatriotic.
This is the pressure point for the great social divide that has formed in America. For the left, patriotism means loyalty to their policy agenda; you're "unpatriotic" if you don't want to give them more money. Patriotism is loyalty to the government, not the nation.
This idea is expressed in their endless prattle about "who we are," defined largely through policy choices. Left-wing patriotism is loyalty to a future nation that never quite manages to rise above the horizon.
The left thinks traditional patriotism means respect and loyalty for a horribly tainted past filled with "isms" - racism, sexism, etc. Their patriotic loyalty looks forward. Their most vicious accusations of unpatriotism are directed at those who oppose something they want to do.
Likewise, the left's concept of patriotism is deeply hostile to borders and the concept of America as a distinct nation-state with legitimate interests it can honorably pursue with vigor. They think that's selfish "nationalism," xenophobia, and blind loyalty to unworthy memory.
For the left, ostentatious displays of contempt for American symbols is a declaration of war against a filthy past, from the Revolution to the day before yesterday, that no one should be defending.
The left knows their version of patriotism is utterly incompatible with the traditional variety, which emphasizes the common bonds between Americans instead of their bitter policy differences. There is no sound the left hates more than Lincoln's "mystic chords of memory."
When people who have serious disagreements and strong complaints against current government stand together in respect for the flag and anthem, they are saying: "We are brothers and sisters despite all this, and I love those I oppose." That's poison to collectivists.
Patriotism means enduring loyalty and respect for America even if you feel betrayed or neglected by some, or even all, of its current leadership. Yes, patriots draw strength from the past, and it gives them confidence in the future.
That's it right there, the vital pressure point: traditional displays of patriotism unite reverence for the past, brotherhood in the present, and confidence in the future. That's bad medicine for those who wish to "fundamentally transform" an unworthy nation.
The left knows traditional patriotism is an obstacle, so they must attack and replace it with their version of patriotism, hunting it down wherever it flourishes. That's why the anthem is suddenly "controversial" in football and the left's "compromise" is to get rid of it.
There is growing pushback from those who don't want to be "fundamentally transformed." The left caricatures it as mindless jingoism, but in truth it's far more thoughtful than their blind loyalty to utopian policies. Who is more jingoistic than a bumper-sticker liberal?
The traditional patriot has a very deep thought indeed: that our brotherhood is more important than our disagreements. A bond of national pride is the vital ingredient to curing social ills. The left only wants to treat the symptoms badly, forever, at staggering expense.
Drawn from that patriotic pride in America is another very deep thought: we are sovereign citizens and our government must be loyal to us, not the other way around. You cannot view the state as subordinate to the people without revering a nation stronger and older than the state.
The state has no moral right to transform the people, and its efforts to do so are an unbroken string of embarrassing failures and hideous tragedies. No elite has the right to force a vision upon the unwilling or change the electorate to suit its tastes.
Politicians are below the people, and we are all part of something bigger and older than any one of us, or even any million of us. That's what standing up for the flag and anthem mean. It is not an act of submission, but of elevation.
We hear a lot of talk about the nation breaking up over social issues and policy disagreements. Patriotism rejects that outcome. Those who show contempt for the anthem are the ones who say it's on the table. They won't be our brothers and sisters unless we agree with them.
The left wants a monopoly on contempt, but I refuse. I have contempt for the view that patriotism means loyalty to policy agendas and our differences are what define us. I will not sacrifice the strength of past and present for hollow promises of a glorious future. /end
