Jim Chatham: "This July 4, A Larger Concept Of The Patriotic Call." I AGREE.
This July 4, a larger concept of the patriotic call
By Jim Chatham
The Oxford American Dictionary defines "patriot" as "a person who is devoted to and ready to support or defend his or her country."
We usually associate patriotism with military service. We honor those who protect our country in conflict, focusing on "supporting the troops."
But if we Americans are "devoted to and ready to support" our country, we need a larger concept of the patriotic call. Doing what is best for the nation has other meanings also. Here are a few.
A patriot today will vote. Our presidents are normally elected with less than 50 percent of the eligible population voting. A recent state primary brought out 11 percent. Democracy is a delicate construct, most easily undermined by indifference. If we love our country, we will educate ourselves about political issues, local candidates and national candidates, and then we will vote. It is the most fundamental of civic duties.
A patriot today will refuse to participate in the wave of anger sweeping this nation, stoked by professional anger provocateurs seeking power and wealth. Anger appears likely to play a significant role in this coming November's election. I shudder to think of the government our anger will elect. It will not be a government of knowledge and wisdom in leading our nation forward through difficult times. If we love our country, we will not let anger do our voting.
A patriot today will support necessary taxation. Realize what our taxes buy. They buy our parents' Medicare and our children's teachers. They buy the streets we drive on, the lights that show us the way, the fire departments that answer our alarms, the police that protect us, the army that defends us, the arts that enrich us, the scientific research that prepares our future. Yes, there is waste, graft and corruption, but the contention that taxes are evil is a lie. We are short-sighted and self-centered if we believe it. If we love our country, we will support fair and necessary taxes, and we will elect candidates who have the courage to vote for them.
A patriot today will join the effort to scale back on our nation's voracious appetite for oil. Cars, SUVs, gasoline, heating oil, plastics, synthetics -- together they create an oil addiction that is seriously weakening our country. Not only are we using up the earth's finite oil supply and fouling the world's environment, but we are also making some very unsavory people fabulously rich. Patriotism cries out to us to find a better way. The guiding word is SACRIFICE: how much will you and I sacrifice on our auto travel, our air travel, our convenience, our demand, our consumption to make America stronger? Will we support the development of alternative energy sources? Our President recently beckoned us to this challenge; are we paying attention? If we love our country, we will start now withdrawing ourselves from our addiction to oil.
A patriot today will affirm that those of us with more need to share with those of us with less. Wealth disparity in this country has reached enormous proportions. One percent of our people possess 43 percent of our wealth; 80 percent of our people possess 7 percent of our wealth (http//sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html). In the past 30 years, Congress has passed much legislation designed to make this disparity worse, to enrich further the rich and to impoverish the poor. We have deluded ourselves with the notion that those "with means" deserve favorable treatment because they possess superior insight, intelligence and morality in leading the rest. Ludicrous! Our country is made of all of us. We cannot be strong unless the strength is shared. If we love our country, those who have more will see it as their obligation to share with those who have less.
If we want to be strong patriots in the year 2010, this is how to do it.
James O. Chatham, of Asheville, N.C., is a leader in Elders United for a Just Society, www.EldersUnited.com. He is pastor emeritus of Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville.
By Jim Chatham
The Oxford American Dictionary defines "patriot" as "a person who is devoted to and ready to support or defend his or her country."
We usually associate patriotism with military service. We honor those who protect our country in conflict, focusing on "supporting the troops."
But if we Americans are "devoted to and ready to support" our country, we need a larger concept of the patriotic call. Doing what is best for the nation has other meanings also. Here are a few.
A patriot today will vote. Our presidents are normally elected with less than 50 percent of the eligible population voting. A recent state primary brought out 11 percent. Democracy is a delicate construct, most easily undermined by indifference. If we love our country, we will educate ourselves about political issues, local candidates and national candidates, and then we will vote. It is the most fundamental of civic duties.
A patriot today will refuse to participate in the wave of anger sweeping this nation, stoked by professional anger provocateurs seeking power and wealth. Anger appears likely to play a significant role in this coming November's election. I shudder to think of the government our anger will elect. It will not be a government of knowledge and wisdom in leading our nation forward through difficult times. If we love our country, we will not let anger do our voting.
A patriot today will support necessary taxation. Realize what our taxes buy. They buy our parents' Medicare and our children's teachers. They buy the streets we drive on, the lights that show us the way, the fire departments that answer our alarms, the police that protect us, the army that defends us, the arts that enrich us, the scientific research that prepares our future. Yes, there is waste, graft and corruption, but the contention that taxes are evil is a lie. We are short-sighted and self-centered if we believe it. If we love our country, we will support fair and necessary taxes, and we will elect candidates who have the courage to vote for them.
A patriot today will join the effort to scale back on our nation's voracious appetite for oil. Cars, SUVs, gasoline, heating oil, plastics, synthetics -- together they create an oil addiction that is seriously weakening our country. Not only are we using up the earth's finite oil supply and fouling the world's environment, but we are also making some very unsavory people fabulously rich. Patriotism cries out to us to find a better way. The guiding word is SACRIFICE: how much will you and I sacrifice on our auto travel, our air travel, our convenience, our demand, our consumption to make America stronger? Will we support the development of alternative energy sources? Our President recently beckoned us to this challenge; are we paying attention? If we love our country, we will start now withdrawing ourselves from our addiction to oil.
A patriot today will affirm that those of us with more need to share with those of us with less. Wealth disparity in this country has reached enormous proportions. One percent of our people possess 43 percent of our wealth; 80 percent of our people possess 7 percent of our wealth (http//sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html). In the past 30 years, Congress has passed much legislation designed to make this disparity worse, to enrich further the rich and to impoverish the poor. We have deluded ourselves with the notion that those "with means" deserve favorable treatment because they possess superior insight, intelligence and morality in leading the rest. Ludicrous! Our country is made of all of us. We cannot be strong unless the strength is shared. If we love our country, those who have more will see it as their obligation to share with those who have less.
If we want to be strong patriots in the year 2010, this is how to do it.
James O. Chatham, of Asheville, N.C., is a leader in Elders United for a Just Society, www.EldersUnited.com. He is pastor emeritus of Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville.
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