- Oct 6, 2008
- 125,093
- 60,647
1. Before there is patriotism, there must be membership in a nation-state, a sense of citizenship.
Social membership is largely based on language, custom, geography and a legal system. Add to that, the idea of a common interest in defense.
Of course, in some versions, other aspects may be present, such as religion, race, or obedience to a particular monarch.
2. The simplest patriotism is a kind of neighborliness, the patriotism of the village, or even the city street. In fact, it is this level of patriotism that builds a national identity.
To love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed toward a love to our country and to mankind.
Burke," "Reflections on the Revolution in France."
3. 'By joining clubs and societies, by forming teams, troupes, and competitions, by acquiring sociable hobbies, and outgoing modes of entertainment, people come to feel that they and their neighbors belong together, and this 'belonging' has more importance, in times of emergency, than any private difference in matters of religion or family life."
Scruton, "The West and the Rest,"p. 49.
4. Charles Murray, in "Coming Apart," refers to the social capital of the community, which includes volunteering, charity, civic participation, religious participation 'and America produced community life unlike anyplace else in the world.'
The ascendancy of Liberal politics reduces the need for belonging and social relationships, by teaching that it is big government that will perform all of the functions that private groups did.
Of course, this denies the importance of personal contact.
a. In "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," (1995) Robert Putnam surveys the decline of "social capital" in the United States of America since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives.
Putnam describes at least half of all associational memberships as church related, half of all philanthropy as religious in character, and half of all volunteering occurs in a religious context- including contributions to secular causes.
5. Belonging to the body politic means that one law applies to all, especially in the case of America and England, which follow the common law, which arose from local judgments, rather than from decrees issued by a sovereign.
a. Today, European law gives preeminence to legislatures, the institution that drafted the statute prevails. In Anglo-American Common Law tradition, the institution that interprets and adjudicates the statute has the final word.
Due to the absence of a jury, and the deference to whomever writes the laws, Civil Law tradition of Western Europe is friendlier to tyrannical regimes than the Common Law tradition. It's origination, Justinians code, the emperor is named 'nomos empsychos', law incarnate. (see "Justinian's Flea," Rosen)
b. Today, with Western Europe as the model for Progressives in America, there is pressure to use civil law in our courts. Justice Kennedy referred favorably to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convent on Civil and Political Rights. He also cited an European Union brief. See Roper v. Simmons - 03-633 (2005) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
6. As a result of the Progressive era, the value of the Constitution has receded, and the decisions of judges, known as 'case law', has replaced same.
"We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our liberty and of our property under the Constitution." Charles Evans Hughes
Which means that no other Americans can speak English....just black-robed judges.
a. " Is it not ironic that those who favor policy-making by the Supreme Court claim that lower court judges should slavishly follow supreme court case law that has been totally made up."
'Originalism: A Quarter-Century of Debate, Steven G. Calabresi
7. Conservatives believe that custom and tradition result in individuals living in peace. Law of the land, the Constitution, is custom and precedent. Liberals are destroyers of custom and convention. To a conservative, change should be gradual, as the new society is often inferior to the old. We build on the ideas and experience of our ancestors. The species is wiser than the individual (Burke).
What happens to the sense of belonging, of patriotism based on language, custom, geography and a legal system.....when none withstand the attacks of the progressive political assault?
It dissolves....disappears.
And when it does, so does national sovereignty.
As does the noble experiment that was America.
Social membership is largely based on language, custom, geography and a legal system. Add to that, the idea of a common interest in defense.
Of course, in some versions, other aspects may be present, such as religion, race, or obedience to a particular monarch.
2. The simplest patriotism is a kind of neighborliness, the patriotism of the village, or even the city street. In fact, it is this level of patriotism that builds a national identity.
To love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed toward a love to our country and to mankind.
Burke," "Reflections on the Revolution in France."
3. 'By joining clubs and societies, by forming teams, troupes, and competitions, by acquiring sociable hobbies, and outgoing modes of entertainment, people come to feel that they and their neighbors belong together, and this 'belonging' has more importance, in times of emergency, than any private difference in matters of religion or family life."
Scruton, "The West and the Rest,"p. 49.
4. Charles Murray, in "Coming Apart," refers to the social capital of the community, which includes volunteering, charity, civic participation, religious participation 'and America produced community life unlike anyplace else in the world.'
The ascendancy of Liberal politics reduces the need for belonging and social relationships, by teaching that it is big government that will perform all of the functions that private groups did.
Of course, this denies the importance of personal contact.
a. In "Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital," (1995) Robert Putnam surveys the decline of "social capital" in the United States of America since 1950. He has described the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives.
Putnam describes at least half of all associational memberships as church related, half of all philanthropy as religious in character, and half of all volunteering occurs in a religious context- including contributions to secular causes.
5. Belonging to the body politic means that one law applies to all, especially in the case of America and England, which follow the common law, which arose from local judgments, rather than from decrees issued by a sovereign.
a. Today, European law gives preeminence to legislatures, the institution that drafted the statute prevails. In Anglo-American Common Law tradition, the institution that interprets and adjudicates the statute has the final word.
Due to the absence of a jury, and the deference to whomever writes the laws, Civil Law tradition of Western Europe is friendlier to tyrannical regimes than the Common Law tradition. It's origination, Justinians code, the emperor is named 'nomos empsychos', law incarnate. (see "Justinian's Flea," Rosen)
b. Today, with Western Europe as the model for Progressives in America, there is pressure to use civil law in our courts. Justice Kennedy referred favorably to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Convent on Civil and Political Rights. He also cited an European Union brief. See Roper v. Simmons - 03-633 (2005) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center
6. As a result of the Progressive era, the value of the Constitution has receded, and the decisions of judges, known as 'case law', has replaced same.
"We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our liberty and of our property under the Constitution." Charles Evans Hughes
Which means that no other Americans can speak English....just black-robed judges.
a. " Is it not ironic that those who favor policy-making by the Supreme Court claim that lower court judges should slavishly follow supreme court case law that has been totally made up."
'Originalism: A Quarter-Century of Debate, Steven G. Calabresi
7. Conservatives believe that custom and tradition result in individuals living in peace. Law of the land, the Constitution, is custom and precedent. Liberals are destroyers of custom and convention. To a conservative, change should be gradual, as the new society is often inferior to the old. We build on the ideas and experience of our ancestors. The species is wiser than the individual (Burke).
What happens to the sense of belonging, of patriotism based on language, custom, geography and a legal system.....when none withstand the attacks of the progressive political assault?
It dissolves....disappears.
And when it does, so does national sovereignty.
As does the noble experiment that was America.
