Jan. 12, 2009 (World News Trust) -- In the 1970s, Martin Mull starred in a movie called “Serial.” It satirized the period’s “cultural” revolution against American institutions that the political Right insists is to blame for all of America’s problems today. In the movie, Mull’s daughter gets caught up in a cult. He has been interviewing for a new job and has discovered that his potential boss spends his weekends leading a homosexual biker gang.
Despite the fact that the film is set in San Francisco, the company, being a huge corporation, would not approve of this weekend activity. Mull blackmails the boss into hiring him and having the gang rescue his daughter. The cult members tell everyone, “We love you!” One of the gang responds with, “Well, that’s an easy thing to say, but are you willing to prove it?”
Over the last several years, though most pronouncedly during the campaign, we’ve heard talk about love of Country. At the same time, we’ve heard a lot of talk about Patriotism. Usually, it would be in the form of, “I’m not questioning his patriotism, but...” First of all, any time you say, “I’m not doing ..., but,” stop -- that is exactly what you are doing. Secondly, I’m going to define patriotism as demonstrating one’s love of country through action.
Whether or not you accept my definition of patriotism, we are already led to the question of defining love of country. Before the phrase can be defined, love must be defined. Some might posit that the current administration conflates the definition of love with the act of love which would justify them (euphemistically) screwing the country for the last eight years.
I do not believe that Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is an adequate tool to define love. I maintain that there are words which can only be defined by the experience of them. Love is one of those words. I once tried to describe “nebbish” to my girlfriend -- I was unsuccessful until I pointed out someone she knew and said he was a nebbish. Likewise Chutzpah has been defined as nerve or guts or balls. None of these definitions actually captures the nature of the word -- the closest definition is killing your mother and father -- then throwing yourself on the mercy of the court as an orphan.
With that in mind, how does one define love? I define love by the experience of it. I can proclaim my love for someone a thousand times over, but it is not truly love unless others look upon our relationship and know unequivocally that it is love. So, how do I behave when I’m in love? Is there a measurable metric that transcends bias? I say yes. I say that when you love someone. You do whatever they ask you to do -- provided that you can.
That’s my definition. You are free to have your own. During World War II, my country asked people not to take unnecessary trips. It asked our sons and daughters to serve in the military. It asked us to buy bonds. The people responded in record numbers. After the September 11th attacks -- and by the way it's September 11th, and not 9/11 -- my country asked me to go shopping.
Ninety-one percent approval rating -- that is what the polls showed as President Bush stood on the smoldering pile of Twin Tower rubble with a bull-horn. Imagine if he asked us to become energy independent. At that moment, he could have asked us to forgo apple pie and we would have -- he asked us to shop.
On the eve of starting a war in Iraq that would cost more than a trillion dollars, Tom Delay said it's patriotic to cut taxes during war. Even today, as our government spends hundreds of billions of dollars to try and stave off recession, republicans are fighting for tax cuts. If you love your country, and your country needs money, what is more patriotic than giving it?
The only people who have sacrificed anything for their country in this war have been the people and families of those who joined the military. The President did not use the opportunity to ask us for any sacrifice. Don’t bother buying more fuel efficient cars, just shop. There wasn’t even a call for more service. Throughout our history America responds to challenges. We beg for the opportunity to prove ourselves.
The main reason why we are going to be swearing in Barack Obama as President next week is because he had the audacity to challenge us to vote for him. He dared us to live up to the highest ideals of our Constitution. We voted for him. What could be more patriotic than that?
Hal Cohen is editor and publisher of Mollynyc.com