Republicans Don’t Own Patriotism | Robert Reich

True patriots respect fellow countrymen without bias against race, gender and/or sexual orientation.

True patriots respect women's rights to make decisions about their own bodies.

True patriots support education.

True patriots support reading, books, and libraries.

True patriots recognize people's right to choose their religion even if it means not having one.

True patriots know that it's patriotic to criticize your country.

True patriots do not marry child brides.

I watched this and Reich's video on distinguishing patriotism from nationalism, and honestly it still seems kind of like a contrived, arbitrary distinction. Ultimately it seems like the former is on a feeling of duty to serve a given country, while the latter is pride in it- but either way, the object of the affection is the country, the state. I could be wrong, but I can't immediately think of any given national entity that is actually worthy of that kind of unmitigated veneration- they're all a mix of good and bad, and for all of the socialized goods they provide they also monopolize power and control in oftentimes highly unjust ways.

Republicans don't own patriotism.

They do own not being able to tell the difference between patriotism and nationalism.

The ones who tried to overthrow the government aren't the patriots? What a shock.