One Response to “No Nationalists Here”

1. sailor, on March 31st, 2008 at 1:39 pm Said:

   Having grown up in Europe, a continent with a long history of national strife, I think I know the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Most Europeans are indeed nationalists, which invokes superego and expansionism, epitomized but not monopolized by the German National Socialists. Nationalism equates with Uebermensch and Herrenvolk. The French retain that feeling to this day, and so do several other European nations — the British have always been the exception, I’d say.

   Patriotism is different. It represents pride in the history and culture of a place and people in time. It does not connote the bad feelings of nationalism because it’s not expansive and subjugating. It’s the liberal feeling of community, knowing and realizing that there are other communities, and there’s no need at all to rank order them.

   So nationalism is like islamic jihadism, patriotism more like placid, introspective and tolerant Amish communities. To me, Europe connotes nationalism, to this day, even after my almost four decades in the US. America has always meant patriotism to me. Exactly what American patriots are proud of depends on whom you ask, of course. Me, I like its history of individual liberty and it’s general devotion to law as the common rules set for building nations. It’s not about the flag at all, even though our flag symbolizes the victory of a revolutionary struggle against an oppressive government.

   Now, in Iraq, it may see that we’re expansive, and, in the eyes of some, behaving like conquering Nazis. Not so, I say. We’re not selling America, but offering the Iraqi people, for free, something we had to fight for: liberty and the rule of law. They may not be able to handle it, but that’s a different story. We’re not expansive in the nationalistic sense, but we are American patriots.

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