March 19, 2003 - Patriotism in a democracy does not require
blind obedience to the policies of its elected leaders. If there is
one lesson that the Vietnam generation should have learned it is that
the children who fell on the quadrangle at Kent State were as much
patriots as were those who fell in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
A patriot is not required to remain silent while his country pursues
misguided policies. Patriotism requires that each citizen critically
examine the nation’s course and speak firmly when it is necessary
to correct it.
Patriotism requires sacrifice. Thomas Paine, writing in the darkest
days of the American War for Independence, spoke of Sunshine Patriots
– those whose love of country was loudly expressed so long as
it suited their convenience but evaporated into mist were they called
upon to contribute anything but lip-service to the cause. Patriotism
requires that each citizen share in the costs of the common enterprise.
For good or ill we have now embarked on a course that is drawn close
unto a rocky shoal of perpetual combat. Patriots may differ among
themselves whether the course is wise and prudent or ill-thought and
foolish. Patriots of either opinion may hope for a short and successful
campaign but they must prepare for a long and bitter war. As it has
proved in Afghanistan the battle that our President sends our sons
and daughters to fight today is but another campaign in a contest
the dimensions and scope of which are beyond any ability to predict
or to control.
The contest will not end with the entry of our soldiers into Baghdad
nor with the deposition and death of any Iraqi tyrant. Peace has eluded
us on the Plains of Afghanistan and will not be discovered in the
sands of an Iraqi desert. This singular adventure in the cradle of
civilization is but one engagement in a generation of engagements
we will now be called upon to fight, increasingly alone and with increasing
isolation. New campaigns will be fought in Iran, in Korea and on fields
not yet imagined for generations to come.
The cost of this inevitable but avoidable conflict will be great in
American blood and American treasure. It will strain our ability to
pay it yet it is a bill that cannot be deferred. Patriotism requires
that we sacrifice today, accept the inconveniences and taxation to
pay it now, for the ongoing enterprise on which we embark today will
present us with equally heavy costs which must be paid tomorrow. Only
the Sunshine Patriots of this New American Century believe otherwise.
