What is an AMERICAN Patriot?

In our society we have learn to see patriots are those that have fought and die for their country.

But what is actually the definition of an American patriot.

I have never fought in wars and I am against my governments policies, for many that is no very patriotic.

But I defend my constitution and will have no problem dying for my nation if we ever get invaded by a foreign forces and we are force to fight against it.

What is your own definition of been an American patriot and please shared with us.

posted by marg6043

In our society we have learned to see patriots are those that have fought and die for their country. But what is actually the definition of an American patriot. I have never fought in wars and I am against my government’s policies, for many that is not very patriotic.

But I defend my constitution and will have no problem dying for my nation if we ever get invaded by a foreign forces and we are forced to fight against it. What is your own definition of been an American patriot and please share it with us. Edited by Don W]

Gen. Patton said to be a patriot was not dying for your country but making the other guy die for his. Another wiseacre said to fight and run away is to live to fight another day. To be a hero every day in your war was to be a B17 ball turret gunner. Or to be a nurse on Corregidor at the end of the battle in 1942. Facing 3 long years in a prison camp. To care for the wounded, injured, and dying with nothing but your hands, your heart and your mind. Or to be a mother with young children who began a 1,300 mile ox-drawn wagon ride across the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains and then into Oregon in the 1820s or 1830s. 5 months on the trail. In a wagon that had no springs.

To be Martha Washington who gave up her husband for nearly 7 years, from 1776 to 1783. Yes, she spent the winters in Army camps with him, but he was not home one day in all those many years. Or to be Sally Hennings who gave Mr. Jefferson six children but was never acknowledged to be the mother of his children. Or to be a mother on the Titanic who took her children into a lifeboat only to wave goodby to her husband and their father.

13 years young Jamil of Iraq, who befriended an American soldier, and turned in his own father as an insurgency leader and whose father’s brother killed his mother for that. Jamil was called “Steve-O” and worked with the US Army for 11 months saving many lives. After much paper-work, he was brought to the United States and has been adopted by another soldier into their family.

Patriots do not wrap themselves in the flag, which has been pronounced as the last refuge of knaves and scoundrels. As the young boy who could not spell student said, “I are one.”


[edit on 9/7/2006 by donwhite]

In my book, anyone who says this with their right hand in the air...

"I, ___________________________________, do solemly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed overme, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

MMMMM....well...

In order to be a patriot, one certainly needs to be patriotic or at least stand with what the country upholds. Now, if one is going to state that he/she is a patriot then his/her actions must represent that. You can't have it both ways.

If you believe in justice,freedom,equality, then it should be for everyone,not just a few who were lucky enough to be born under such circumstance. I am not condoning the Iraq war, BUT, yeah, there's a but, if you're going to be a patriot then you have to believe that they are just as much entitled to freedom as you are. If they are not capable of fighting for that, then a patriot stands to help.

Yes, Patton was one of the kind even when his views were not regarded well among his ranks.

I am very warmed by the responses and I see that we all hold different opinions and feeling about what An American patriot is, and perhaps we also can pretty much agree on many points.

Now taking into consideration the behavior of our founding fathers they went against their government to become our country patriots.

I agree that running around with an American Flag, or reciting pledges are seen as a patriotic thing to do, but I feel that patriotism is deeper than that or the image we may think is right.

Is in the hart of the American and is a sense of pride and the feeling that whatever they do, talk and complain about is because of that patriotism.

I feel that Any body can be an American but to be a patriot you have to feel it inside your hart when it swells with pride for ones nation.

Is not about politics or governments is about believes that we hold dear and that we want to share with other fellow Americans.

But is also pointing to the rights or wrong done to ones nation and a duty to bring on the issues that affect us.

No body can tell you or me how to be an American patriot because that is something that only we as individuals has to learn to recognize.

What is an AMERICAN Patriot?

Isn,t that a patriot with a double cheeseburger with all the relish and a quadruple side order of fries to go????

I think you are talking about another type of patriot. the one that worship fast food American heritage.

Hey I didn't say that been patriot can be limited to only one type of patriotism.

Hey Marg luv the avatar.. does she come with a nice shiny wetsuit too?



I Can,t comment on patriotism.. I come from the uk.which has turned to crap as far as i believe.. I,m gonna become an Eskimo and get patriotic about my igloo..

Or if aliens invade i,ll be pro earth a la independance day... Hey maybe they,ll let me fly a jet like the drunken cropsprayer.woot

A patriot is someone who is able to put the welfare of a nation, and the ideals which it embodies, above their own personal opinions, bias, preferences, and desires, and work towards said ideals.

A true patriot embodies all the qualities of a good parent. You support and encourage your children when they're on the right path and admonish them when they're not. You take the time to do that because you love them and want the best for them. Blind support is good for neither children nor country.

A true patriot takes the time and effort to be informed and educated about the policies and processes. How many people really understand what their rights are, or where they came from and what they're based upon? How can you exercise your rights if you don't understand them? How can you be aware of your rights being abrogated if you don't know what they are? How can you hold elected officials accountable when you don't understand what they need to be accountable to and why? Who ever said it would be easy?

A true patriot is involved. Participates in the process. Speaks out when things are wrong and works to correct them. Not for self gain but for the good of the country and all the people in it. A genuine concern for leaving a positive legacy for our progeny and all others that come after.

Blind support is not patriotism. Love for country without active participation is not patriotism. Unconsidered agreement with the status quo is not patriotism. Two patriots can be in complete disagreement with each other. That doesn't make either less patriotic.

We get the government we deserve. Either work toward what you want, or resign yourself to accept what you get. No one can do it for us, and a lack of vigilance will surely result in a negative outcome. Guaranteed.

A true American Patriot is always a doer, not a sayer.

Pudits and opinionists are not patriots. Neither are reactionaries or rabble-rousers.

A true patriot gets up out of his chair, quietly and in a determined fashion, and does something that makes a difference.........

Being a rabblerouser can indeed be patriotic, sometimes the rabble must be roused: "the british are coming..." "remember the Alamo" "remember Pearl Harbor" "remember 9/11". Or socially relevant issues that attention must be brought to bear on. No rabblerousing can indeed be patriotic...

Nemithesis. So does that mean that those of us who through no fault of their own, were unable to take that oath are not, and can not be, patriots? I sent my little brother off to war in the not too distant past? I watched my father finish off 3 wars worth of service, 4 if you count the cold war...I watched my fathers brothers and my mothers brothers deal with the aftermath of their service, and yet I still wanted to do what I could, but various physical problems, like not being able to hear on one side of my head, really thick glasses, and now my age prevented it. I guess that means I'm not a patriot. So doing what I can as a good citizen doesn't qualify?

Sorry if'n I got a bit snappish...good service in any form to ones nation is indeed patriotic, even if it doesn't involve marching off to a war. My mother and my aunts who had to wait at home never knowing what that knock on the door might be were and are just as much a patriot as any soldier.

Hmmm...unrealized issues may have just reared their ugly little heads...Nemithesis, you have my apologies. It wasn't exactly you I was ranting at...last straw and all that. Again my apologies.

Patriotism, bah.

We've all witnessed people using it to further their personal agenda's, to suppress the freedom of civilizations. Furthermore i concider patriotism blinding for whoever believes in it.

I think that there are two types of patriotism, the kind that makes people support their leadership no matter what and swallow what the media shoves down their throats, and the kind of people who truly recognize the problems in their countries and try everything to solve it, heck, even if it means blaming the government for the problems. But hey, you would be called anti-patriotic then!

Patriotism, it's about pride for your country, but ask yourself this, how far must this pride consume your common sense? Ok, it's good to be proud of cultural achievements and historical (positive) events. But thats about it. To recall what i said last time about patriotism, it's actually quite pathetic. Face it, your just a person on a spinning ball that has borders marked on them.

I have no pride of the place i happen to live in by coincidence. But thats just me.

The point is, especially in America there's to much happening based on this so-called "Patriotism", the term is used whenever anyone (fake patriots) see the advantage in it.

I think i can go both ways here, on one hand patriotism is a term over-used and a tool for manipulation, but it can also inspire certain people to stand up for their freedom and be a "True" patriot. Because such a person would know the best for his/her country.

Originally posted by marg6043
I feel that Any body can be an American but to be a patriot you have to feel it inside your hart when it swells with pride for ones nation.

I'll go with this definition, Marg! Feeling inside your heart is love, and that is the dictionary definition, love for one's country. The rest of the dictionary definition speaks of defending, which to me can mean defending with words as well as action (not necessarily military).
Jingoism distorts this love into a bullying attitude, perhaps as the bully in an abusive relationship, where love is a selfish love. Jingoists become the bullies of other countries.
Pure love is patriotic, selfish love is not patriotic.
Next time someone wraps themselves in the flag, remind them that that's not how to properly display it.

I do not consider those who defend Bush as patriots. That's all I can say. Even if he's the president, he's against everything US was based on, so he's more a traitor than a patriot. Real patriots will be able to see the traitors where they are, even if they are domestics.

Source

Ok, in all seriousness a Patriot is;

one who loves and defends his or her country
Word

That definition is what I've been taught, and have embraced.

The first lines of the Dao De Ching read "The way that can be shown is not the way, the path that can be walked is not the path."

Samuel Johnson is reported as saying "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundral."

For me patriotism has nothing to do with willingness to fight or die for your country, though it can. Nor does it have anything to do with flag waving and jingoism. Nor does it mean my country right or wrong regardless of the circumstance. And it certianly does not mean a beligerent, macho nationalism.

No patriotism like the path is an indefinable...it is rooted in the love of home, in caring for your fellow citizens and behaving as a good citizen, even to the point of disagreeing with your government or protesting the wrongs done in our name as it also means a willingness to fight and die for your home.

For me, while I love my country, I love my planet more....nations are an artifical construct, earth is our ultimate home, and that home includes every nation and nationality. We screw this place up we are just plain out of luck.

Originally posted by grover
No patriotism like the path is an indefinable...it is rooted in the love of home, in caring for your fellow citizens and behaving as a good citizen, even to the point of disagreeing with your government or protesting the wrongs done in our name as it also means a willingness to fight and die for your home.

For me, while I love my country, I love my planet more....nations are an artifical construct, earth is our ultimate home, and that home includes every nation and nationality. We screw this place up we are just plain out of luck.

Amen, amen, amen!
I think of my ancestors from Europe, once (in the not too distant past) having been tribal members, forming into nations, now having to get along. Humanity cannot afford to live in ignorance, proclaiming perceived differences as superiorities. We cannot afford to trash this planet, as if trashing a room in a house and merely closing the door and living in another. We have to think, are we being our best, or can we do better?

You are so right desert but unfortunately we as a people have become so self-absorbed and short-sighted that we have lost touch with the knowledge that what affects one affects all. I have heard hard core right wingers claim that global warming is a liberal plot to take away their SUV's and other such blather. In short they have renounced world citizenship, a citizenship we are all born with and have become so selfish that their attitude has become, I got mine, screw you. And such an attitude not only makes a bad world citizen but a bad American citizen as well.

You know, Grover, here is something that happened today, 9-11. Everyone at work was going to wear patriotic red-white-blue. This morning when I turned on the news, I saw ceremonies of remembrance from around the world; and I was reminded that it was not only Americans who died that day. I wore black out of respect for all the world's loss on 9-11. Thankfully, I noticed I was not the only one in black.

I think humanity in general is advancing, albeit slowly, much as an individual goes through stages of maturation and emotional development. There are many adults stuck at the emotional level of a 2 year old, self-centered not yet other-centered. Humans still are not learning to place others first and self last. I know 2,000 years ago we were told that those who think they deserve to be first will be last, and those who are last will be first.