The right to be loyal

It is impossible to deny the great divide that splits our nation these days. We are divided on many things, but one thing that should not divide us is our love of and loyalty to our nation. And yet the sad truth is that even this basic and necessary aspect of American life has become just another partisan issue.

A few days ago, students at Orange Coast College in California banned the Pledge of Allegiance from being recited at their meetings. Something so basic and innocent as a pledge of loyalty to one's own nation has now become "controversial" and "divisive."

Jason Ball, who proposed the ban, said that the issue came up because the trustees didn't want to vow loyalty to the American government. "Loyalty ought to be something the government earns through performance," said Ball, "not through reciting a pledge."

Being loyal to your nation needs not mean that you agree with everything your nation does or has done, nor that you like the sitting president or his current policies. National loyalty, as I see it, means that you identify yourself as being on the side of your nation, the people that birthed you, raised you and gave you every opportunity.

When you introduce the caveat that the government only deserves loyalty through its performance, it begs the question: Who judges whether the government's performance is good or bad? Republicans? Democrats? La Raza? Michael Moore? If so, then the government's performance will never be up to par, because there will never be a day in this nation where we all agree with the way things are going.

Does this mean, therefore, that we should never be loyal to our nation simply because we do not all agree? Disagreement is a good thing, for it is through disagreement that we keep each other in check. But despite our disagreements, we should still remain loyal to America.

Ball said one of the reasons they banned the Pledge was because it inspires nationalism. So? What is wrong with nationalism? There are many definitions of the word, but one of them is simply "patriotism," for not all forms of nationalism are aggressive. Patriotism is not a sin and it is not a chauvinistic ideal of the simple and uniformed. It is the foundation of any nation and is essential to a nation's success.

We should be loyal to our nation because it is our nation. Our very survival as a people depends upon it. We can make up as many ideological fairytales as we want, but in the end the problem is this: Because we are the richest, most powerful nation on this earth, some people hate us and therefore some people wish to destroy us.

In order for the insignificant to see themselves as great, they can either do great things or stand as the mortal enemies of those who are already great. Only then can they gain the attention they desire, and it is this conceit that gives us so many enemies in the world.

If we are not loyal to our nation and if we are not patriotic, then we will crumble, and in our place will rise nations whose self-restraint is not so great as our own.

Patriotism is not a dirty word and it is nothing to be ashamed of. It is simply loyalty to our own people. Not at the expense of other peoples in the world, mind you, but we must never let our generosity and "cultural understanding" weaken the foundations of our own sovereignty.

If one doesn't want to say "under God" while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, fine. If one doesn't want to say the Pledge at all, fine. No one is being forced to. No one is required by law to say the Pledge. But there are people out there who do love this country, call it home and are loyal to it, and they must have the freedom to express their loyalty by any means that is within the law.

To ban the Pledge of Allegiance is to deny people that freedom of speech which so many covet and champion.

It is beyond me how some of our own citizens can harbor such a staunch hatred of our nation, its people and government that they are led to view themselves as a group apart from the rest of us.

It seems to me that we are so caught up with our multi-whateverisms that we have forgotten that we are still one nation; that our loyalties to our cliques, parties and subcultures are stronger than our loyalties to America.

But oh well. If some want to hate, that is their choice. Their choice must never, however, interfere with the rights of others, and banning the Pledge restricts the rights of those who wish to recite it.

Let's not forget this as we continue to march under the banners of tolerance and diversity.

Brandon M. Dennis: brandondennis@thedaily.washington.edu