Paul Waldman, at TAPPED, on the Obama "patriotism" "scandal":
Now that people are actually attacking Barack Obama for saying that he doesn't wear an American flag pin because it isn't all that meaningful, one wonders if this might be an opportunity for us to have a genuine discussion about different varieties of patriotism. This is a pretty clear conservative/progressive split. Conservatives are huge fans of symbolic patriotism -- flag lapel pins, flags on cars, full-throated singing of "God Bless the U.S.A." (aka "Proud to Be an American"), and so on -- public displays, in which one demonstrates to other people that one loves America.See also this unintentionally hilarious "Hannity and Colmes" segment, in which Sean argues that the Democrats have been "bought and paid for by MoveOn.org" because of a poll stating that 20 percent of Democrats think the world will be a better place if we lose in Iraq. Uh, wouldn't Sean's "all Democrats are extremists" argument be more convincing if, say, 80 percent had answered yes to that question? Posted by Stephen Silver at October 8, 2007 03:42 PMProgressives, on the other hand, tend to favor substantive patriotism, which involves doing things to make one's country better. After all, if progressives really hated America, why would they even want to change it in ways that would make it conform more with their values? That would mean, from their perspective, making it better, something you wouldn't do if you just hated the country. I hate the Yankees, so if I figured out the perfect combination of trades that would lead to them winning the next five World Series, I'd be sure not to tell them...
Let's make an analogy. There are two sets of parents, both of whom have a child who's struggling in school. The Smiths decide to set aside extra hours every week to help Billy with his studies, working with him until his grades begin to improve. The Joneses, on the other hand, slap a bumper sticker on their car that says, "My child is an honor student!" and when the school guidance counselor tries to talk to them about what they can all do together to address Jimmy's problems, they consider punching her in the face, but in the end decide to accuse her of hating Jimmy and being out to get him.