"Our Obligations To Our Country Never Cease..."

I have never been confused with a flag-waving, America, love-it-or-leave-it, guy. You will never find me wearing a flag lapel pin. I have often suggested that the best way to celebrate the Fourth of July is to burn a flag, because the fundamental tenet of this nation is the right to dissent. One of my favorite art installations featured a copy of the Constitution encased in a box, with glass top, set upon a pedestal. Laid out in front of the pedestal, on the floor, was an American flag. The only way to view the Constitution was to walk on the flag. A bit heavy-handed perhaps, but a perfect metaphor for the foundation of, and the dichotomies inherent in, our nation. I may have issues with our country, but I do love - very much so - its intrinsic ideology. I love this country not for what it is, but for what it promises to be. I love its potential.

I'm feeling this sense of off-kilter patriotism of late because I have been watching HBO's John Adams miniseries. Based on David McCullough's book, which was more a valentine to the founding father than a true biography, the series is lavishly produced, well-written, beautifully acted, and utterly engrossing. I have long been a fan of John Adams. Not everything he espoused was on the mark and I believe, at heart, he did not trust the masses, but he was something special. His relationship with his wife, Abigail, about which much has been written, was particularly touching and one can sense a true partnership in their marriage that not a few of we moderns lack.

The men that founded this country have become mythological, which is not a good thing. We would do well to remember that they were men, with all the flaws that we have. Yet, in spite of those flaws, they understood the need to sacrifice, their responsibility to the future, the importance of their actions. That fact - that they were so similar to ourselves - makes their accomplishments even more impressive than if we see them as something super-human. They risked their lives and those of their families for an idea, an idea that we should determine our form of government. How many of us would do the same? How many of us would be wise enough to think beyond our own lives? Not many of us look farther than tomorrow. As Adams said, referring to his responsibilty to those that come after:

I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.

How many parents today would give up the Plasma much less anything of even greater importance for country or children, let alone grandchildren and great-grandchildren?

So forgive me this moment of patriotic indulgence. I want what they, that began the experiment, wanted: to fill the potential. I suspect it will not happen in my lifetime or that of my children, but this country is a process, not an end. Adams, Jefferson, Washington, et al; they began it and we ought to give them a hearing more often.