perfidy

Did you know that May 1 is Loyalty Day? It was decreed so yesterday by our President. Huh. Thanks to Matthew Yglesias and "Stentor Danielson" for the pointer and a little perspective on the matter. 

From what I can find, "Loyalty Day" started in the thirties as an anti-Communist counterpoint to Mayday, hence the positioning of both on May 1. Occasionally, the holiday has been exhumed by Presidents (Clinton, Kennedy, Truman) hoping to inspire an upwelling of patriotic fervor in the breasts of the teeming masses. 

Even though I am a spineless jellyfish of a centrist, I have some pretty clear and solid ideas about what America means. "Loyalty Day" is just about as American a concept as "Worship The Giant Stone Tiki Day" would be, if a day of Tiki-worship were foisted upon us by the government. 

Warning: hifalutin pompousness follows. Ridicule at will. Bill Whittle is better at this sort of thing. 

Certain events in the recent past have changed how Americans approach freedom, liberty, and the rest of the world. Despite some people's fears, we do not yet live in a police state where dissent is met with brutality (that only happens in Leftist paradises like Cuba and China, and also some theocracies and dictatorships, but not here). Yet, in response to the threats we now know we face, concepts have arisen that don't belong in our national lexicon. Two such are the terms "Homeland" and "Loyalty". Both are fabulously alien to the American experience (in that they imply things the United States was founded as an alternative to), both are used too much these days, and neither should ever be common coin around Washington. I'd go so far as to call them un-American. ”

"Homeland" doesn't make much sense applied to the United States as a whole - it smacks of a European sense of place and obligation. If your family can trace its lineage in the Black Forest back to the time of Charlemagne, and it's fairly certain that someone in your bloodline repelled Roman legions and fought at Verdun, then you have a homeland. Hell, for that matter, if your family settled Saco, Maine in 1640 and stayed on through Algonquin raids, witch hysterians, and the various wars and famines, then Maine, if that's where you live, is your homeland. To a certain degree, northeastern Ohio is my homeland, in that it's where I was born, grew up, and learned about the world. I feel a kinship to the place and its people. Jim Traficant, sorry to say, is one of mine. 

In short, the word "homeland" implies the residency in and identity with a specific place, accompanied by a specific way of seeing the world, something akin to the French concept of terroir. The United States is too young, too big, and too diverse to warrant such a sweeping term. Furthermore, United States is a collection of people, whereas "homeland" places the emphasis on the place itself. Similarly, "Loyalty" implies an authority that flows the opposite way of that on which the United States is founded. "Allegiance" is more apt. Allegiance implies that you have considered your citizenship, weighed its benefits against the alternatives (such as living in France or a compound in upper Montana), and voluntarily chosen to participate in the ongoing project of the USA. Of course, nobody actually thinks about these things when taking the pledge, but that is nevertheless the underlying idea. Where "Allegiance" implies a pact freely entered, "Loyalty" suggests something demanded of a person by a superior. In cases such as swearing-in of new citizens, this language is appropriate (as is so for members of the Armed Forces). Such new Americans are taking an oath to cast off other ties they may have in order to affirm the solidity of their commitment to the United States. 

But oaths of loyalty are not required by the United States of its citizens. The word "union" appears ten times in the Constitution, "loyal*"” none. And, of course, the preamble has all that crap about "we the people" and "more perfect union." Everything is voluntary, open, and based upon the will of the people to bring themselves together. 

Ideas like an "Office of Homeland Security" and the revival of "Loyalty Day," though they might seem like good fixes to immediate crises, are in the long view not part of the American ideology at all. Problems like this happens from time to time in American history, and they are often far, far worse than those I'm discussing. A huge number of Native Americans are dead. Slavery wasn't addressed seriously until 1860. Lynchings happened all the way into the era of color photography. But we don't kill Indians any more (partly because there aren't many left, yes), nobody keeps slaves today like they did in 1820, and lynchings are now front-page horrors when they happen, not a dirty secret. Although far from perfect, at its best, America is a self-correcting system that finds its bedrock principles no matter what temporary diversions it encounters. I just hope that the current fetishes for "homeland" this and "secret courts" that are temporary, and over time the inertia, collective idealism, and ingrained teachings of the American people will make these things as curious in the future as debates over the Gold Standard are today. 

A final note. May is also "Masturbation Month." "Loyalty Day" or "Masturbation Month": the choice is yours. (Thanks, Matthew!)