Whatever happened to the word patriot? It used to be here, back in the last century. Everyone used it—nobody owned it—it belonged to all of us, collectively. Now, it’s been coped or at least, co-opted.
In modern parlance, it means one who loves, supports, and defends one’s country. Most dictionaries say it comes from French patriote. In the late 1600s the word derived from Late Latin patriōta, from Greek patriōtēs, from patrios, of one’s fathers, from patēr, patr-.father. It has Indo-European roots. Madame Merriam-Webster says its first known use here was in 1716, but the adjective form, “patriotic” didn’t appear until 1737. She also comments on its history. “The word patriot signifies a person who loves his or her country and is ready to boldly support and defend it. That meaning has endured since the word’s arrival in English in the 16th century, but it has not marched through the years unchallenged. It came to us during a time of political unrest in Western Europe that was characterized by infighting among fellow countrymen—especially among those of the Protestant and Catholic faiths.[1]
Around 2015, we upped the ante and began demeaning and demonizing fellow voters and their surrogates—those who want those votes. What with all the name-calling and shoutouts, the word patriot went AWOL—from everybody to the MAGA world. What was a religious schism in England in the 1600s became a political schism here in the 21st Century manifested by the everyday use of the word patriot.
“Despite Donald Trump’s seeming lack of interest in the project, a number of his followers around the US have been flirting with the idea of forming a breakaway party of the right to challenge the Republican establishment. Most of these have names that use the word ‘patriot’. In Florida, former Republican voters registered the American Patriot Party of the United States — or TAPPUS, for short. . . A spokesman for the former president denied reports he was planning to fundraise in cooperation with a group calling itself the MAGA Patriot Party National Committee.”[2]
Progressives, liberals, and other open-minded individuals pushed back insisting that they too are patriots. “The last four years have shown the dark underbelly of an America that has always existed. From anti-immigration rallies to transphobia to denying the right to vote for all Americans, the promise of our country has been changed and scarred by hate and bigotry. And the worst part? It’s been done under the guise of patriotism, flying the American flag as the hate and vitriol spews. [We should] reclaim what it means to be a patriot and invite other progressives to do the same. . . we’ve heard reactions like, ‘Patriot…? Not me, I don’t have a Trump flag flying, and I believe in science!’ We’ve heard some variation of that sentiment time and time again. As we opened the door to these conversations, we started to ask ourselves, why did progressives have such a negative connotation with the word patriot? When did that happen?”[3]
The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne, Jr., headlined his July 4, 2021, column, Opinion—A Progressive’s Brand Of Patriotism. “We embrace patriotic symbols with such ferocity that our protests are frequently organized around them. Athletes who take a knee during our national anthem are wrongly described as disrespectful. On the contrary: They are taking the country at its word. If we’re going to sing that we’re “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” we ought to be that place. We embrace patriotic symbols with such ferocity that our protests are frequently organized around them.[4]
The New York Times’s July 1, 2022, guest essay ran with this headline: Democrats Need Patriotism Now More Than Ever. “Fourth of July fireworks echo eerily in a divided country. In theory, this patriotic holiday marks what holds us together, beyond all our disagreement. In practice, it amplifies American division. The year that Independence Day memorializes, 1776, also lends its name to the Trumpist 1776 Project, a riposte to the 1619 Project. The very idea of patriotism risks becoming a partisan marker: In 2019, fully 76 percent of Republicans and only 22 percent of Democrats said they were “extremely proud” to be American, according to Gallup. Only a quarter of Republicans, and about two-fifths of Democrats, believe the other party’s voters sincerely have the country’s best interests at heart. On the whole, Americans suspect that they live among people who are trying to destroy the country, and quite possibly destroy them. This is our dilemma. We need basic change but cannot tolerate making it alongside fellow citizens who are also our partisan enemies. Yet we also cannot make it without them. We need one another’s support, maybe, and one another’s consent and cooperation, absolutely. Patriotism softens the dilemma. It gives assurance that anger and criticism have affection and loyalty behind them.”[5]
What ethical imperatives are embedded in the word patriot? When we use that word are we implying loyalty, commitment, and dedication? These three words define our oldest political virtues. However, they are emotional words. They demand recognition of our pre-existing duty to political order, good government, and all of the freedoms extant in both the Constitution and its many amendments.
Patriotism is a moral value for all of us, irrespective of political party allegiance. “Patriotism is a basic to citizenship. One’s nation is the natural, obvious, and necessary beneficiary of one’s sacrifices. To have no such loyalty is to be missing the foundation of moral judgment. Socrates gave a classic explanation of the moral basis for loyalty to the laws of his city. In the dialog, Crito, he explained the moral need for him to remain in prison and suffer the punishment of death, even though he could have escaped. The laws of the city had formed him, educated him, protected him; and he had the correlative moral obligation of a citizen to obey those laws and protect that city.”[6]
Paul Krugman believes Republicans only pretend to be patriots and Democrats need to expose them for what they rare. “Republicans have spent the past half-century portraying themselves as more patriotic, more committed to national security than Democrats. Richard Nixon’s victory in 1972, Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980, and George W. Bush’s victory in 2004 (the only presidential election out of the past seven in which the Republican won the popular vote) all depended in part on posing as the candidate more prepared to confront menacing foreigners. . . But now we have a president who really is unpatriotic to the point of betraying American values and interests. We don’t know the full extent of Donald Trump’s malfeasance — we don’t know, for example, how much his policies have been shaped by the money foreign governments have been lavishing on his businesses. But even what we do know — his admitted solicitation of foreign help in digging up dirt on political rivals, his praise for brutal autocrats — would have had Republicans howling about treason if a Democrat had done it.”[7]
A 2021 op-ed by V. Susan Hutchinson questions the definition of an American Patriot. “Who are the real patriots in America? Based on the definition of a patriot as ‘one who loves and supports his or her country,’ the answer should be so obvious even the Republican Party could figure it out. But they have redefined the word patriot to suit their own purpose and use it as a rallying cry to stir up unrest against an internal enemy that doesn’t exist. A GOP patriot loves and supports Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with America. As domestic terrorists and other Trump rally attendees stormed the Capitol on January 6, Ivanka Trump tweeted they were ‘patriots’ because they were doing her father’s bidding. The fact that she immediately took the tweet down is irrelevant. This is who she believes are American patriots – those who stand with her father even (especially?) if it means violating the Constitution and chanting for the death of the Vice President.”[8] The word patriot was enshrined in federal law in 2001. It became an acronym; USA PATRIOT ACT. It stands for Uniting And Strengthening America By Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.
As everyone knows, the Patriot Act was overwhelmingly passed because, on September 11, 2001, terrorists inspired by hatred murdered nearly 3,000 innocent Americans.[9] In November 2019, the renewal of the Patriot Act was included in the stop-gap government funding bill. The expired provisions required renewal by March 15, 2020. The Senate passed a 77-day extension in March 2020, but the House of Representatives did not pass the legislation before departing for recess on March 27, 2020. Instead, the Patriot Act was split into two measures as a means of explaining to the public that the Patriot Act would no longer openly be in effect.”[10]
That Congress “split into two” the Patriot Act is as revealing as it is tumultuous. The R’s claim the word as their own. The D’s are patriots in disguise. In particular, MAGA Republicans beat the word like a tom-tom, resonating at rallies, splashed with red paint on posters and symbolized by pick-up trucks carrying two flags—one American and the other Confederate. The reality is that neither side is more patriotic than the other. In fact, the NYT got it right on March 29, 2023, when it declared, “Money Is Up. Patriotism and Religion Are Down.”[11]
The NYT said, “The declines in traditional values are startling. In 1998, 70 percent of Americans said patriotism was very important to them. This year only 38 percent said so… Patriotism and community involvement have both declined, and they seem closely related since they’re both about participation in something bigger than oneself. Clearly, though, Americans perceive them differently. Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to place importance on patriotism, while Democrats are substantially more likely than Republicans to place importance on community involvement.”[12]
The bottom line is that the far right is patriotic because they prize loyalty and the far-left views the love of one’s nation as narrow and particularistic. Both sides recognize the right has co-opted the word patriot. Once lost, regaining it would take an act of Congress. Who in America thinks Congress is capable of regaining lost values? The word patriot has become as redundant as Old Glory.
So, what ethical imperatives have we lost because our politics outweigh our emotional connection to things like Old Glory, the National Anthem, and the politicization of patriotism? It depends on whether patriotism is morally defensible. There is an excellent book; The Ethics of Patriotism: A Debate.[13] Amazon describes it as “Tightly focused, detailed, and comprehensive discussion of patriotism as an important philosophical issue.” Reviewers agree it is the only sustained, dedicated debate on patriotism and its ethical status.
The authors present nuanced opinions. “John Kleinig argues that patriotism is a virtuous form of loyalty and self-understanding; Simon Keller argues that patriotism is a vicious form of self-deception; and Igor Primoratz makes the case for a restricted, ethical form of patriotism.”[14] This philosophical work cuts deeply into the politics of patriotism, much the same way the R’s and the D’s do but without the venom, accusations, and grifting that define today’s politicians. The bottom line is that patriotism is more or less ethical, depending on who owns the pulpit and the podium.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-history-patriot
[2] https://theconversation.com/patriots-in-america-how-fighting-for-your-country-has-taken-on-new-meaning-for-trump-supporters-154859
[3] https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/09/10/progressives-are-patriots/
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/04/progressives-brand-patriotism/
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/opinion/liberal-patriotism-july-fourth.html
[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/patriotism
[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/opinion/democrats-republicans.html
[8] https://horrydemocrats.org/what-defines-an-american-patriot/
[9] https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/archive.htm#:~:text=On%20Sept.,passed%20the%20USA%20Patriot%20Act.
[11] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/opinion/money-is-up-patriotism-and-religion-are-down.html
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/opinion/money-is-up-patriotism-and-religion-are-down.html
[13] John Kleinig, Simon Keller, Ignore Primoratz, “The Ethics of Patriotism: A Debate (Great Debates in Philosophy)” 1st Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, February 2015. By John Kleinig (Author), Simon Keller (Author), Igor Primoratz (Author)
[14] https://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Patriotism-Debate-Debates-Philosophy/dp/
I am an author and a part-time lawyer with a focus on ethics and professional discipline. I teach creative writing and ethics to law students at Arizona State University. Read my bio.
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I am an author and a part-time lawyer with a focus on ethics and professional discipline. I teach creative writing and ethics to law students at Arizona State University. 
My latest novel is Emergence, the sequel to Let’s Disappear. 
If you have an important story you want told, you can commission me to write it for you. 