No, Voting for Trump does not make you a “Patriot”
I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor the other day. He stopped by to chew the fat, and unprovoked, he told me that he was attending a Trump rally trying to garner support for his presidential bid. He made a comment to me that struck me, when he told me, “We patriots have to make sure he (Trump) gets re-elected”. What??!!! Holding the belief that a certain person should be president qualifies you as a “patriot”? After reading internet articles and opinion pieces, I discovered that this line of thinking was not unique to my neighbor.
Let’s be clear. This is not an opinion piece on whether or not Trump should or should not be President. This is about a shocking, alarming, rift inside of our country where one side of the political spectrum honestly likens themselves to some of our country’s greatest men, founders, thinkers, fighters, and doers, based solely on a belief system.
The definition of the word patriot is, “a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors”. Lets break that down for a minute.
Vigorously supports- the word vigor implies action. I can think of a list of 100 things that would qualify as patriotism, and all of them require action. Public service, military service, working to increase voter turnout, foreign service that promotes the interests of the USA, working to raise literacy, helping immigrants integrate into our communities, the list goes on and on. Notice that none of these things rely solely on a belief, they require the underlying belief system plus action.
Prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors- does the far right honestly believe that by voting for Trump they are defending our country from… other Americans? Americans can and should have a wide and diverse viewpoint of what our country should look like, but overarchingly that view point should be one of inclusion, not exclusion. Do Trump supporting “patriots” honestly believe that through their voting habits they are defending the United States from enemies or detractors? The argument will surely be that voting for policies that the right sees as sacrosanct (like the 2nd amendment) are defending against detractors, but the left is not the enemy of the right. The left and right are largely next door neighbors, communities, and townships. The idea that only a certain set of beliefs can be correct, and that those beliefs make you a “patriot” is indeed dangerous, fraught with tension, and shockingly anti-American.
We live in a highly divided nation, and its due time that all of us as Americans embrace our neighbors of differing opinions, and work together toward the common goal of a more united America, and the first step is to throw away the idea that any one belief system on its own makes you a “patriot”.
