A PRRI survey out Wednesday shows that nearly a quarter of Americans support political violence heading into the 2024 presidential election, as an overwhelming majority believe democracy is at risk.
A PRRI survey out Wednesday shows that nearly a quarter of Americans support political violence heading into the 2024 presidential election, as an overwhelming majority believe democracy is at risk.
“But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right or wrong, which is infamous, or my country is always right, which is imbecile.” - Patrick O’Brien
For me patriot means someone who wants to make their country better and they haven’t give up on being apart of that improvement.
Improving your community, sure. But I don’t believe in nation-states to begin with so why would I feel allegiance to one?
How does that affect your day to day life? For example, do you file taxes?
The nations might not be real but the jails sure are.
That’s pragmatic. I can respect that.
Follow up question. Do you vote? And if so in what elections?
My guess is that if you vote at all you vote in local elections but not state and national.
I vote in all the elections because while the nation isn’t real, the actions are. And because if I don’t vote my mom will disown me. And I don’t really think my vote does anything at a state or national level anyway.
The best analogy I can give is being an atheist in a religious dictatorship. If you go around saying “none of this is real and you’re all insane” people get mad. Their power, while illegitimate, is very real and a lot of people endorse it.
That’s interesting thanks for replying
To me that’s just a responsible citizen. A patriot generally has violent implications in my experience. Patriotism is willingness to fight for your country, good citizenship is willingness to make nonviolent sacrifices for your country
So for you patriot is a pejorative? But responsible citizen (or maybe just citizen) isn’t?
To me patriot is a term I associate with American nationalism. I associate it with the revolutionary war and the militia movement not with the people chaining themselves to endangered trees to protect the beauty and biodiversity of their country or the people voting to pay more taxes so their poorest country people can eat or so everyone gets a better education
I’m just the opposite: for me, “patriot” has a positive connotation, while “nationalist” is a pejorative, so they’re mutually-exclusive. The people chaining themselves to trees and voting for a better social safety net and education are the truest patriots there are.
Well, second only to folks who directly oppose nationalistic shit by doing things like refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance (which was basically a product of McCarthyism). Those folks are even more patriotic.