Trump’s ‘National Day Of Patriotic Devotion’ Is Creepy As Hell

Source: The Federalist | January 24, 2017 | David Harsanyi

First it was ‘economic patriotism.’ Now it’s ‘economic nationalism.’ Stop telling us how to be patriotic.

Politicians have no business directing or defining patriotism — especially when their rhetoric sounds like 1950s-era Soviet sloganeering.

It was definitely creepy when Barack Obama declared his first inauguration day a “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation” and “called” on us to find “common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.” It’s no better when Donald Trump declares his inauguration day a “National Day of Patriotic Devotion;” one in which “a new national pride stirs the American soul and inspires the American heart.”

You can find both, unfortunately, in the Federal Registry.

This kind of self-aggrandizement is what you see under cults of personality, not American republicanism. Far be it from me to lecture anyone on how to love his country, but if your devotion to America is contingent on the party in office, you’re probably not doing it like the Founders envisioned. It’s bad enough that these inaugurations are treated as coronations. It can’t be patriotic to treat politicians like quasi-religious figures. Moreover, it ties patriotism — either implicitly, or in some cases rather explicitly — to a preferred set of policy initiatives or a political office.

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So it was creepy when Obama was trying to replace American idealism with progressivism and calling it “economic patriotism,” and it’s creepy when Trump does basically the same thing under the guise of economic nationalism.

Now, judging from the campaign rhetoric, failing to support tariffs or other counterproductive “buy American” economic policies will have you branded seditious over the next four years. Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who probably had something to do with the devotion order, has referred to himself as “economic nationalist,” a loaded term that means you only love your country if you support mercantilism. Economic nationalists rely on a populism that lays blame on others — Mexico, China, whoever — for American problems. It’s a philosophy, if we listen to Bannon or Trump, that values power over most principles, including liberty. So it sounds like many things, none of them American patriotism.

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You can hate your president and love your country. You can hope your president fails and still be patriotic. We don’t always have a “shared purpose.” That’s because presidents are not only commanders in chief, they are politicians with agendas. And sometimes those agendas clash with your worldview. Let’s not have devotionals venerating of their ascendency every four years.

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  • Consistent #13086

    ConservativeGranny #13098

    Isn’t that what the 4th of July is for?

    I was disgusted when they turned 911 into a nation day of service as well.

    EVERYDAY #13101

    Sounds like something from Kim Jung Un or some other 2-bit dictator.

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