Interview on The True Patriot (WTOP Radio, DC)

Author Eric Liu discusses American patriotism and his new book, "The True Patriot," with WTOP Radio in Washington, DC. Please find the transcript below, and audio of the interview linked as an attachment at the bottom of the page. Visit WTOP.com for more news.

WTOP: Three names for you now: John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. Of those three, who would you say is a patriot? Well many people might say all three are patriots, running for President, but surveys show the word “patriot” is most frequently connected with McCain and other Republicans. A new book is trying to change our definition of patriotism: it is called The True Patriot, co-written by Eric Liu, who used to write speeches for President Clinton, and Liu talked with me a little earlier about this:

ERIC LIU: One of the things that’s remarkable about American politics today is that for too many of us, the word “patriot” conjures up somebody who is a conservative. And while plenty of conservatives are patriotic, and are good patriots, their side doesn’t get to own the word.

WTOP: Is the word “patriot” a dirty word for people on the left?

ERIC LIU: The idea of a patriot is something that completely ought to be non-partisan, but I think you’re right. There are plenty of folks on the left who are proud to be American, who love their country, and are unabashed about saying so; but there are also some who over the last four decades have developed kind of an arm’s length relationship to the idea of patriotism. What progressives have to do is really learn to speak again an affirmative language of patriotism that really grounds the idea back in original values. If you unpack the idea of patriotism to mean country above self, you end up with a set of moral values and principles like stewardship, contribution before consumption, sharing of sacrifice, mutual obligation: ideas that are inherently progressive. Unpacking patriotism doesn’t lead you to “every man for himself,” or “let the market sort things out,” or other principles that are so much part of movement conservatism.

WTOP: But can we point the finger at people who are more conservative republicans, because all they’re doing, at least the political gladiators among them, all they’re doing is trying to win elections, and if that’s one way to do it, if people on the left aren’t going to pick up the patriotism mantle, it’s an easy win for Republicans, isn’t it?

ERIC LIU: Well, progressives have to learn to get over their arm’s-length relationship with patriotism. Until progressives can unabashedly and affirmatively say, “I love this country, and I love this country not only because it’s my right to protest here and my right to dissent, but I love this country because there is no other country on earth dedicated to an idealistic proposition, dedicated to the idea of equal opportunity and a fair shot. And this country represents and embodies something that is good for the world.” Until progressives can say that with conviction, we’re not going to earn the lasting, durable trust of a majority of Americans, and we will lose elections.

WTOP: How does your book propose that, let’s say, all sides come together around the idea of being a patriot without attacking each other or just not coming to an understanding?

ERIC LIU: You know, one of things, Dmitri, that’s been interesting about the reception we’ve had to The True Patriot is that there have been a lot of Republicans who have been reading this text and telling us, “Thank you!” Thank you for putting the idea of patriotism not in the silly symbolic issues, but in language of moral values and principles, like sharing of sacrifice, ideas and values that don’t belong to either party, and indeed really are at the heart of any profound faith tradition that exists, not only in American life, but in the world. And I think if you take these values seriously, you’re able to find a zone where people of both parties can come together and say, “You know what! This is the essence of true patriotism: whether we are looking out for the next generation, whether we have a sense of obligation and responsibility, not just to ourselves but to those who are going to come after us.” And you can, I think, do a good deal of at least clearing away the silliness of our current politics if you start with that language of principle first. It’s on us to change the tone of the debate and to talk about patriotism, not as a club, not as a weapon, not as some tactical dart that you throw at the other side, but as something that we are all in it together, and what does that mean, and how are we going to find some common ground to move forward on.

WTOP: Well it does seem that it is a logical base to start from, that you’ve got to love this place regardless of any injustices that you see, any changes in policy you’d like to see somewhere down the road: it seems like a defeatist way to look at it, if you distance yourself from the word, or even suggest that you’re against America in some way.

ERIC LIU: The reason why we wrote this book, The True Patriot, is that when we looked at all the things that seem to be fake and wrong and irrelevant about national politics today, we began to realize that so much of what’s wrong with American politics derives from this very powerful, dominant frame that we have that says there is a narrow negative conception of freedom that we should all embrace: freedom from taxation, freedom from regulation, freedom from responsibility to others, freedom from obligations to look out for something bigger than yourself. And that narrow negative conception of freedom is deeply rooted in the American story. And we realize that the only thing that is going to help you uproot and trump that narrow selfish conception of freedom is an appeal to patriotism, and a re-grounding of patriotism in what we’re all going to do together, rather than some justification for naked selfishness.

WTOP: That’s Eric Liu, co-author of the new book, The True Patriot. Eric will to be talking about his book tomorrow evening at six at the New America Foundation that’s on Connecticut Avenue in DC.

Audio of the interview attached below.