As America approaches her 250th birthday, I’ve found myself asking a simple but important question: What does it really mean to be a patriot?
Over time, we’ve reduced patriotism to flags, political parties, bumper stickers, and slogans. Those things have their place, but they don’t define a patriot.
A patriot is someone who loves his country enough to faithfully steward its founding principles, willingly accepting the responsibilities and sacrifices necessary to leave it stronger for the next generation.
You don’t have to believe America is perfect to be a patriot.
I certainly don’t.
Throughout my more than twenty-two years in the Army, I never met a soldier who deployed because he believed America was perfect. I met thousands who believed she was worth defending.
The same is true today.
Patriotism isn’t blind loyalty to politicians. It isn’t pretending our nation has no faults. It is remaining faithful to the principles that made America worth defending in the first place: liberty, truth, personal responsibility, faith, and equal justice under the law.
Our Founders entrusted us with a constitutional republic. Every generation has been asked the same question Benjamin Franklin posed nearly 250 years ago: Can you keep it?
Perhaps the better question is this: Will we leave our children an America that is stronger than the one we inherited?
I believe that is the true measure of patriotism.
What qualities do you believe define a true patriot?
