A nationalist, “although endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge, tends to be uninterested in what happens in the real world.” (George Orwell)
In contrast, “A patriot wants a nation to live up to its ideals. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved or sustained. … A nationalist will say that ‘it can’t happen here,’ which is the first step towards disaster. A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it.” (Historian Tim Snyder)
The myth of American exceptionalism — America has been blessed by God from its inception — drives much of today’s white domestic terrorist movement. Although our founding principles have indeed served as a beacon for those struggling against oppression around the world, we have seldom lived up to them. Our Founders were white male slaveholders, slavery evolved into Jim Crow; white people allowed Black people to die of syphilis in the Tuskegee Study, destroyed the Black city of Tulsa, and tortured and lynched thousands of innocent Black men. There was also the genocide of our Natives and the brutal treatment of Japanese citizens and Chinese laborers.
It’s past time for patriots to embrace the truth, and get to work.
