“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” – Wendell Phillips
It’s always surprising how many people claim to support the right of Free Speech — until it becomes inconvenient. Rather than engaging in adult conversation with those who disagree with them, many resort to name-calling, suppression of criticisms, talking points, and lies.
People like this have been eating away at the founding principles of the United States for decades. They can be found among members of all political parties and ideologies. Knowingly, or unknowingly, they become tools of the ruling class, allowing them to persist in their corruption and their abuse of the citizens. This is a dangerous cancer afflicting the Republic.
Veteran U.S. Marine, Michael T. Lester, reminds us in We Are the Bad Guys, that a democracy dies when its people cede their control to the rulers, and replace true patriotism with nationalism. In this excerpt, he calls us to return to the founding principles of the Founders:
Dissent has always been a crucial element of true patriotism…True patriotism is rooted in principle…false patriotism, by contrast, is about performance — loud slogans and empty gestures, unmoored from responsibility.
To be a patriot, then, is not to stand by government unconditionally but to call it back to its founding promises and principles…patriotism demands courage. It requires questioning authority, even when doing so is unpopular. It requires sacrifice, not in empty gestures but in the willingness to engage with uncomfortable truths, and it requires a love of country strong enough to confront its flaws rather than deny them.
Patriotism is a devotion to principles: liberty, justice, equality before the law.
Nationalism is devotion to power: loyalty to the party or nation-state above all else..
Nationalism demands silence in the face of wrongdoing; patriotism demands accountability.
Accountability requires courage. It is easier to shout slogans than to demand reform.
The American Revolution was not led by conformists but by dissenters. Thomas Paine wrote, “Government in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
To love America is to love its principles more than its power. It is to insist that justice applies to all, that liberty cannot be selective, and that equality under the law is not negotiable. It is to use America’s power for good for everyone, not just a select few.
Darrick Dean 