Today we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. We shoot fireworks, fire guns, hold parades, etc. to honor those original patriots who decided to throw off the yoke of British oppression 232 years ago. This leads to the question of just what patriotism means and if its meaning has changed throughout the last 232 years. The best way I can think of to demonstrate whether or not it has changed is through quotations.
The first is by Thomas Jefferson:
“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”(emphasis mine)
Samuel Adams also placed loyalty to liberty over loyalty to a leader:
“The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”
Mark Twain felt that patriotism shouldn’t be mistaken for blind support for the government:
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
Teddy Roosevelt would later make a similar statement about patriotism:
“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country.”
As you’ll notice, all of the previous have made the argument that free speech and free discourse is critical to patriotism. They also all placed country above all else. There are some who still say that dissent is patriotic such as Howard Zinn:
“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
and George McGovern:
“The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one’s country deep enough to call her to a higher plain”
and Barack Obama:
“Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America — there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.”
and Jesse Ventura:
“Patriotism is voluntary. It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. A patriot shows their their patriotism through their actions, by their choice.”
However, others place partisanship before patriotism such as Grover Norquist:
“Bipartisanship is another name for date rape.”
and Ann Coulter:
“The Democrats are giving aid and comfort to the enemy for no purpose other than giving aid and comfort to the enemy. There is no plausible explanation for the Democrats’ behavior other than that they long to see U.S. troops shot, humiliated, and driven from the field of battle. They fill the airwaves with treason, but when called to vote on withdrawing troops, disavow their own public statements. These people are not only traitors, they are gutless traitors.”
The conclusion I draw from this is that there are still many who understand patriotism to be what Jefferson, Twain, Roosevelt, and Adams said it was. However there are some who have confused partisanship and blind nationalism with patriotism. Coulter and Norquist’s quotes exemplify that belief system, but they’re hardly the only ones.
The photo used was uploaded to Flickr by ninjapoodles who licensed it under a Creative Commons Attribution License and my use of the photo in no way indicates an endorsement of the article from borman818 .
Posted by Quix 
