On Being a Patriot

David Brooks, a conservative columnist in the William Buckley tradition who writes in the New York Times, recently wrote an article where he compared his loyalty to his community and State to that he has for the Nation. He concluded:

“I have to say my strongest attachment is to the nation, to the United States. You could take New York out of my identity and I’d be sort of the same. If you took America out of my identity I’d be unrecognizable to myself.”

That hit me as being absolutely true for myself. I don’t fly a New York State or Chautauqua County flag from our flagpole—I fly Old Glory, the American flag. I don’t feel especially patriotic when the County’s helicopter flies down the lake, but my heart starts beating faster when I see Chinook Army helicopters come roaring over flying in formation with their blades pounding the air. They remind me of my days in Vietnam during the war. They remind me that I am an American.

I must admit that it aggravates me a bit when people equate patriotism with a particular political point-of-view. I believe that Democrats are as patriotic as Republicans, that Conservatives are as patriotic as Liberals. We may disagree on political issues of the day, but that doesn’t tarnish or diminish our being Americans. When I fought together with men in Vietnam, we didn’t base our trust in each other on party affiliation.

I grew up around here and, as most of us who lived on farms, was raised as a Republican. I was still a Republican when I was offered a job working for the Democratic State Central Committee of Indiana in 1966. I wanted to observe “politics in action,” and that job certainly gave me a cat-bird seat to observe it. It ended up being a big Republican year in Indiana, but I clearly remember one meeting I attended where the idea of “patriotism” made a big impact on me.

It was a meeting near Evansville, Indiana of the Posey County Democratic Committee. The Democratic candidate for Indiana Secretary of State I was assisting had gone there to make a speech. However, before he spoke, a member of the County Committee read a portion of scripture from the Bible, the Chairman prayed, then we saluted the flag, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the “Star Spangled Banner.”

It was an over-powering experience. Here, in the heat of a political campaign, people were affirming who they were as Americans. I knew then, if I had never realized it before, that patriotism is not captive to any particular political party… it is a belief in who we are as a country. It goes way beyond party loyalties.

I don’t like it when demonstrators burn the flag. But I know, deep-down, that their right to do so is engrained in what it means to be an American.

Yes, I get upset when people kneel during the national anthem. I don’t like it when demonstrators burn the flag. But, I know, deep-down, that their right to do so is engrained in what it means to be an American.

I love this country. It is the country of all of us. Perhaps the words of the Great Seal of the United States say it best: E Pluribus Unum — “Out of many, one.”

Rolland Kidder
Stow, NY

The Divided States of America

The evening of the Kavanaugh hearing, I “surfed” the channels to get the news. All I could find was the hearing or commentary on it. I finally turned off the TV. It made me sick.

The hearing confirmed to me that America is more divided than ever. It was not just his word vs. her word. It was “my guy vs. your guy.” No compromise, no middle ground — just smash mouth football. I decided to tune it out.

No compromise, no middle ground — just smash mouth football.  I decided to tune it out.

It can make you depressed but, in the long view, we have to face the fact that divided politics in America is a large part of our history. Right after a tremendous moment of national unity during the Second World War, the country descended into McCarthyism with conspiracy theorists finding communists in every corner of the government. After our most divisive conflict, the Civil War, the country really didn’t heal as one. It split apart again over the policies of reconstructing the Confederate States. As for my growing-up years, I was a Vietnam Veteran — one of the most contentious and divisive times in our history.

Is today’s division worse? Probably not, but it feels worse because of the magnified impact delivered by our multi-dimensional media, accentuated by tweeting from the White House (which I think should be banned for anyone who becomes President). When you get hammered with something like the Kavanaugh Hearing it comes at you in print, on the screen, on the radio and through your smart phone. It feels like a deluge that will sweep you away.

I honestly don’t think there are any real winners in the kind of spectacle we saw in the Kavanaugh hearing. The accuser comes to the table quite late in the process and questions linger as to her timing in coming forth. The accused, Judge Kavanaugh, responds in an angry diatribe against the system implying that the deck is stacked against him. The last thing he seems to have in his response is judicial temperament. The bewildered country looks on the whole process as a sort of “one-shot” soap opera. 

The losers are many starting with the country as whole.

The losers are many starting with the country as whole. The U.S. Senate no longer looks like one of the great deliberative bodies in the world. The Supreme Court itself is becoming more polarized and losing its credibility as a fair arbiter in the major issues facing the country.

National unity remains an aspiration in our politics, not a reality. If there is any historical perspective to this moment, it does give credence to our long-standing reputation as being the “Divided States of America.” 

Rolland Kidder 

This article first appeared in The Post-Journal on October 14, 2018