Portrait of a patriot

I'm not one to get misty-eyed and corny, but the following bit from Knowledge News does a nice number in defining "Patriotism":

At least this much was clear from last week's Democratic National Convention: John Kerry and Co. believe in the power of patriotism, and they want to put it to work for their party. "When Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better," Kerry said, "that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism." Translation: We're the real patriots here. Of course, George W. Bush and the Republicans might disagree. But the real question is much more interesting than another round of partisan finger pointing: What makes a real patriot? Here's an answer from America's founders. Does the name William Livingston ring a bell? Probably not. But in 1753, Livingston--a lawyer who led the New Jersey militia during the American Revolution and who became the state's first governor--masterfully articulated the 18th-century ideal of patriotism. We First (Or at Least Second) - Livingston put his patriotic pen to work in a series of essays called The Independent Reflector. He wrote: He is a Patriot who prefers the Happiness of the Whole, to his own private Advantage . . . He is a Patriot, the ruling Object of whose Ambition, is the public Welfare: Whose Zeal, chastised by Reflection, is calm, steady and undaunted . . . Whom no partial Ties can prevail on to act traitorously to the Community, and sacrifice the Interest of the Whole to that of a Part. The patriot, in other words, is no narrow partisan, no party propagandist, no pursuer of pork. On the contrary, the patriot pursues nothing less than the good of the community as a whole, setting aside personal and "local" interests in the process. For the patriot, duty to country is the highest calling--"next to the Duty we owe the Supreme Being." Of course, nobody thought that such selfless nonpartisanship would be easy to come by. Livingston and his contemporaries were well aware that overweening ambition and factional strife come naturally to human beings (that's why they designed a government full of checks and balances). Yet they were also firm believers in the idea that we are by nature socially interested as well as self-interested. "Zeal, Chastised by Reflection" Just about everyone today defines patriotism as "love of country." But for Livingston: Merely to love the Public, to wish it well, to feel for it, in all its Vicissitudes, is not sufficient. . . . To exemplify our Love for the Public, as far as our Ability and Sphere of Action will extend, is true Patriotism. . . . I go still farther. Whoever is unstudious of the public Emolument, who denies it a Share of his thinking Hours, and refuses to exert his Head, his Heart, and his Hands in its Behalf, is a Foe to Society. Love without action, says Livingston, isn't enough. Patriotism requires service--love and labor. Mental labor, too. Serving the common good requires deliberation, "thinking Hours" that lead to constructive efforts as opposed to knee-jerk responses. The patriot's zeal is "chastised by reflection." Disagreements are allowed. The "common good" is no monolithic truth. It is a constant negotiation among the different and often conflicting ideas of the community. Livingston even points to a patriotism of protest, noting that when the country's leaders go wrong, the patriot "mourns for their Vices, and exerts his Abilities to work a Reformation." Fitting Service - Eventually, Livingston found himself in military service. But, as Thomas Paine pointed out in 1777, the term "patriot" has never been restricted solely to those who fight. Paine wrote: Nature, in the arrangement of mankind, has fitted some for every service in life: Were all soldiers, all would starve and go naked, and were none soldiers, all would be slaves. . . . All we want to know in America is simply this, who is for independence, and who is not? Those who are for independence, Paine says, will contribute to its cause in various ways. During World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt called on women across America to save cooking fat for the war effort. Why? Because cooking fat contains glycerin, which is used to make gunpowder. Saving cooking fat was a small thing, but it was no less patriotic for that. For America's founders, acting deliberately, for the good of the whole, because you care about its well-being, is patriotic--even if what you do seems relatively inconsequential. But you must serve. Steve Sampson August 2, 2004