Here we are … early fall in a presidential election year. The Republican and Democratic conventions are history. For the next 10 weeks, our TVs will broadcast political discussions and exhortations, day and night. Signs, ads, clothing and bumper stickers: We are awash in red, white and blue, the symbolic colors of American patriotism.

Patriotism is a complicated set of ideas. Most simply, it is love of country. Dig a little deeper, and it is also love for a country’s culture and history, its language, its ethnicity and its music.

When you are a patriot in America, there are certain assumptions about how you behave.

Patriotism is standing for the national anthem at a Whitecaps game. It’s putting your hand over your heart when the Pledge of Allegiance is recited. It’s saluting veterans in Memorial Day parades. It’s voting in elections that we trust to be free and fair. These, however, are merely outward signs. True patriotism is an understanding of America’s founding principles.

These principles — ideas that are not exclusive to the U.S., by the way — informed the founding of the nation. What are they?

• All men (and women) are created equal
• All people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
• Government exists to ensure those rights
• If government restricts those rights, it is the people’s duty to oppose that government

Beyond that, there are additional principles articulated in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments guarantee civil rights and liberties to the individual — the freedoms of speech, assembly, press and religion. They guarantee due process of law — no matter a person’s rank — and trial by jury. They grant the freedom to bear arms. Each of these named freedoms is in response to the founders’ experience in England and elsewhere in Europe where these freedoms didn’t exist, or existed only for the privileged.

Patriotism recognizes these principles, is proud of them, and is willing to go to war to defend them.

Patriotism, however, is not ill will toward other nations. Consider the recent Olympics: athletes and fans chanted “USA, USA,” the national anthem played each time an American won a medal, and the media kept count of medals awarded to each nation’s teams — behaviors filled with patriotic symbolism, loyalty and pride. But patriotism leaves room for congratulating other nations’ competitors, for friendships across borders and for mutual respect. The games are a celebration of sport, friendship and international goodwill.

American patriotism belongs to every American, not just to some of us.

That’s why it is particularly sad when the symbols of patriotism are co-opted to serve divisive politics. Medals and awards are intended for heroes, not for political donors. The military serves the nation as a whole: it is not a tool to enforce the policies of one party by rounding up immigrants or policing detention camps filled with political enemies. Military men and women are demeaned when they provide the backdrop for political rallies or photo-ops, as happened to General Mark Milley in June 2020, when Donald Trump stood in front of St. Johns Church, holding a Bible. Trump referred to “my generals,” but those men belonged to the nation, not to one man.

The flag itself has been co-opted. There are many versions of the stars and stripes linked to particular causes — not all of them American in principle. There are flags with TRUMP or his image superimposed over the stripes, and flags that proclaim TRUMP COUNTRY over the image of a flag shaped like the nation. There are flags with various images of Jesus Christ, wearing the crown of thorns, draped in the red, white and blue.

Using patriotic symbols in this way is not benign: it is designed to appeal to the emotions triggered by legitimate patriotism and to thereby manipulate people’s political behavior.

The bottom line is that patriotism is not a contest, but rather a set of ideas to which we can all aspire. If we fall down the rabbit hole of believing that only one kind of American or one political path embodies patriotism, then we don’t understand what it is.

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Patriots see America the beautiful, not a “failed state”; patriots see a nation of possibilities, not a “third world nation” in need of an authoritarian strongman who promises to use the tools of government to reward his friends and punish his enemies.

Real patriots see beyond the empty symbolism of lapel pins and red, white, and blue bunting. Most importantly, flying the stars and stripes does not signal one’s political affiliation: It simply means that you are an American.

— Community Columnist Barbara Mezeske is a retired teacher and resident of Holland. She can be reached at bamezeske@gmail.com.