I asked a friend what she was doing for the Fourth, and she replied, "The same thing we always do, the parade in Huntington Beach."
She and her husband don't have young children, so they're not going for the kids. They just love a parade and, presumably, their country. I should have pressed on whether they go to celebrate the country's birthday or because they like to stand in the sun and watch people passing slowly by in cars.
Had she asked me what I'd be doing on the Fourth, I would have said, "The same thing I always do -- nothing."
I haven't gone to a Fourth of July parade in more than 30 years, and that last one I went to only because my newspaper assigned me to cover it.
Nor would I fly an American flag outside my door or wear one on my lapel. I'd sooner wear stripes with plaids.
Now, before you start shaking your head and pounding the words "liberal elitist jackanapes" in an e-mail, please factor in that I consider myself a patriot. I don't walk around saying, "I love my country," but would I get weepy when they play the national anthem at the Olympics if I didn't? Would I just have slogged through 650 pages of John Adams' biography if I didn't love my country's heritage?
So, here's my question: Why do some of us make a point of going to a patriotic parade and flying a flag outside our homes, and others don't?
I'd pontificate, but I don't have a good feel for the reasons. I don't know if it relates to varying psychological profiles in people or, merely, a reflection in degrees of patriotism. Are there degrees of patriotism? It seems to me that you either are patriotic or you aren't. A "Somewhat Patriotic" category sounds silly. Why, then, the disparity in patriotic behaviors?
Help me out. In this most conspicuously American period of the calendar year, why are some of you flag-wavers and some not? Why will some of you stand under a hot sun and watch a Fourth of July parade, and others consider it a pointless way to spend a couple hours?
For my poll, those of you who support the overthrow of the U.S. government need not respond; your reasons would be obvious. Only patriots need apply.
To me, the subject is interesting even in a vacuum. But it just so happens that the U.S. Senate will be considering sometime soon whether the Constitution should be amended to make desecrating the flag unconstitutional. The House, by a 286-130 vote, already has said yes to the question.
