Progressives and conservatives show their patriotism in different ways

E.J. Dionne Jr. of the Washington Post thinks he understands why progressives feel the way they do about the 4th of July.  And he is onto something:

Have you ever noticed a certain hesitant quality to the expressions of patriotism by progressives or left-wingers?

The patriotism of the conservative goes unquestioned. It's assumed that every politician on the right will wear a flag on his lapel and effortlessly hold forth on ours as "the greatest country in the history of the world."

...But the progressive and the reformer have a problem with what passes for unadulterated patriotism. By nature, the reformer is bound to insist that the country, however glorious, is not a perfect place, that it is capable of doing wrong as well as right. The nation that declared "all men are created equal" was, at the time those words were written, the home of an extensive system of slavery.

Most reformers guard their patriotic credentials by moving quickly to the next logical step: that the true genius of America has always been its capacity for self-correction. I'd assert that this is a better argument for patriotism than any effort to pretend that the Almighty has marked us as the world's first flawless nation.

In other words, while some think that the best way to be patriotic is by wearing a red, white and blue t-shirt and buying the biggest American flag imaginable, others take a more analytical approach.  I am not going to say that one side is better than the other.  However, I think that some conservatives need to be more tolerant of progressives in this regard.  Just because we think our country could be doing better in some areas does not mean we are any less patriotic than those who spend their time putting dozens of miniature U.S. flags on their lawn that were likely made in China.

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Other blogs writing about this issue: The Confessional, Goodnight, John Boy, Mutualist Blog, Duck of Destiny, Thoughts on Life, Injecting Sense, Radical Pie, Erik with a K, It Ain't Necessarily So, Betsy's Page.