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Does Loyalty to
Government Equal
Patriotism?
by John Matthew Leone
In our day the word
"patriotic" has been
distorted in a
magnificent way. It has
come to mean "loyalty to
our government," or even
worse, "loyalty to the
Republican Party." It is
a great disgrace to our
national consciousness
that this paradigm shift
in language and meaning
has occurred.
I say this because
our current form of
government is in
open and unashamed
rebellion against
the lawful
restraints of its
own operating
contract, our
Constitution. This
unfortunate
circumstance does
not seem to matter
to most people
because most
Americans have
absolutely no idea
what the
Constitution
actually requires
from our government.
This ignorance has
produced a sizeable
number of "patriots"
who are seemingly
ready and willing to
defend the illegal
and illegitimate
activities of
politicians who are
unfettered by
"meager"
restrictions like
the foundational law
of our land. What
makes this shift all
the more dangerous
is that it has been
accomplished under
the banner of
"Americanism."
A true patriot is
one who is faithful
to the founding
principles of our
land. A true patriot
is one that defends
the Constitution and
refuses to kowtow to
the efforts of
politicians who are
only interested in
the expansion
consolidation of
their own power and
unconstitutional
beliefs. A true
patriot is one who
refuses to slavishly
support any
political party,
even if they happen
to agree with some
of its stated
platform.
The Christian
citizen understands
that political
parties are
comprised of
depraved and wicked
sinners who will
nearly always revert
to their basest of
instincts. The
Christian citizen
refuses to enshrine
those who are in
positions of
political power
because he believes
in the total
depravity of all
mankind. In our day,
it seems as if the
vast majority of
American Christians
believe that only
Democrats suffer
from the fallen
condition of man.
Republicans, it
seems, are supermen
who have been able
to transcend the
reprobate state into
which they were
born.
Defining patriotism
as loyalty to one's
ruling government
would have been
totally alien to the
minds of the 18th
century colonial
revolutionaries that
founded our nation.
Our Founding
Fathers, remember,
were the ones who
fought stridently
against those who
were slavishly loyal
to the oppressive
government they were
laboring under at
the time. How is it
that people who hold
to principles that
stand in direct
opposition to the
Founders' views of
government can
honestly view
themselves as
"patriotic" in the
same sense that the
Founders were?
But again, we return
the problem of
ignorance. The vast
majority of the
American populace
either isn't
familiar with the
writings of the
Founders, or they
have been taught
false applications
of their beliefs by
those who agree with
the modern
imperialistic agenda
of the
Establishmentarian
Party that controls
our government. For
instance, I've heard
it been said by
Republicrat
mouthpieces that
Thomas Jefferson
believed in the
natural and
inalienable rights
of all men.
Therefore, it is the
solemn and holy duty
of our nation to, by
the might of our
technologically
superior armed
forces, spread our
form of government
forcibly around the
globe. While the
initial premise is
correct, that
Jefferson was a
champion of the
rights of men, such
an application is a
total distortion of
Jeffersonian thought
and is an injustice
to rational methods
of historicism. It
is by such methods
that "neopatriotism"
is birthed in the
hearts and minds of
American citizens.
C. Fred Alford is
Professor of
Government at the
University of
Maryland, College
Park. Researching
one of his books, he
interviewed a
"high-level
government
bureaucrat" on the
issue of loyalty to
government. During
the interview, the
official made the
statement that "if
we [the government]
didn't have loyalty,
nothing would get
done in this
government." Alford
replied, "You know
... loyalty is a
virtue. But when
someone mentions
loyalty like this I
always find myself
thinking about the
Nazis, and [you
haven't said]
anything to dissuade
me." [1]
1. C. Fred Alford,
Whistleblowers:
Broken Lives and
Organizational Power
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press,
2001), 9.
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