American Patriotism

The great writer Mark Twain once said: ‘Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.’

I have found myself conflicted in many ways over these past few years when it comes to giving the government the support it deserves, but by God I love my Country. I will always hold the office of the Presidency in high regard, and I have always felt that even if I do not support the specific politician holding the office I understand the importance of the branch of federal government that the individual represents. I also greatly appreciate our Second Amendment which prevents any President from any party from turning against the People.

No matter your political affiliations, it has become common dialogue in political circles to both fear and cheer a perceived downfall of our democracy. It must make the communists in China or the autocrats in Russia swell with pride if they knew some Americans discuss shredding the Constitution. It would be the dream of imperial Russia for America to take a step back to allow their post-Soviet ideologies to thrive unchecked while they swallow Eastern Europe. China would love nothing more than if our internal squabbles allowed them to eat up Taiwan and expand their sphere of influence. Surely as Americans we can agree we do not wish to live under the boots of autocrats and communists?

We must ask how the party of Ronald Reagan, who described America as the shining city on a hill, now has a President doing everything he can to reassemble the defunct Soviet Union while ignoring portions of the Constitution. Have we forgotten when Reagan famously told Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall and ripped away the Iron Curtain? Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan all understood it would take a concerted effort across multiple administrations to win the Cold War, and that is just what we did. Can you imagine if Nixon decided to hand over Eastern Europe to the Russians because he was flattered to have received a painted portrait from Kruschev?

On one side in America, we have those who worry the Constitution seems to not matter to the President, and on the other you have a President’s supporters who seem to cheer for him to tear it up if it means an immigrant or transgender person has their rights taken away.

After January 6, we saw that there are groups of people among us who would rather throw out our whole system of government than follow the framework established by our founding fathers and work together. An attempt to overthrow the government was made in 2020, through the use of fake electors who created fraudulent electoral college votes in an attempt to rewrite the results of the election and hand it to Donald Trump. We were all fortunate that day that Vice President Pence stood up and did not go along with the plot, and he was lucky to have escaped the ordeal with his life.

A real issue we face in America is when portions of the electorate have decided that their beliefs, biases, or political views are somehow more important or should have a higher degree of influence than the bedrock foundations our country is built on: the Constitution. Politics seems to be a race to the bottom; no longer are we striving to achieve the ideals we all share but instead the focus is retribution for perceived slights at the cost of our collective rights and greatness we can achieve.

If the Government may or may not deserve our support, what does it mean to be a Patriot who will support the country as Twain said, “all of the time?” I remind myself, that even during the Revolutionary War there was a percentage of the colonists who wished to stay under the rule of King George III. They believed an all-powerful king who could levy taxes with no representation and attempt to rule by force from thousands of miles away was the correct direction for the budding Country. Look what we have achieved despite the efforts of those who fought to kneel for a king. And yet even today in the year 2025 in America, there are those who would quote dictators like Mussolini and advocate for an American dictatorship with an all-powerful President who can rule by fascist decree.

What those who cheer for the return of a king in America fail to realize, is that they are a tiny vocal minority who will not stand in the way of the prospects of America. America has always had some racist individuals, but it is not inherently racist unless we were to let it be. Martin Luther King’s dream of children playing together in America without worrying about the color of their skin is the ideal our Country has been striving for since Civil Rights, not adults referring to other humans as vermin. When we see those among us calling for a domestic dictator to take away the rights of immigrants, they have missed the message of America’s purpose and foundation.

The great efforts and achievements of America did not occur overnight, and every step of the way we have had naysayers and individuals who have done all they can to stop a surging America. The constant and never-ending process of forming a ‘more perfect’ union means we will never stop building America into our greatest ideals.

Rather than selling out your country, or cheering the downfall of Democracy so you can discriminate against those you dislike, I am advocating that more of us learn to separate our Government from our Country and get back to loving America for the bright future it represents for us all.