A Country Worth Defending
The ideology of my good friends varies. I think this is a good thing.
On one hand, the well-meaning neoliberals, accounting for about 50% of my friends. And on the other, the self-avowed socialists, accounting for most of the remaining half, with a few conservatives trickled in here and there, particularly among my family.
I suppose I consider myself a socialist, and I suppose I consider myself a kind of liberal.
Perhaps these things are at odds. I'm not sure.
Certainly, the neoliberal ideology which controls American society today is a different thing than classic liberalism which gave birth to American democracy, thought, scholarship, science, and so on. Of course, there remain important and justified critiques of liberalism and the Enlightenment more broadly, for their failure to take equity and justice seriously. These critiques are coupled with targeted takedowns of colonialism and fascism, which have survived and at times thrived under our present and persisting neoliberal ideological regime, which has allowed a kind of rebranding of colonialism and fascism to take place. That's certainly no good.
So, at the end of the day, I'm not sure where to place myself on the political spectrum. A liberal socialist, I suppose. But ideology can change, and as such, I don't place too much value in ideological labels.
I'm a citizen of the United States, and, by birth, a yankee and a millennial. I didn't choose any of these labels. And, none of these labels prescribe any kind of determined ideology. So they remain solidly part of my intersectional and individual identity, mostly untarnished by meanings prescribed by others. Certainly, all Americans must deal with the negative impacts of our nation's capital-colonial empire and its global violence. These sins cloud any individual's ability to claim pride in the United States.
Still, with these most focused critiques in mind, I remain struck by a simple and rare truth: my ability to critique my government, for its obvious and ongoing failures, is unique in human history. This truth leads me to believe there is true value in the flawed democratic institutions we presently maintain. This truth makes me love my country.
Our present freedom, our liberty, imperfect as it may be, is worth defending. Some within this country seek to destroy it. That is their free and equally imperfect choice. Upholding their right to choose destruction is difficult, but accepting paradox is what separates the free soul from the lost mind. Truly free men know that self-determination is not prescribed by a nation, but from within. Freedom cannot be conferred.
We stand on the shoulders of giants, generations before us, who chose their own freedom. Despite their condition, worse than we could imagine, they discovered this simple yet difficult truth. They fought for freedom. Throughout history, dark and corrupt actors have sought to destroy the roving individual spirit which provides a light on the path to freedom. But together, throughout history, we have fought them off. Unfortunately, this perennial battle is not over. And with the war ongoing, I believe America is a country worth defending, because America is a country that can still be changed. If we lose the progress already made by generations past, there's no way to know how long it will take to get back to this point.
Through our dark days, may the light prevail.
Citizen Yankee