I believe patriotism has to be about principles, not geography. My favorite patriotic hymn is "America, the Beautiful". Why? The Star Spangle Banner has little on the nation's principles or tack, focused on a small naval battle in the war of 1812. Most of the song could have been played for a hundred other national flags over the centuries.
But America the Beautiful explains in poetic imagery not only the beauties of the oceans and Rocky Mountains, but of "heroes proved", "pilgrim feet", "patriot dream" - all leading to the striving to create a city on the hill, an alabaster city of God and freedom. A dream all nations could aspire to.
I fear we have lost much of that dream, and replaced it with capitalism and materialism. There's nothing wrong with capitalism, per se, except that it is not a reason to praise our nation. It is freedom and self-responsibility that promote capitalism, and not the other way around. Otherwise, China would be a very free nation today. But we've lost the dream of heroes, pilgrims, and patriots, and replaced it with encouragement from our nation's leaders to "go shopping" in the midst of a national crisis. What the heck kind of priorities are those???? Where is the sacrifice that creates true heroes, rather than football players and movie stars that can't keep out of jail for our children to emulate?
Seems we need some serious re-prioritizing here. Thank God we're about to get a wake up call. I'm just not certain that Americans are going to awake to the reality of their choices and choose, as Pres Uchtdorf taught us, to "lift where we stand."
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