patriotism: a portrait of an ideal

we are at a pivotal moment in our history. today, our nations birthday, north korea launched 6 missles into the sea of japan one of which was thought to be capable of carrying a light nuclear payload to california (this particular one wasn't, failing about 30 seconds after launch), iran still giving us headaches, and iraq is still...well, iraq. things can go really poorly right now or not.

here's the question: what does a patriot do at a time like this? first let's see what webster's says about a patriot; he is "one who loves, supports, and defends one's country." i like that definition...i can get on board with something like that. look at the important words: love, support, defend, one's country. show me where in that definion it mentions an administration, a man, a policy...it's not there. you are not unmade as a patriot for honest criticism of a policy, a war, a president...in fact, what is a country but a construction of ideals. in our case that main ideal, the crux upon which all of our other ideals are rested, is freedom. we have it. we have freedom to criticize, to rail against, to protect and defend america, and if that means defending her from herself or her officials, then sobeit.

we are compelled by our patriotism to fight for freedom, to defend our right to privacy and idividuality. our courts recently trashed the knock and announce law; that is, the law requiring police officers to announce their presence and intent before entering a private home. this flies in the face of over 700 years of precedent...that's right this law has as its base a 13th century english law--how free does that feel? in alaska it had been legal for years to keep up to 4 ounzes of marijuana in one's home for personal use it was considered a matter of "right to privacy"; recently, the wacky weed has been re-criminalized (this law will likely be overturned; alaska has a long history of overturning any law that even hints at infringing on the right to privacy). now, i'm not trying to endorse marijuana or try to lead a mass migration of apathy as activism readers to the great, white north...i'm just trying to show that, yes, our rights are being affected everyday and it's time we all took notice.

but you say, as i do sometimes, "but we're in a different age, i'm willing to let go of some of my rights to help my country get through this part of history." sure, i'm with you, but where's the line? bank account monitoring, data mining, phone tapping: are those ok? what about email monitoring, the books we buy, the movies we watch, cameras in our homes? still, if we aren't doing anything wrong we have nothing to worry about...right? but is that how we freedom-loving americans want to live? is our safety worth our privacy? and does a lack of privacy make us more safe, is that lack even necessary for safety?

i don't know, but they are questions deserving of more than just a casual thought from time to time. what i do know is that we, america, were founded because we didn't want the british telling us how to live our lives; we wanted a land of the free. and on this Independence Day it is that idea, land of the free, that we as a people, as a nation, as patriots are called...no...obligated to love, support, and defend.