The Left and patriotism

[Jeff Renz]

I disagree with Eugene's definition in the US American context.  Eugene
describes a nationalistic patriotism.  When I teach abroad, I emphasize that
the US is not an ethnic, nationalist, or religious construct, but is a
nation based upon an idea.  Neither the President nor our soldiers and
theirofficers take an oath to protect and defend the United States.  They
take an oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States"
and the military adds, "against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

So, for me, patriotism involves some degree of emotional commitment to the
Constitution and the principles it sets forth.  It involves emotional
commitment to the country, to the extent that the country coincides with or
is one with the Constitutional idea.

Jeff

Prof. Jeffrey T. Renz
School of Law
The University of Montana
Missoula, Montana  59812
1-406-243-5127
jeff.renz at umontana.edu


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Volokh, Eugene" <VOLOKH at law.ucla.edu>
To: <conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 2:43 PM
Subject: The Left and patriotism


Many on the Left quite properly bristle when others suggest that
they're unpatriotic.  In fact, I think that the great majority of
Democrats -- and certainly of Blue-state residents -- are quite
patriotic.  One can oppose aspects of our Constitution and still be
patriotic.  Certainly defending the Constitution against what one sees
(rightly or wrongly) as governmental overreaching may reflect great
patriotism.  It is this reality of American patriotism that, I think,
makes discussion of secession so weirdly counterfactual, as if we were
talking about the state-centric nation of 150 years ago, a nation riven
by a moral atrocity of the magnitude of slavery, or a nation ready to
descend into civil war such as Yugoslavia.

Yet if any Democratic, liberal, or left-wing organization
endorsed, or even spoke positively, of secession, it seems to me that it
would be very hard for the organization's members to credibly complain
when they are called unpatriotic (at least when the patrie involved is
America).  Patriotism, it seems to me, generally involves (among many
other things) some degree of emotional commitment to the nation. This
ought not be complete emotional commitment above all else; surely one
should also have the moral sense to see when the nation is doing wrong,
or even when the nation needs to be dissolved.  But shouldn't it be
enough emotional commitment to overcome the annoyances of 6 years' worth
of perceived mistake and misgovernment, the displeasure at seeing your
tax money go to other states, and even strong disagreement with the
views of many of your countrymen?

Of course, if one lacks this commitment, and thinks that it
really would be better if California, Oregon, and Washington went their
own way, one can certainly be a morally wonderful person.  One can even
be a California patriot.  It's just that I doubt that one can still say
that one is much of an American patriot -- or can even see an accusation
of lack of patriotism as a pejorative, much less as unfair.

Eugene
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