#750 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday September 14)
Good morning,
Happy Birthday to my nephew, Johnathan, and my soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Emma!
I have been writing recently about the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism anchors itself on ideas about liberty, democracy, community and compassion. Nationalism is based upon ideas of blood and soil—views that a people are somehow superior and eternally bound to the land. I will concede that patriotism, in and of itself, is a bit clinical, requiring a dose of nationalism. But the nationalism that chants “USA! USA!” at the World Cup, while recounting a direct lineage to victories in wars they didn’t fight, survival against privations they didn’t experience, and successes to which they didn’t contribute is more akin to the legions of Germans in the 1930s finding comfort in the Nazis’ assertion of Aryan superiority by virtue of some eternal truth or birthright. And this leads me to this wonderful quotation, about which I’ve been musing this week:
“I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves in the flag.” --Molly Ivins
Have a great day,
Glenn