By
Josh Sager
All too often in the United States, conservative
Republicans are considered the “patriotic” political group, while liberals and
progressives are labeled as “not real Americans” or “apologists” for America;
these labels are extreme mischaracterizations and must be debunked by
non-conservatives.
By portraying themselves as “the patriotic party”
Republicans are able to take an automatic high ground on many policy debates
which revolve around national defense or “traditional American values”. If the
public has the pre-conceived notion that a party has an advantage over other
parties in the quality of patriotism, it biases the public to support defense
policy created by that party; we see this effect in the portrayals of the Republicans
as the “strong on defense” party during the latter half of the 20th
century.
The current discrepancy in the perceived patriotism
of the conservative right and other parties has been due to several factors:
- 1. The
modern conservative movement has consistently supported high levels of military
spending and labeled all reductions in spending as detrimental to defense.
While untrue, this claim has created the perception in some that
non-conservatives are risking endangering the country through cutting defense
funding.
- 2. The
conservative movement has made a concerted movement to portray themselves as
patriotic, while denigrating all others as un-American. As this idea has been
repeated so often, and not challenged by the media, it has become “common
knowledge”, regardless of its inaccuracy.
- 3 The
“war on terror” has been a massive plank in the conservative agenda for the
last decade and has allowed them to pursue aggressive defense policies. The
neo-conservative movement instituted unreasonably aggressive policies after 911
(ex. war in Iraq) and there has been a lack of major terrorist attacks on
American soil since; this has allowed the conservative movement to claim that
their policies have protected society, and that the less reactionary policies
of other political parties could spell disaster for the country.
In order to retake the language of patriotism, we
must define the term - according to the Oxford English Dictionary, Patriotism
is defined as such:
Patriotism: the quality of being patriotic; vigorous support
for one’s country: a highly decorated officer of unquestionable integrity
and patriotism
If we look at the central ideological pillars of
modern American conservatism - cutting taxes in order to shrink the government,
increasing military activities, and imposing a Christian conservative social
policy – we see that these policies are in no way patriotic. Modern
conservatives are intensely nationalistic in their rhetoric but, when it comes
to personal sacrifice for the good of the country, often fall short of their
ideals.
Put plainly: Which ideology is truly patriotic?
- The
ideology which promotes radical individualism and a diminishing of social
supports, or the ideology which promotes personal sacrifice in support of the
country?
- The
ideology which supports wars abroad, but no investment in the country, or the
ideology which supports domestic investments and diplomacy abroad?
- The ideology which supports cutting taxes for
the wealthy, paid for by raiding the social security fund, or the ideology which
supports asking those with money to pay their fair share?
- The
ideology which intentionally uses gridlock, falsehoods, and hostage taking to
facilitate their policy agenda, or the ideology which is willing to compromise
because refusing to do so would harm the American people?
Economic
Patriotism
Cutting taxes and shrinking the government is, by
definition, a policy which attempts to reduce the very government that the
conservatives attempt to portray themselves patriots of. By their own admission, conservatives wish to
shrink the government of the United States, reduce taxes on the wealthy, and
grant more powers to the corporate private sector; none of these policy ideals
are patriotic, as none of them are aimed at supporting the American people as a
whole, or the American government.
It would be possible to argue that conservative policies
are good for society, thus patriotic, but, as they policies have been shown to
be ineffective, this argument holds little weight. The conservative movement is
currently pushing policies which, while beneficial to a few, have been shown to
be extremely damaging to society as a whole (Ex. tax cuts for the rich,
deregulation, austerity); the conservative movement’s pushing of failed policy
makes them either patriotic yet profoundly unintelligent, or greedy, corrupt
and unpatriotic.
The current conservative economic agenda does not
purport to benefit society, but rather institute a social Darwinian system of
“rugged individualism” and complete self-reliance – reducing social programs,
privatizing public services, and signing power over to the corporations. The
conservatives assert that privatization will allow the competent to advance,
without the need to pay of the less able. By their own admission, the
conservative economic policy agenda is aimed at supporting a small percentage
of American “job creators”, and removing the “unproductive” members of society
from the welfare rolls. By sacrificing the interests of the majority, in
service for the “job creators”, the conservative economic ideology is
inherently anti-patriotic (antithetical to the health of the American public or
government).
Progressives should make the argument that paying
taxes to support society is, in and of itself, patriotic. Sacrificing some
personal wealth (through paying taxes), in order to support the improvement of
the social infrastructure and the general welfare of the American people, is an
inherently patriotic act; avoiding taxes and constantly attempting to strangle
the government, all for personal monetary
gain is entirely selfish and unpatriotic. Progressives and Democrats should
begin making the argument that taxes are not simply a matter of economics, but
rather one of a patriotic duty; those who love this country and wish to improve
it should have no problem sacrificing a portion of their wealth to support it.
Here are a few talking economic patriotism points:
·
Patriotic Americans should have no
problem giving a reasonable percentage of their wealth to support the country
which they love.
·
Paying taxes is a patriotic act; it is a
personal sacrifice for the welfare of the country.
·
Claiming to love the United States, but
publicly decrying taxes, is a contradiction – it is proof that the speaker only
supports the country with words, rather than acts.
Defense-Oriented
Patriotism
Modern American conservatives are, virtually without
exception, supporters of increasing military spending. Although there are
libertarian Republicans who reject increased military spending, these
politicians are in a clear minority and rarely sit in positions of power within
the conservative movement; these libertarians do not deserve to be tarred with
the same brush as the rest of the conservatives, as they truly believe that
their policies are improving the health of the country. Support of increasing
military spending is often conflated with a sense of patriotic defense of
country, thus conservative politicians can us this to claim high levels of
patriotism.
Many in the United States make the mistake
assumption that the more money which is spent on defense, the safer we will be;
this is not the case, and can often lead to a misappropriation of funds. Quite
often, defense contractors lobby politicians - on both sides of the isle – in
order to increase military spending, thus the profits of the defense
corporations. The result of such spending is most often wasted resources,
weapons which the USA does not need, and increased hostilities, not
improvements to national security.
The perfect example of a redundant, yet defense
corporation friendly program is the F-22 Raptor program. The F-22 is a highly
advanced, stealth-fighter jet, which was developed by Lockheed Martin and
promoted as the future of air combat. The United States government has spent
over $74 billion
over the entire life of the F-22 program, yet this fighter has never seen
action - nor is there a strong likelihood that it will in the near-future. The
F-22 program was a massive waste of taxpayer money and likely only remained
active due to lobbying efforts by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin has spent
massive amounts of money on lobbying - $15 million in the 2011 alone – and is
able to sustain even ineffective programs through “contributions” to politicians.
Proposing increased defense funding and pushing for
needless wars, all for the benefit of - and contributions from - lobbyists, is
not patriotic; it is dangerous and self-serving. The individual politicians, as
well as the corporations which lobby them to increase military spending benefit
from increased militarism, but the rest of the country suffer. The defense
budget eats into the funding of useful programs, thus reducing the resources
available to programs which are truly beneficial to the American public. Wars
based upon militarism, rather than need, only results in profits for the
suppliers of the tools of war and pain for the countries involved in the
conflict.
Attributing patriotic motives to everybody who
promotes increased spending and war makes no logical sense, and results in many
who simply wish to be paid by lobbyists to be labeled as patriots. The
conservative movement (particularly neo-conservatives) promotes endless war
abroad and increased money wasted upon defense corporations.
Progressives should make a clear and concise case to
the American public that the conservative positions of war and military waste
are simply not patriotic; such policies harm the United States, eat resources
which can be used to support domestic investment, and can promote increased
anti-American sentiments abroad. These positions are caused by either a complete
lack of understanding of the needs of the military, a desire to support the
defense industry, or an ideological belief that militarism is beneficial to the
country. None of these justifications are rational, nor are they patriotic.
Here are a few defense-oriented patriotism talking
points:
·
A patriot is somebody who risks war only
as a last resort, out of the fear that their countrymen will die in a pointless
conflict.
·
Supporting excessive military spending
is not synonymous with patriotism; as excessive spending is wasteful and
pointless, these people are simply warmongers or the tools of lobbyists.
·
A patriot doesn’t support pointless war
abroad and a decaying infrastructure domestically.
