I was born a walking advertisement for patriotism. By the time I was two, each time I greeted a stranger, I’d recite what I’d been so carefully programmed to say, “Hi, I’m Brittany Danielle Friesner. I’m a bicentennial baby born July 4, 1976 and I weighed seven pounds, six ounces, 7 – 6, get it?”
Understandably, my birthday has been a part of my identity from day one. I consider myself patriotic to the core. However, the past four years have damaged the pride I once carried for my birthday, and my country. Some days I’m not even sure what a patriot is anymore.
Before the 21st century, being a patriot was as simple as it states in the dictionary:
Patriot n. One who loves, supports, and defends one’s country.
However, late in the 20th century, the definition of the word began to change. While patriotism was at an all time high during and following World War II, it would not be long before the honor inherent in defending your country would be called into question.
In the eight years of combat of the Vietnam War, more than 58,000 Americans lost their lives and over 304,000 were wounded. This was small compared to the three to four million Vietnamese who perished on both sides, and the one and a half to two million Laotians and Cambodians killed in the war. Still, it was an American death toll too high for a war many did not understand, much less support. As Richard Nixon said in 1985, “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.” However, what is not forgotten is the way the war divided the country.
It wasn’t just peace-loving hippies who protested the war either. Many people who spoke out against the war were Vietnam veterans. In an April 1971 Senate Foreign Relations Committee, highly decorated veteran John Kerry (yes, that one) asked Congress, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” His testimony challenged the idea of the American patriot. Was it as simple as loving and defending your country? Or was it becoming a more complex virtue?
The past few decades have been unkind. Until now, patriotism wasn’t doing so well. Sure, you still saw a multitude of flags displayed at your local car dealer and heard the National Anthem sung at ball games, but it wasn’t something that people discussed, much less worried about all that much.
Skip to 2004. We’re only a few years into this century and already two major events have drastically reshaped the meaning of American patriotism.
Let’s begin with the 2000 election. While Al Gore won the popular vote, America was still without a president five weeks following the 2000 election. She soon received the worst early holiday present of all time. On December 12, 2000, in a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court put an end to the recounting of presidential votes in Florida and handed the 2000 election to George W. Bush on a silver platter. Who knew where it would lead at the time?
Nine months later, almost to the day, fell September 11, 2001. Talk about an infamous date in history. The horrific events of that day demonstrated not only America’s vulnerability to attacks on its own soil, but more importantly, it signaled that American freedoms and rights were just as vulnerable. A mere 45 days after September 11th, our new President pushed forward the USA PATRIOT Act, or the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USAPA) of 2001. Introduced less than a week after the September 11 attacks, USAPA made significant amendments over 15 important statutes and was passed with little to no debate. And thus, patriotism was defined even further with a fancy new acronym and a dangerous agenda. Apparently, in the post-September 11 United States, freedom is a relative term, Bush-patriotism is the new anti-communism and guess what? We’re going to war!
So now here we are, less than five months away from arguably the most important presidential election of all time. We are entrenched in an Iraq war that millions of world citizens, including a majority of members of the United Nations protested. Every day we lose more and more sons and daughters of our country in this increasingly unjustifiable war that a majority of Americans don’t understand. Sound familiar? And we are losing more and more of our freedoms every day. We are being dictated as to what an American patriot is today by politicians who have virtually no regard for what it truly means to be an American, much less a patriot.
Being an American patriot is not about fitting into a particular “American ideal” as the Bush administration would have us believe. There is no one set model for being an American. That’s the beauty of this country. Having the freedom and will to simply exist in whatever form one may choose is what makes this country and its citizens great. Sometimes that form will oppose the government when it’s making a mistake (or two). Possessing the freedom to yell “Stop!” to a country that is blindly being led into dangerous territory is what makes us all Americans in the first place. Voting is one of the easiest ways we can exercise this cherished freedom.
The right to vote is one of the most important rights that we as citizens of a democracy possess. However, a substantial number of US citizens choose not to vote every year. Only 36.1% of 18-24 year olds eligible to vote went to the polls, while 50.5% of 25-34 year olds voted. There’s still room for improvement. The number one reason people gave for not voting? Too busy. Are you kidding me? You are “too busy” to exercise the most important right you have?
The numbers have shown that by and large those who register to vote do vote. So I urge you, the American patriots who don’t buy the bullshit we’ve been fed the past four years, to have your voices heard and register to vote. Come Election Day, get off your asses and go to the polls. It could be the most important thing you do this year, hell, in your whole life. And while you’re at it, tell your friends to register to vote. And their friends too. It’s time the real patriots stand up and be counted.
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