Patriotism, Renewed?

Patriotism, renewed?

I don’t eat hot dogs, not usually. But certain holidays seem to drum up the desire for a log of mystery meat nestled in a bread receptacle. Christmas, for instance. But only when it falls on a Monday. The Monday holidays are the hot dog holidays, which is to say Labor Day and Memorial Day. Of course the 4^th of July always ends up feeling like it’s on a Monday merely due to the ubiquity of hot dogs on that day.

Labor Day and Memorial day have always had a kinship since they serve as bookends for the school year, or they used to, sort of. Now schools have various new scheduling regimens which are confusing to anyone over the age of 20. But Memorial Day has always been the unofficial start of summer, and Labor Day the unofficial end. In the state of Michigan, the legislature recently made it illegal for any school district to start classes prior to Labor Day. Bravo to the broke-ass Michiganders for getting one right for a change. For women it used to have something to do with shoe color as well, and for men white dinner jackets replaced black between these two holidays. How times have changed, old sport.  

The other common element Memorial Day and Labor Day shared isn’t true anymore: they were Nothing Holidays. Growing up, we had no idea that these holidays were anything other than a day off. We did not reflect on any meaning they might have. In fact, America as a whole really thought nothing of them. There were no stories on the news about veterans, no talk of the departed at picnics, no general pervasive sentiment of reflection or memorial. In recent years this has really changed. Our nation is observing these holidays as if they have meaning. And they do. Or they should. Right?

We live in confusing times. Because of the shattering complexity we head for the hills. We want everything boiled down to option A or option B. Once we start thinking beyond that we get nervous because we suddenly find our sure footing eroding, and we don’t like how this makes us feel, so we retreat to our two options, hang out with people who favor the same option, hearten ourselves, and hope for the best.

Patriotism is an easy sell today, regardless of which option you favor, unless you start thinking too much. Our soldiers are heroes. Of course they are, every single one of them. Right? (don't think too hard). Our national consciousness did not really favor this opinion after Vietnam, and we shamefully provided almost no support to our returning troops, deriding and disparaging them, offering no attempt to relate, understand, help. It was a lonely time for so many thousands. During that era, Memorial day was a day when the bank was closed, the mail did not run, and Aunt Ginny had a picnic. Photos of fallen family members stayed dusty on the mantle that day.

9/11 put things back into focus in a way that is difficult and painful to acknowledge. To acknowledge it is to admit that we like our A and B. We like easy choices. As a nation most of us don’t vote, although we bitch a lot. But when Our Nation Was Attacked, everything became pure, became clear again even amidst the horror. Our enemy was obvious. Our soldiers became heroes again. Right?

On 9/12 I was driving through Pennsylvania and a fire brigade was out on a fill the boot campaign. I emptied my wallet of a couple 20s and everyone else did too. There was a look between boot-holder and donor that needed no words. Everyone gave. People put American flags on their car antennas. Three weeks later, they were filthy and tattered and actually violated regulations on proper display of the U.S. Flag. It was the thought that counted. Right?

We went off to Afghanistan with anger and bloodlust, and to most, it felt absolutely right. Then we went off Iraq with a huge question mark in our heads. Bush sent Colin Powell to the United Nations to talk about the mushroom cloud because everyone, everyone trusts Colin Powell. Today he says it is burned into his memory as a great regret.

But we all want to build American-Style Democracy, right? As recently as a few years back lots of A and B folks agreed with this in general. We didn’t have to reflect on what we could afford. Nobody used the term “blood and treasure”.

“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.”

That is what John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address. It is seen as the clearest statement of the doctrine of American democracy-building around the world. It is thought of as the reason we play cop and big brother to the world. It is 50 years old. So is it option A or B that favors this doctrine? Unsure footing for us all.

But something is very different now, palpably different than at any time since World War II. We generally support our troops. We find it disgraceful if veterans do not get the care and support they need. We celebrate them as heroes. We look back at Vietnam and feel sadness and shame for our treatment of returning vets.

But where does today’s New Patriotism come from? Are our soldiers all heroes?  No, not at all. Some are mass murderers, rapists, torturers. Yet this cannot be uttered, because it makes the ground start to give way. People favoring a certain option want a small Government. Yet they also tend to endorse a huge, old-fashioned military. We have lost more than double the number of American lives in Iraq and Afghanistan than we lost on 9/11. One Million civilians have been killed, but live on in the venom they foment in the hearts of those who survive them. In so many cases, we planted seeds when we dropped bombs. America has never been more reviled. What is our huge military for? Is it there to carry out a 50 year old doctrine? Is it there to provide jobs and pensions to millions? If we had 5,000 spies in Afghanistan on 9/11 Bin Laden would have died on 9/12. If we had 10,000 spies in Iraq Colin Powell would never have made that speech. We invaded with 130,000 old-fashioned land-attack ass-kickers and, regardless of which option you favor, failed miserably. The world is not more secure, America is far weaker in every possible sense, and now we hear “blood and treasure” talked about. As in, we spiplled a lot, spent a lot, and now we're not so sure we want to Police the World. We're broke, we're wounded, we still have our noses in the air. Looks weird to everyone but us.

But on Memorial Day, we seem to put this aside and Remember. This has to be a good thing. A 19 year-old who joined the Army in 2001 and died in 2005 is thought of as a Man Who Did His Job. His photograph does not collect dust and is on the picnic table this Memorial Day, where it should be. Or maybe it is not the photograph, but the man himself who should enjoy that picnic. And again the ground starts to give way under our feet.

“Bush is a war criminal”.

“Obama’s drone strikes are mass murder”.

Unsure footing. Retreating to wave a flag in honor of those who deserve it just feels right, when everything else is so confusing. Especially when the local news needs to sell advertisements to pharmaceutical companies. Patriotic stories; the shallow, vapid sort, are easy fluff.

But patriotism is harder than that. A lot harder. Right?