Flag Day’s civic ritual: what ancient Athens can teach us about patriotism

It’s Flag Day. The observance prompts pushback from some about the value of patriotism, particularly among the young. As America approaches its 250th birthday, a recent poll found that only 56% of Americans ages 18 to 34 consider themselves patriotic.

Is patriotism necessary? Is it naive? Or is it even dangerous, either because the sentiment suspends critical thinking or because it provides a pretext for poor policy, becoming a “virtue of the vicious” as goes the saying attributed to Oscar Wilde?

But patriotism does matter, and it’s a good thing. It’s not an unquestioned acceptance of a nation’s status quo or unthinking obedience to its government or leaders. It can be distinguished from chauvinism or jingoism, as it doesn’t dictate how one regards or behaves toward other countries. You can be patriotic even if you don’t believe in American exceptionalism. Citizens of other countries should be patriotic about their nations, too.

TWO-THIRDS OF AMERICANS BELIEVE FOUNDING FATHERS WOULD BE DISAPPOINTED IN THE NATION AT 250

Patriotism is simply gratitude for and loyalty toward your country and its institutions in consideration for what they’ve given you. These twin sentiments should stir in citizens a desire to care about their country, to defend it, and to make it better.

Even the strongest critics of their own countries can be patriotic. Socrates, the original public gadfly, expresses a well-reasoned patriotism in Plato’s Crito. Faced with an unjust verdict and death sentence, he tells the one for whom the dialogue is named that his country, the Athenian city-state, “begat, nourished, and educated” him. Therefore, he has a duty to honor his country and to improve it by persuading his fellow citizens, even to the bitter end. His love of country goes further than many of us are comfortable with: He admonishes us to love it more than our own parents. But we can find familiar his “love it or leave it” sensibility. Socrates admits that throughout his adult life, he was free to leave, yet chose to stay. He remained, thereby retaining an obligation to his nation’s customs, laws, and way of life.

Not only is patriotism the appropriate response to the country that gave you so much, but it’s necessary to preserve a nation like the United States, an open society that welcomes immigrants from all over the world who likely have some gratitude for and loyalty to the nations they left. Patriotism prevents pluralism from descending into balkanization. Patriotism requires a national creed or common set of political principles, as well as healthy institutions to bring people together. It also needs a unifying national culture. Accepting the principle of a common culture doesn’t mean agreeing to adhere to every facet of that mainstream culture, nor does it exclude subcultures from thriving within the broader social fabric. However, it does mean acknowledging that a country without fundamental things in common may be an open society, but is really no country at all.

An open society can be a source of strength and a point of pride if sustained by patriotism. Socrates’ Athens was an open society, a fact that his contemporary statesman, Pericles, extols in his famous funeral oration. In an occasion for honoring Athenians who died in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta, Pericles praises the valor of the fallen. He honors his country’s ancestors, history, and heroes, important sources of patriotism for any nation. But he finds it fitting to consider the “road” by which Athens “reached its position,” its “form of government,” and “national habits.” Pericles points to the common principles, institutions, and culture that bound Athenians together. These included principles of equal justice, liberty with corresponding public duty, and merit over class-determinism; institutions of deliberative democracy, open exchange of ideas and commerce, and a separate sphere for private affairs; and a culture of education, sports, and religion.

These characteristics produced a patriotism that not only allowed Athens to thrive as an open society but to field a formidable military that could rival, if not ultimately defeat, that of its more authoritarian, militaristic neighbor, Sparta. Americans should be grateful that we have enough patriotism to field an all-voluntary military. While it’s true many join our armed forces for reasons other than patriotism, we don’t have to conscript young people or compel them to complete national service. When comparisons were made between Athens versus Sparta, and the United States versus Nazi Germany, Americans demonstrated that patriotism could equip a free, constitutionally limited state to defeat a martial, totalitarian one.

Many in France viewed patriotism as a bad thing after World War I. Comparisons between Athens and Sparta were drawn with France and its authoritarian, militaristic neighbor as World War II approached. But did France have the patriotism of Pericles’s Athens? Thomas Sowell has pointed out how its leaders purged school textbooks in an attempt to snuff out patriotic influences they worried would lead to further international conflict. Its war heroes were recast as victims. This was a cause, at least in part, of France’s quick defeat. While it fought hard for four years against the Germans in the First World War, during the Second, it folded to the same adversaries in only six weeks.

Considering its importance, how do we promote patriotism? In his farewell address, warning of trends that could lead to “an erosion of the American spirit,” Ronald Reagan offered two answers toward inculcating an “informed patriotism”: “more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.”

TRUMP PROPOSES ‘AMERICA IS BACK’ RALLY TO REPLACE FAIR AFTER MUSICIANS BOYCOTT

While knowing history can shape perspective, civic rituals foster patriotism through action. This brings us to Flag Day. Activities associated with its commemoration rely on the principle that we value what we put time and effort toward, from simple displays of the flag and teaching of proper flag etiquette to more organized activities, like parades and ceremonies, public readings, and volunteer service. Civic rituals help connect us with our neighbors through shared purpose.

So let’s pause to honor our flag. More than a mere sentiment, patriotism can unite us around the shared purpose of strengthening our country and surmounting its challenges.

Mike Jayne is a U.S. Marine veteran and former teacher in D.C. public and D.C. public charter schools.