Socrates was unjustly convicted for ‘corrupting the youth of Athens‘ and sentenced to death. He refused to escape into exile though because it would break Athenian law. During this time, Athens was under constant threat of attack, making Socrates believe that to maintain public order ‘- essential for defending the city ‘- the law must be enforced.

Socrates died for Athens because he believed it was the right thing to do. In ‘The Trial and Death of Socrates,’ Plato wrote that Socrates said ‘your country is to be honored more than your mother, your father and all your ancestors’hellip;you must worship it, yield to it and placate its anger more than your father’s.’

Socrates’ patriotism was not about flag waving, chants of ‘Athens‘ or national holidays. It was a matter of life and death. Without Socrates-esque patriotic zeal, Athens could not survive.

Today, many people have the same feelings about America as Socrates did toward Athens. In a Dec. 26, 2008 column for the Los Angeles Times, Joel Stein discussed how an episode of Sean Hannity’s ‘Hannity’s America‘ was titled ‘The Greatest Nation on Earth.’ In the episode, Hannity said several times, ‘the U.S. is the greatest, best country God has ever given man on the face of the Earth.’

Socrates would approve of such unbridled patriotism because it was necessary for America ‘- or Athens ‘- to survive. Yet, is such patriotism healthy for America now? After all, neighboring city-states and marauding foreign armies do not currently threaten America with invasion.

Many claim patriotism is a good thing, even if we don’t need it for self preservation like Athens did because it makes people happy. Loving America provides people with a sense of community; it makes them feel part of something larger than themselves and gives life value and meaning.

Patriotism has a dark side, though. To be considered ‘patriotic’ in the definition conservatives use, one must support America in wartime. This made sense to Socrates because Athens was fighting for its survival. ‘ Now, America fights wars not for survival but to achieve foreign policy objectives. Does that deserve patriotism?

The Iraq war, for example, had nothing to do with America‘s survival. It was meant to achieve foreign policy goals ‘- spreading democracy and increasing American influence in the Middle East. To garner support for the war, Bush cherry-picked intelligence that made Saddam Hussein seem like a threat and ignored intelligence that said Iraq posed no danger to America.

Bush made people patriotic because they feared their country, home and life was threatened by a madman armed to the teeth with WMDs. Without this patriotism, Bush had no war. People were not going to put American lives at risk to achieve neo- conservative foreign policy objectives.

Peter Zimmerman, scientific advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during the Bush administration, discussed how this political climate caused many to support the President’s quest for war in an interview for the book ‘Hubris.’

‘There was an election coming up. The Democrats were afraid of being seen as soft on Saddam or on terrorism,’ Zimmerman said.

Calling someone ‘soft’ on national security implies they will not do enough to keep America safe. It also implies they are ‘unpatriotic.’ A ‘patriotic’ person would not endanger America. Democrats didn’t want to be vulnerable to such attacks come election day, causing many to support the war. ‘ ‘

An unchallenged war is not healthy for America.

Before America goes to war, there should be a full and open debate concerning which actions to take. If this had been the case with Iraq, maybe more would have realized there was also intelligence saying
Hussein had no WMDs, or ties to terrorism.

Maybe the war could have been averted, and innocent lives saved. Instead, Bush used patriotism to pull the wool over America‘s eyes so he could bring democracy to the Middle East, along with more permanent American bases.

Patriotism also clouds the issues related to the ‘War on Terror.’ According to Bush, this ‘war’ was to protect America from terrorists who attack us because they hate our values and freedoms. Patriotic Americans could not question this logic, as America was at ‘war.’

Yet, what if it was American policy that caused terrorists to want to attack us in the first place? That would make the ‘War on Terror’ seem more like a campaign to maintain American influence in the Middle East than a war to protect America. This question was rarely asked though, which gave Bush the freedom to prosecute the ‘War on Terror’ as he saw fit.

What is patriotism good for now? Manipulating the public to support wars they believe will protect them, but which really serve political objectives. Does that make you feel patriotic?

Chris Russell is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].