After relaxing over the long weekend and gearing up for the political season, I came to realize that patriotism is going to be a key factor in the race.

So let's take a look at patriotism.

Let's begin with a look back at the 56 men that signed the Declaration of Independence.

Five of them were captured by the British, were tortured and died in Bristish hands.

Nine fought and died during the Revolutionary War.

Two lost their sons in the War and another had two of his sons captured by the British.

Twelve lost their homes. Many lost members of their families.

All were men of means and were well educated. Each knew full well that if they were captured, their penalty would be death. Many died in poverty ... wiped out in the war.

For these brave men, patriotism was not abstract. It had dire and immediate consequences. Yet they signed anyway.

What about today? Patriotism seems to be the most abstract of American values and virtues. And it seems that the symbols of patriotism are what we use to define it ... and fight over.

In my mind, many of these symbols are used, on purpose by politicians, to divide us. Exactly opposite of what we want them to be ... symbols of American unity.

There seems to be a great divide on patriotism here and now in America. One side feels that the greatness is based on what we have achieved as a nation. The other side believes that our greatness as a nation is based in our promise in the future and what we, as a nation, stand up for when we define our ideals.

Now, most of you will take some sort of offense at the following two statements ... but they are the underlying causes of why we, as a nation, do not come together more often.

Conservatives will contend they are the true keepers of our nation's heritage and attack liberals by stating they are ashamed of America. Liberals, in response, say conservatives prevent America from living up to its ideals.

And they are both wrong.

What we need to have is a view of patriotism that combines the two. We need to recognize what is great about America. Why so many want to come here. After all, you rarely hear that people want to go to Britain. Or Russia. Or China. No they want to come here for the vast land of opportunity we have as a nation. But with that realization of what makes us a great nation is the necessary appreciation for what we have to do (and did) to create and sustain that greatness.

When it comes to patriotism, conservatives and liberals need each other. The love of country requires not only affirmation, but an open mind to criticism.

Waving the flag is supposed to be a call to action. When it comes down just to the end itself, then we lose the dignity of the action and result we can create together. We must guard against the flag becoming an emblem of hypocrisy and complacency.

We should be proud of what America has accomplished and what it has yet to accomplish. For most of human exisitence, tyranny has been the standard. America has stepped away from that philosophy.

We aren't perfect, but we have become the "exception to the rule" and it started 232 years ago. So, comparing America to any other country is an exercise in futility.

Patriotism entails sacrifice. It is a faith in system of values, ideals and beliefs followed up with action and works. If not, then the promise of America rings falsely.

Our young men and women that have volunteered to fight in Iraq and Afganistan, and the men and women protesting against it, are truer patriots than the American who views it from afar on their televisions, shrugging it off by saying it's too far way. More importantly, they have no sense of conscience, and resulting action, they are willing to state publicly.

Let's look at patriotism in a new light. Let's show our patriotism as though we were the brave fifty-six signers of the Decalration of Independence.

Embrace the virtue of patriotism. Take a stand regardless of the consequence. America needs citizens willing to follow in the steps of the Signers and remind us all that rituals, carried on mindlessly and without passion, can be the true enemy of devotion.

Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln summed it up best in an eloquence to which I can only to aspire:

Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Lincoln: "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

While you're at it, go pick up "The True Patriot" by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer. It is a great read. And don't forget to teach your kids that America isn't too good to be true.

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