Independence Day

I'll confess I've never been a patriotic person, Bush. I don't know why. I never felt that way about my native country, Britain; and I don't feel that way about my adoptive country, either. The experience of World War II may have colored my attitude in some way. The first poems that ever deeply moved me were those written by the likes of Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, those haunting voices lost to us during the first World War, who wrote about the horrors of the battlefield and the absurd irony of fighting for one's country. Dulce et decorum est, went the Latin adage quoted, with deep sarcasm, by one of these poets--I forget which--pro patria mori. It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. Even then, barely more than a child, I found the notion of patriotism ridiculously overvalued.

I think, though, that I did understand the notion of dying for a cause. I did believe that the war my elder generation were obliged to wage against Nazi Germany, and fascist Italy and Japan, was warranted by the threat those enemies represented to humankind and the welfare of the planet. It was only incidentally about patriotism, as I saw it. More importantly, it was about the survival of a number of disparate countries in the face of expansionism and tyranny; in a real sense, it was a war against national pride and xenophobic aggression. At least, so I saw it after the fact, when I was old enough to think about it. And so I see it from today's perspective.

It was still possible, I think, to see your Dad's Iraq adventure in that light: Saddam, after all, had not only threatened but invaded a neighbor. Possible, then. But only partly. There were other, far less noble issues involved, having to do with resources, and strategic alliances, and global policy. And about this country's insatiable need to keep the oil flowing in our direction. As for your own Iraq war, Bush, I was in all honesty initially inclined to be persuaded of its necessity on the basis of the lies that we were fed--even while I remained suspicious of their veracity. Now that the lies have been unmasked for all to see, however, I am simply appalled by your invasion and your occupation, in the face of all international opinion, of a country whose admittedly tyrannical leader was already headed down the road toward disempowerment and disgrace. And of your continuing appeal to American patriotism to support your folly, and your continuing abuse of the patriotism of others to belabor anyone who opposes your policies.

In the larger context of our small planet and the challenges it faces, I have to say that patriotism, these days, seems not only absurd but positively dangerous. Those who profit from the policies of economic expansion concern themselves not with the interests of "country" but with "globalization." It seems to me that, if we intend to save this planet from oursleves, we should all be following their example. It no longer makes sense to do obeisance to this "home of the brave" and "land of the free" if to do so we choose to ignore the well-being of countless other countries terrorized by famine, war, oppression, and disease. "We Are the World," went that optimistic hymn, a few years back. We may be separated from Africa and its suffering multitudes by an ocean, but there's a real sense, today, in which we are Africa. It behooves us to think of "globalization" not only in terms of corporate profits, but as an uncomfortable political and social reality. A loyalty to one's own country, then, at the expense of the others seems an increasingly untenable option.

I hope that you'll bear this new reality in mind, Bush, as you discuss America's contribution to addressing global problems with the other influential countries of the G8. So far, all I've heard is your America-first, "we can't afford it" protestations, along with grandiose rhetorical gestures that soon become meaningless without the funding to support them. Can't afford it? When in the same breath you fight for massive tax breaks for the wealthiest of the wealthy? The rest of the world's population is not stupid, Bush. No wonder so many of them despise us. Let's plan to start playing by the rules we expect others to abide by. Let's renew the credentials of our global citizenship. It's all very well for us to celebrate our independence. But that independence is not worth a damn if it derives its strength from the dependency of others.