Why I am not a Patriot

One day, an apathetic fry cook will unwittingly listen to the sizzling fat of the last hamburger, calmly thawing away amidst the unsympathetic lard. One day, the last running back will fumble the last handoff of the last football game on the year’s last crisp autumn day. One day, the last Democrat will malign the last Republican over the last petty feud in Congress’s penultimate session.

One day, America will die.

So why do so many serve a dying institution, to which they are bound only by the coincidence of birth or the temporal commitment of citizenship? An incomprehensively massive world lies outside US borders; why swear fealty to this nation over any other? The vast majority of Americans, of any nation’s citizenry, hold nationalistic views of their homeland without even once considering alternatives. This corporate narcissism blinds a people, replacing logical conclusions and valid devotion with misleading delusions and empty emotion.

Rather than cling adamantly to a single nation, perhaps one should look outwards. Other nations succeed where the US fails and fail where the US succeeds, yet America focuses solely on its own policies and ideas. For example, America’s healthcare ranks 37^th (directly following Dominica’s and Costa Rica’s ) among countries worldwide, though it holds a steady 2^nd in proportional medical expenditure. So why do America’s politicians not look to France or Italy for suggestions? Why does America reject United Nations conventions that would greatly benefit citizens, especially children? What could possibly weigh so heavily on America’s conscience as to cause it to reject desperately needed assistance?

Patriotism. That same fuzzy feeling that brings butterflies to enraptured stomachs and handkerchiefs to tearful eyes every July 4^th is aiding the murder of the country that stirs it. When “American” becomes a more honorable label than “human,” this pitiable nation exposes its vulnerable underbelly for the whole world to see. And when Americans subject themselves to meaningless pathos and shallow jingoism, they surrender the very dignity that created patriotism in the first place. How has the United States lost so much self-respect that ads like Kiefer Sutherland’s American Express commercials can sell their products with no backing but an appeal to freedom?

Though American society indoctrinates every child with patriotism, repetition lends the philosophy no credence and, indeed, affirms many faulty premises. For instance, one need not embrace patriotism to respect the soldiers who maintain American freedom. In fact, embracing patriotism detracts from the respect that soldiers deserve. By claiming a part of a nation to which one has sacrificed nothing, one belittles the contributions of those who have sacrificed everything.

Patriotism, though quaint and inspiring, creates no inimitable benefits that extend beyond the human mind. Though it may seem innocent, even crucial, as an emotion, patriotism in practice creates an intimidatingly blatant Achilles heel in an otherwise beautiful nation. If the United States could rid itself of this well intended menace, then, and only then, can it start becoming an equal on the global scale. In the words of Emma Goldman, “When we have undermined the patriotic lie, we shall have cleared the path for the great structure where all shall be united into a universal brotherhood— a truly free society.”