Obligatory Independence Day post

I was born in the United States of America, and I have reaped untold benefits from my education, my economic situation, and the political liberties that come with life in the U.S.A. I therefore love my country out of duty.

I know that I will make few friends in saying that, but I consider honesty to be among the highest of duties, and closely connected to the duty of patriotism. True patriotism is not, after all, "my country, right or wrong." True patriotism is a kind of piety: it is the duty of gratitude and honor we owe to those who have given us gifts we cannot repay. It is the love and respect we give to our parents and our country and our benefactors.

But just as it does not honor our parents to lie to them about their errors or wrongs, or to support them in any depraved action they might take, it does not honor our country to pretend that she is "the greatest nation on earth" or "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

The United States of America, more than any other nation I'm aware of (possibly excepting Imperial Rome, Nazi Germany, and the U.S.S.R.), portrays itself as a moral power as much or even more than it is a political or economic or military power. We proclaim "the American way of life" and "the American dream" as if these are the highest of human aspirations.

But it does this country no honor to ignore the millions of our own citizens killed by abortion; the thousands of foreign nationals detained against our own law and international treaty; the hundreds or more people, both U.S. citizens and foreigners, subjected to the very tortures for which the U.S. prosecuted other nations; nor the slavish relationship between government and business which treats citizens as mere consumers or producers, mere economic units, rather than uniquely valuable persons.

So I cannot muster any personal affection for my country, for my homeland. But I can and will love it as best I am able, by speaking what truth I can in whatever small way I am able. And I will pray night and day for the growth of truth and virtue among her leaders and among her citizens. May God indeed bless America.