I Am A Patriotic Peace-nik
by Judith McDaniel

So who says I can't be for peace these days and be a patriot? Or that I can't advocate nonviolence as a response to terrorism and be a patriot? Or that I can't question my government's actions and be a patriot?

I think patriotism is a concept that we need to examine from time to time. Loosely defined, patriotism is about supporting one's country. Here's what that looks like to me.

Supporting my country means helping it stay on track. Helping it take and keep a course that is for our greater good. I can't give that support without questioning, without creating a dialogue that suggests alternatives. This kind of questioning is not an attack on my country; rather, it is a crucial involvement in democratic processes. Saying yes to everything the President or the Congress propose does not strengthen democracy.

Supporting my country means expecting the best good for the greatest number. I do not agree with the anarchists or the "anti-authoritarians" that we don't need government at all. I am not against government. It is one of the structures we individuals have created to help us all live together. I really like paying my taxes that support our school systems, our libraries, our public transportation, our firefighters. Just because I don't have children in public school this year doesn't mean I don't want to pay those taxes. The education of our children is good for the entire community, and I don't want it to only fall to parents. It is one of the necessary tasks of government.

Supporting my country means requiring that it be a good neighbor in the world community. Like all neighbors, we sometimes have differing interests and needs, but we ought to negotiate these differences. This is the part of the definition of patriotism that gets most confusing, I think. "My country above all." "My country, right or wrong." Those are the slogans we hear at times like the present. They are inadequate.

Whether we like it or not, globalization affects every aspect of our lives today, and we have to consider what patriotism means in the face of that. We wear clothes made in countries we never heard of by workers whose lives we can barely imagine. We drink coffee that may come from shade-grown coffee bushes, a convention that was negotiated by environmentalists and coffee growers to save the land from clear cutting or burning. Our chocolate may have been manufactured from beans picked by child slaves, and multinational corporations that produce and sell chocolate have agreed not to use slave labor in their product. Citizens from sixty-two different countries died in the attack on the World Trade Center. Yes, most were citizens of the United States, but we are not alone in our grief any more than we are isolated from the people who produce or process or transport our daily necessities.

What patriotism cannot mean today is that our country is elevated above all others, that we will pursue our own good without regard for that of others.

That is the old definition of patriotism. It may be responsible for the festering grievances that lead to violent conflicts, even to terrorism.

The new patriotism will have to be about involvement with the world, with our neighbors - both individuals and nations. It will have to be about heated and deep discussions of directions past and directions future. It will have to be about education that goes beyond our own perspective.

The new patriotism may wave a flag. But it will have to do much more than that to be meaningful in this new world.

Judith McDaniel
1501 Cherry St.
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-241-5717

Judith McDaniel, Ph.D., is the Director of Peacebuilding for the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia. She is the author of nine books of poetry, fiction, and political reflection.