So I occasionally read a philosophy blog operated by a group of professors, the head of which being a guy named Brian Leiter from UT.
Anyway, a recent entry (of a crazy liberal bent) was added a bit ago, of which I thought I'd toss a bit up there. It's essentially a discussion from Howard Zinn about patriotism and the distinction between "country" and "government." Below are some quoted passages.
But those who gave their lives did not, as they were led to believe, die for their country; they died for their government. The distinction between country and government is at the heart of the Declaration of Independence, which will be referred to again and again on July 4, but without attention to its meaning. The Declaration of Independence is the fundamental document of democracy. It says governments are artificial creations, established by the people, "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," and charged by the people to ensure the equal right of all to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Furthermore, as the Declaration says, "whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it." It is the country that is primary--the people, the ideals of the sanctity of human life and the promotion of liberty.Now before anyone gets all crazy, don't assume I want to abolish the government. Or even, necessarily, that I totally agree with Howard Zinn. However, America is awesome, particularly because we DON'T NEED to abolish the government. We live in a land of representative democracy. If we don't like what the government is doing, we alter it, by voting for someone else.
Mark Twain, having been called a "traitor" for criticizing the U.S. invasion of the Philippines, derided what he called "monarchical patriotism." He said: "The gospel of the monarchical patriotism is: 'The King can do no wrong.' We have adopted it with all its servility, with an unimportant change in the wording: 'Our country, right or wrong!' We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had -- the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it, all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism."
1 comment:
I'd like to think that each soldier decides for themselves their reason for fighting (and thus dying), Be it country, government, family, or philosophy. Howard Zinn doesn't get to decide and neither do I.
But even that doesn't matter, because country and government are mutually exclusive like he asserts. Country is much more inclusive, and does in fact include aspects of the government. It's more about theory and system that individual people or decisions.
I am in no way saying government=country, and Zinn does make a good distinction of what basis of good government is (a la consent of the governed). However, like often is his tendency, Howie Z starts on a decent point with insight and gets lost railing against 'the man'.
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