Let me shelve journalism today to tell you about last week's "GI Jive" show at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. Described as "a musical tribute to our war veterans. it featured the New MexiChords and guest singers performing a host of World War II songs. They were fine. The only problem was the patriotism.
After intermission, you see, they played and sang the anthems of the military branches. US Army, Navy and Air Force veterans in the audience were asked to stand for "our" music. I stood. Then, "This is Our Country" and finally, inevitably, "God Bless America."
Younger readers may not understand the emotions I felt, that everybody my age and older must have felt. Pride. Respect for those who sacrificed their lives and sorrow, too, of course. I was on the verge of tears, but I fought hard against them and everything I felt, because my mind warned that they were manipulating me.
What’s my problem? The White House is using patriotism, the World War II brand, to cover a murderous foreign policy that should shame Americans and using that foreign policy to distract from domestic policy that serves to make the powerful more so. And I fear the New MexiChords innocently served that nefarious purpose.
Most of them would disagree, though, which leads to a tough question – what’s patriotism? The majority would answer that it’s love of country and flag, a love best expressed by those who give their lives.
I do not totally disagree, but I figure there’s a higher expression of patriotism. It involves fighting for what makes our nation special, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the potential they offer of a just society. Which means - when the nation embarks on wars of aggression, domestic policies that subvert democracy and the freedoms spelled out in the Bill of Rights – dissent.
That’s a minority definition of patriotism, no doubt. I wonder how they teach it in the public schools.