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Patriotism, War, and Why We Fight
In his farewell speech of 1989 President Ronald Reagan asked us to
remember the resurgence of national pride he called the “New
Patriotism.” Patriotism and love of country, he said, are closely
related to our national memory and have given our nation’s history a
deeper meaning. Popular culture such as movies and TV have
“celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea
that America was special.” Although it was the Reagan administration
that led to the subsequent end of America’s Cold War with the Soviet
Union, and one of Reagan’s most famous statements is indeed, “Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” several scholars of politics have
claimed that it was also Reagan who escalated the Cold War by
building up the U.S. Armed Forces and straining relations with the
Soviet Union. It was Reagan who attempted to explain why “we in the
West must resist Soviet expansion [and] maintain defenses of
unassailable strength.” One popular view is that Ronald Reagan was a
warmonger who believed that America—the whole free world, in
fact—was in true and imminent danger of losing that freedom. To
remain special and a leader in the world, the patriotic thing to do
for the United States was to intervene in international politics.
The protection of our democratic values in the name of patriotism
may have roots in our nation’s brief but violent history.
The
diary of Johann von Ewald, a Hessian infantry officer from the
Germanic regiments who fought for the English in America’s
Revolutionary War, offers a
touching eye-opener for those desiring to experience the American
triumph through the viewpoint of the opposition, particularly with
respect to “Liberty and Independence” for which the Americans were
willing to “have their arms and legs smashed.” The poverty of the
American troops proved severe at the conclusion of the Revolutionary
War. As observed by Ewald, “He who could not purchase a new coat
wore his old one until it fell off his body in pieces,” and
“officers who marched without shoes . . . did everything that was
possible to live in this world as free men.” Other foreign observers
marveled at the Continental Army’s willing service and ability to
endure continuous hardship. Baron von Closen of the French army
exclaimed, “I admire the American troops tremendously! It is
incredible that soldiers composed of men of every age, even children
of fifteen, of whites and blacks, almost naked, unpaid, and rather
poorly fed, can march so well and withstand fire so steadfastly.”
