Patriotism Should Be A Lot Like Patriotism
Posted on March 29th, 2008 by Daniel Larison
Replying earlier this month to his critics, George Kateb continues to miss the point:
If patriotism — devotion to the country and obedience to its state for the wrong reasons — has to exist, it should be defensive in temperament and parsimonious in the expenditure of life, including the lives of its enemies, and not mobilize the energies of self-defense and transmute them into the energies of expansion and imperialism.
But that is exactly what patriotism is: devotion to country (stop talking about the state!) and defensive in nature. Whatever else he is talking about isn’t patriotism.
Filed under: politics
2 Responses to “Patriotism Should Be A Lot Like Patriotism”
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One of the sillier things Cindy Sheehan mentioned was the term “matriotism”. But honor to the fatherland comes out of the 4th commandment to honor thy father and thy mother. I doubt anyone who ignores either the direct or indirect will long live.
Sometimes a good son will have to “cover hsi father’s nakedness”, but God has chosen where we are, both in terms of family and country. We are to learn their virtues and avoid heal their vices.
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