On Thursday, I listened to part of the public radio program On Point. It was a wide-ranging conversation about the Obama election, but a dominant thread was the tired old “Mystery of Young People,” with a 21-year-old named Suzanne, the daughter of another panelist, as the resident expert.
An army veteran called in, with the serious and well-put concern that he hears many young people say, “This is the first time I have ever been proud of my country.” Suzanne, quick on her feet, gave the answer that people are proud to be Americans, of course, but that this is the first time she has ever been proud of a politician. She noted that our generation has seen much reprehensible behavior from both Democrats and Republicans.
Suzanne’s answer was kind and peacemaking.
I absolutely disagree.
Obama’s election is, in fact, the first time I have been, tenuously, proud of my country. My political consciousness formed around the time of Clinton’s impeachment. I have seen dishonorable philanderers, stuttering imbeciles, and uber-secretive energy magnates dominating Washington. I have seen the conquering of sovereign foreign nations, brazen incursions into several others, and the taxpayer-funded bailout of greedy corporations losing their imaginary money. I have seen acts of great selflessness and honor; I have seen the formidable strength of communities; I have seen the passion of small groups of people intent upon changing the world.
I have never been proud of my country. On and after September 11, 2001, I was proud of American people.
The radio panel discussion included the idea that the US is becoming like Europe, and a concerned remark that our education system no longer salutes the flag, or teaches the love and honor of our country. 20-somethings today, it was implied, were just never taught what’s right. They were never taught that America is the greatest country on earth. They just don’t get it.
It’s not that someone failed to teach me. I consciously reject nationalism as an evil like idolatry (which is, by definition, greatly misordered priorities), and the source of much of the misery on the earth. The rallying cry of the losing McCain campaign was “Country first!” To which I cry, “No! people and place first!”
America is an idea. It is a construct. The United States of America is not real. The United States of America is an enormous group of many people, within a particular geographic boundary, and the geologic and biospheric realities they inhabit. If we become more like the nations of Europe, able to subsume our national identities into greater cooperation, it can only be good. The best nation is regarded by its citizens as a necessary administrative function.
The people of the land must love each other, and must cherish their land. The love of a nation saps the people’s emotional strength and distracts us from the real opportunities and the real strength. America is an ideal, and even a noble one. But the cry of “Country First” could cost us the rivers in our capillaries and the humus beneath our feet. The health of the community and the health of the ecology is first. It always has been. For a few generations, we just forgot.
Wow, Sarah, I’m very impressed! It’s much too late for me to be articulate, but you certainly are!