Why I am Not a Patriot

[Originally published in the Front Range Voluntaryist, article by Steve Long]

This July, we will once again see American flags waving and people rallying and celebrating the anniversary of the date that a group of colonists declared independence from the British Empire. Not unlike other statist holidays such as Memorial Day or Veterans Day, Independence Day is a day where people all over the country and expected to be patriotic and drool over how great “their” country is. Everybody expects you, on this day specifically, to be, first and foremost, a patriot. I cannot claim to be a patriot.

What is a patriot, exactly? Simply stated, a patriot is a person that vigorously loves and supports their country and its government without question. Essentially, it is nation worship.

First off, why would anybody love and support something without question? That is dangerous thinking.

I do not understand the smugness or sense of unwarranted pride that comes from where you were born. I don’t see how a person can be so boastful about something as arbitrary as where they were coincidentally birthed. Okay, you were born in America. So what? How can a person express some sort of sense of accomplishment about something they had no control over?

And how can a person feel some sort of sensation of superiority over other nations? This nationalist exceptionalism is unjustified and narcissistic. The idea that you are a better person that lives inside one set of imaginary lines than a person that lives inside another set of imaginary lines is absurd and, if I’m being perfectly honest, a bit comical. “Look! I live over here so I’m better than you!” If this is what being a patriot is, please, leave me out of it.

I do not support anything without question, especially not a geographical area inside a set of invented borders.

I do not pledge allegiance to the flag. It’s a flag; it’s nothing special; it’s a piece of cloth. If you’re ignorant enough to swear loyalty to a piece of flag, you might as well wake up every morning and pray to your socks. Aside from that, even if it is a symbol of what America “stands for” why would you pledge unswerving devotion to it? What does America stand for anyway? Don’t see freedom because America jumped off the liberty boat years ago. Democracy? No thanks; I’m not into mob rule. Justice? That’s a laugh. Talk about justice to the families of the hundreds of innocent people that are killed every year by America’s thug force. Nope, America doesn’t stand for anything worth standing for so there is no reason to devote yourself to that cause.

I also do not get all choked up when the national anthem is played. It’s just a song; it’s nothing to get terribly excited over. It’s not even a good song as far as songs go. And why do they have to play it at every single sporting event? It is terribly annoying. I’m there to watch a game, not to spend my time standing up, putting my hand over my heart and facing that piece of cloth that everyone likes to deify. To be perfectly honest however, when this shit show happens I do stand up. I will even remove my hat. I do not, however, put my hand over my heart and sing my praises to statism. The standing up, the removing my hat if I’m wearing one. I don’t do that out of respect for the flag or for the country. I don’t even do that out of respect for the others around me that have been indoctrinated into believing that this whole farce is mandatory. I do it because where I live, if I don’t do it, it’s highly likely that I will get the shit kicked out of me. I wouldn’t even have time to explain why I’m refusing to take part in their charade of madness before I end up getting accosted and ultimately thrown out of the venue.

Call it subversive or call it whatever you want but I am not a patriot. Patriotism leads to national exceptionalism and national exceptionalism ultimately leads to blind loyalty. It leads to a citizenry that believes in everything its government does without questioning it. Of course “my” government doesn’t do the bad things those other ones do. It leads to the acceptance of infinite wars to “preserve freedom” or to “protect American interests abroad”, when the real reason behind them is never revealed and completely unknown to the public except for the minority of people that have a brain and think for themselves.

So, come this 4th of July, go ahead and wave your flags. Go ahead and light off your fireworks. Go watch your parades. But when you wake up the next morning with any sense of guilt, remember that greeting that morning with a statism hangover might not be worth all the pomp and splendor of our country’s birthday.