The Revolution That Never Ended

When I was a child, I thought patriotism meant wearing an American flag T-shirt to a Fourth of July barbecue and gorging on red-white-and-blue frozen Popsicles until my tongue looked like a blurry electoral map. Back then, loving my country was easy. But over the years, I’ve come to realize that patriotism is not nearly as simple or star-spangled as I once imagined. The world had changed and forced me out of my naivete. There were debates about whether kneeling during the national anthem was disrespectful, whether criticizing government policies was “anti-American,” and whether loving your country meant accepting it the way it was. Patriotism no longer seemed like the “Party in the USA” of my youth. 

Somewhere along the way, we stopped agreeing on what it means to love our country. Too many people mistake patriotism for supremacy, and love of country for ultranationalism. They flinch at the sight of the flag, as though its stars and stripes were a threat rather than a symbol of sacrifice and hope. They hear the word “America” and think only of its sins, not the generations who gave everything to correct them. We are living through a crisis of meaning. These days, patriotism is like the national Rorschach test. Say the word, and people picture entirely different things. 

To me, patriotism is a love for one’s country and the desire to see it flourish. It is not blind loyalty or cheerleading, and it certainly is not nationalism. To love one’s country does not require denigrating another nor does it mean supporting American actions at the expense of justice or humanity. Instead, patriotism is a belief in the United States of America as an ongoing work in progress. As historian Gordon S. Wood once noted, the American Revolution was not merely a war of independence but “a revolution in the hearts and minds of the people” (Wood 78). The American variant of patriotism emerged from a revolutionary worldview predicated on Enlightenment ideals: individual liberty, representative governance, and the repudiation of tyranny.

Admittedly, from the horrors of slavery and segregation to the internment of Japanese Americans, we have not always followed through on the American promise of liberty and prosperity for all. However, each of these chapters in US history also gave birth to movements of resistance and reform that should be celebrated as testaments to the character and resolve of the American people. The anti-American worldview discourages the self-scrutiny necessary for democratic improvement. James Baldwin once wrote, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually” (Baldwin 9). As such, it also means recognizing that the revolution is far from over. We must work, sacrifice, and do our best to continue the decades-old fight to create the most prosperous, just, and safe nation in the world. 

To love the United States is to believe in its potential and to give thanks for the ingenuity that has allowed Americans to prosper. Thus, patriotism is a support for its founding principles and the people who champion them. Patriotism must be fierce in its defense of democracy, relentless in its pursuit of equity, and transparent in its recognition of past and present failings. 

To be an American now is to accept that democracy is not guaranteed and requires near-constant vigilance. When Americans treat democracy as self-sustaining, they forget that it is, in fact, perishable. Flawed as they were, the Founders understood this. “A republic, if you can keep it,” Benjamin Franklin famously said (Franklin). Patriotism is not just about the founding and ideals, but the daily effort of tending to them. 

Moreover, patriotism requires an open mind. We live in a time of division, but we cannot heal our country unless we are willing to hear each other out. I also read about our history, not just the parts we are proud of, but also the uncomfortable parts, because patriots are truth-seekers. Patriotism is the courage to hold our leaders accountable, and the humility to hold ourselves to the same standard. 

This is a daily commitment and a lifelong one, too. The philosopher Edmund Burke once described society as a partnership “between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born” (Burke). I am not simply a beneficiary of the nation’s legacy, but also an active contributor to its continuity. I make daily choices in how I treat others, speak up, and contribute to something bigger than myself. A nation is only as strong as its people, and service is one of the highest forms of love for a country. Thus, to be patriotic in the 21st century is to vote when it matters least, to protest when it costs the most, and to plant seeds in a garden whose blossoms one may never see. 

What we do now is as consequential as what was done in 1776. We are the sons and daughters of liberty. We are the minutemen. We are the heirs of the revolution. So let the stars in our flag not just shine over the powerful, but guide the weary, shelter the oppressed, and honor the rebel heart in all of us. And so, I keep fighting for my country. Because that is what it means to be a patriot. And that is what it means to be American.

Works Cited 

Baldwin, James. Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son. Dial Press, 1961. 

Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Penguin Classics, 2004. Originally published 1790. 

Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” 5 July 1852. The Frederick Douglass Papers, edited by John W. Blassingame, Yale University Press, 1982. 

Franklin, Benjamin. Notes of the Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, reported by James McHenry. The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, 

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_0717.asp. Accessed 12 May 2025. Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage, 1993.