Journal of Dr. Orison Pratt

"Patriotism to a New Country", by Dr. Orison Pratt



For our new, fledgling nation to join the ranks of the great civilizations of history, some shared conceptualisation of patriotism, some form of common national loyalty, is needed. We are left with a most vexing question: is patriotism possible to a new country? We lack a common national identity, and the federal government, quite rightfully, looks unlikely to impose some certain subjective values, religious beliefs, and artistic concepts on us all as mandatory. We lack even a common idea of what our country actually is: is it a single entity with states being subservient to national governmental interests, or are we seven independent entities organised under one banner solely for short-term strength? Are we defined predominantly by our allegiance to our state capitals or to our national capitals? These are unsettled, controversial, and agitative questions.



Is it possible to be a patriot to a country without a single coherent identity? My instinct says no. Patriotism is, at its core, a subcategory of loyalty. My instinct informs me that loyalty is not possible without one true, identifiable, consistent entity to swear such loyalty to. This reasoning leads me to believe that patriotism to America is impossible - the federal system means we lack a strong central authority to pledge allegiance to, if the wishes of the anti-federalists come into fruition, and the lack of a dominant cultural mindset, imposed either by government or natural societal forces, means there is no coherent identity worthy of our fealty either. Is patriotism to America thus impossible?







This controversial, cynical mindset was one I had succumbed to over the past few days of thought and reflection, but I have since realised that patriotism properly understood, patriotism worth fighting for, is not loyalty to a country. Those patriots who ignore politics are not ideologically patriots at all, they just have understandably stronger emotional and moral attachments to those within their country, or a stronger sentimental attachment to their place of birth; it is a communitarian and familial loyalty, masked as a nationalist one for convenience's sake.

It is ignorant of the bigger picture but fuelled by a communitarian, familial instinct that is humanity's greatest asset.



This form of patriotism, which I shall refer to as communitarian patriotism, or familial patriotism, is a virtue. It entails a recognition of the increased ease and effectiveness of helping those close to us, of fighting for what is right closer to him and promoting our ideals by setting an example domestically before actively championing them elsewhere. It recognises that a man's greatest duty on Earth is to his family and friends. It recognises that the accomplishment of this goal can only be achieved by ensuring mutual prosperity and security for strangers, creating a strong world for our own loved ones to prosper in. It recognises that this security and prosperity for strangers carries the best impact on our own lives when achieved closer to home, that our resources for helping others in creating a better habitat are finite, and that prioritisation of charity is needed. It recognises nationalities providing an admittedly arbitrary but fundamentally effective and easily-identifiable measure for assisting in this prioritisation of charity.





But it is not true patriotism; communitarian patriotism treats country as a means to an end, true patriotism requires viewing the country's success as an end. The question is then, how do we define true patriotism exactly, how do we determine whether an individual is a communitarian patriot or a true patriot? True patriotism is admiration, love, and passion for a country's principles. In noble men, this form of patriotism properly understood can only be found in countries that value freedom over autocracy, equality over domination, justice over arbitrariness. In those countries that lack those values, a noble man can only be patriotic in the sense that they love their communities and families and wish them the best, and wish to create a better home and stable future for them. Noble men in ignoble countries can be communitarian patriots, but cannot be true patriots for that would require a loyalty to ignoble causes. In arbitrary and illiberal nations, patriotism in the sense of loving a country's values, true patriotism, is merely the refuge of the scoundrel. True patriotism as a concept, love for a country's values, is neither inherently a vice or a virtue, but a character trait of moral standing based solely on said country's values. To judge whether a man who is a true patriot is a noble soul, we must first judge his country's values.





I propose a third type of patriotism, in addition to the communitarian and true varieties. It is an extrapolation of sorts of the two types. It subscribes to the communitarian idea of a nationality as the best means for prioritising charity and taking care of one's loved ones. It accepts the insights of true patriotism in the sense that it places importance on the values of said country. This form of patriotism, while by no means unique, shall be named American patriotism. We must, for the interests of both the American individual and the American whole, create a national identity, and it must be one defined by our values. True patriotism is an important building block for a strong nation.



What is vital for a strong nation, however, is ensuring the values our people are loyal to are noble ones. It is the duty of every American patriot to recognise we are in the most important period of our national history; regardless of whether our nation lasts two thousand years or two thousand days, these next few weeks will be the most significant. They will be by far the most significant days in our history when it comes to shaping our national values, and we have a moral obligation to our descendants, and humanity as a whole, to ensure the values we adopt are noble ones. The duty of a patriot is to make sure America is a nation worth being loyal to, or else any blood spilled in its name will be in vain.



So what values should the American patriot champion? Freedom over slavery. Unity over conflict. Liberty over autocracy. Equality over domination. We must make a nation worthy of patriotism, a nation deserving of unconditional love, a nation that will elicit loyalty and admiration from its citizens, a nation that will serve as a template for others to follow.