Waxing Patriotic

I'm enjoying a refresher courtesy of Scott Ritter's "Frontier Justice," from preliminary reading well worth the time of anyone interested in what patriotism might mean and what the role of a loyal involved citizen of an effective working democracy might be.

Here's the oath taken by every US Armed Forces member (and actually everyone in government service, military or civilian):

To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

You knew that, right? The oath does not involve defense of the President, Congress, Pentagon, or any flag, political party, institution, or symbol. The Constitution. The one that says in Article 6 that "all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land," thus including the UN Charter to which we are a signatory. The Charter that puts some serious restrictions on making war, as in only in self-defense in case of attack.

"and domestic"

Now why would those wily Constitution-crafters have said that? Ritter, a former US Marine and UN weapons inspector, is here to suggest that besides the patriots risking their lives in military service on behalf of the Constitution's principles, that classic parchment calls all of us to another sort of patriotism. He reminds us that the old platitude of citizens being the "watchdogs of democracy" is not a job for a couch-potato. Ritter speaks of the other class of patriot, the one who maintains their obligation as a citizen to "continuously hold those they elect to represent them accountable for the decisions made in their name."

Ritter elaborates on this second type of patriot:

Thus the other face of patriotism - the voice of public dissent provided by the antiwar protester and the practitioner of civil disobedience, the moral compass borne by the civil liberties watchdog, the academic intellectual critic, and the various (and diverse) religious communities throughout the country, and the common citizen, quietly going about his or her daily business with one eye focused on those whom they elected to higher office and the duties they perform. These, and others - all Americans, all those dedicated to defending the same values and ideals as those who wear the uniform of the armed forces. To criticize these "other" American patriots for their service to country is to ignore the fact that the distance between totalitarian rule and democratic rule is measured by the number of citizens who actively invest themselves in participatory, versus passive, democracy. As former president Theodore Roosevelt - a man who was not noted for his temerity - once wrote, "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Lest it be forgotten, these words were penned in 1918, while the United States was fighting in World War I.

Thanks, Scott. I'm looking forward to some more inspiration.