Many "patriotic" brands today are little more than the promotion of guns, beer, and boobs. Proper Patriot seeks to be more than that (and more wholesome). We see patriotism being much greater than cheap thrills and lustful exploits. Let's dive into the true meaning of patriotism and it's importance today!

The historical definition of patriotism is a group’s loyalty toward their members and the land they share in living. Social psychologists emphasize patriotism’s main characteristics as loyalty, love, and an individual’s desire to be a part of a community.

Patriotism consists of 4 main components:

1. A special affection towards your country,
2. Defining yourself through your country,
3. Caring about your country's welfare, and
4. Sacrificing for your country's welfare.

A Love for Your Country

"I fell in love with my country - its rivers, prairies, forests, mountains, cities and people. No one can take my love of country away from me! I felt then, as I do now, it's a rich, fertile, beautiful land, capable of satisfying all the needs of its people. It could be a paradise on earth if it belonged to the people, not to a small owning class." ~ Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

America is our beautiful home; why would we not love it? However, loving our country does not mean always condoning what our government does (usually quite the opposite). Loving "our country" means the American people, land, history, and traditions.

Love for our country means valuing its uniqueness and striving to be a fruitful patriot of labor and virtue. 

Identifying with Your Country

To be an American patriot, you must see yourself as an American. It seems simple enough. However, many people today identify with a different association before “American.” Whether it's their political beliefs, racial identity, sexual identity, or occupation, people have largely lost their allegiance to being American as a vital element of their identity. We have become polarized and deracinated from the American heritage of our ancestors.

“Proud to be an American” now seems almost controversial to say. There has been an attempt to vilify our country’s history as somehow exceedingly evil, racist, sexist, or whatever. The notion of unceasing progress toward an enlightened utopia of social justice is naive at best and tyrannical at worst. America has a rich history of cultural regions we should not so quickly throw aside as reprehensibly outdated. These regional cultures have given America a beautiful tapestry of dialects and traditions, with a national identity to unite them.

Caring About Your Country's Welfare

You'd think this one is also obvious, but today our culture promotes a selfish pursuit of personal gain and indulgence rather than our country’s welfare and cohesion. The welfare of America is primarily the welfare of its people, meaning the prosperity, safety, and fellowship of American families. Tragically, these all trend toward decline as wages lower, crime rises, and polarization deepens.

We as patriots must (legally) hold our government responsible and advocate for the restoration of America’s welfare. Perhaps this means even running for a governmental office ourselves, even at the local level.

Sacrificing for Your Country

The most evident example of this is military service for our country. Beyond that, we can sacrifice our time and energy in volunteering or working for community first-responders.

Additionally, we sacrifice for our country by simply providing skills or goods that are essential to the well-being of our people. Whether that is trade work of building or fixing things or agricultural labor of raising animals or produce. Sacrificing for our country can take many forms but ultimately means putting aside our selfishness to serve America!

We hope this was helpful in understanding Proper Patriotism!!

Please do try out some of the brand new coffee launched by Proper Patriot, and let us know what you think!

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Photo credit: Getty/puhimec