Patriotism has reasons upon which it rests; it is not a mere instinctive reaction, nor yet simply a habit.[66] Thought exists, and men think. Graham Wallas says that there is an impulse to think. “This independent action of Intelligence is, I believe, in its simplest forms as ‘natural’ to us, as much due to inherited disposition, as is the working of anyone of the usual list of instincts.”[67] There is a rationale of patriotism. Patriotism may be unreasoned, but is not for that necessarily unreasonable. It may coincide with the passions of the masses, but may nevertheless rest on logical grounds, and on ideals. It may be the object of conscious choice. The treatment of the immigrant shows that we have a belief that patriotism can be chosen by the individual. We insist on the loyalty of the German-American, which being interpreted means that we are demanding loyalty to a country of choice rather than to the country of birth. And for those born Americans, we adopt the injunction of Tennyson,
“Love thou thy land, with love far-brought
From out the storied Past, and used
Within the Present, but transfused
Thro’ future time by power of thought.”[68]
The fact that men do think and have ideals is one of the very reasons why patriotism is now so strong.
What are the reasons urged why one should be patriotic? One belief is that one owes his earthly salvation to his country. It is a belief that expresses on the level of consciousness the impulse to seek safety and help. Men believe that the country is the protector in this present world of all the values of life. It is the feeling that Spencer expressed when he apostrophized the state in the following language: “I supposed you were to act the part of an Argus-eyed and Briareus-armed guardian, ever watching over my interests, ever ready to step in and defend them; so that whether sleeping or waking, absorbed in business or immersed in pleasure, I might have the gratifying consciousness of being carefully shielded from injury.”[69] Webster appealed to the same feeling in his reply to Hayne: “It is to that Union we owe our safety at home, and our consideration and dignity abroad.... It has been to us all a copious fountain of national, social, personal happiness.”[70] And the patriot feels that for the protection that he has received he must show his gratitude. In return for the blessings of the country, he will offer up the sacrifice of patriotism. If one asks the plain man why he is patriotic, why he thinks, for instance, that he ought to enlist, the answer that is often made is that, “The country has done a lot for me, and now she needs me. I am going to do what I can for my country.”
The country affords protection within the group that it organizes. And for this reason, the citizens will support the state. They feel that government is a good thing; it guarantees justice and fair play. And patriotism with them will grow out of that feeling. It will, of course, be a give and take affair. It will not be selfless, altruistic devotion. Patriotism of this kind demands that justice be consistently dispensed. Most men will not long serve a state that treats them unfairly. No patriotism will survive flagrant and continued injustice. And, in truth, why should it? Green states the answer: “If the authority of any government—its claim on our obedience—is held to be derived not from an original covenant, or from any covenant, but from the function which it serves in maintaining those conditions of freedom which are conditions of the moral life, then no act of the people in revocation of a prior act need be reckoned necessary to justify its dissolution. If it ceases to serve this function, it loses its claim on our obedience.”[71]
A country is a peace unit. And men will welcome it as such, for there is in men an impulse to peace. The state in modern times arose in part as a keeper of the peace. The church was once the power that policed Europe, and when that was so, men gave the church their supreme allegiance. But the time came when the fear of God was no longer a sufficient power to keep men in order, so it became necessary for some other agency than the church to take up the task. Semi-official bodies arose whose business it was to preserve peace, but they passed away. There was then no power to keep the lawless forces in check. The nobles of feudalism fought with one another, and were petty and irresponsible tyrants over their people. Their regime became unbearable. Consequently the people united with the kings, and a central power was established that stopped the wars of the nobles and cities, and gave peace.
The state within its boundaries is the preserver of law and order. And the discharge of that function recommends the state to its citizens. Hobbes[72] exalted the state because of his desire for order. The England of his day was torn by civil war. Even J. S. Mill[73] expressed some sympathy with speculative Toryism, as for instance it appeared in Wordsworth, because what it meant in such a case, Mill said, was the proposition that man ought to be governed. Patriotic eloquence takes account of the benefit that the state affords as the preserver of the peace. Josiah Quincy, Jr., called for patriotic loyalty to country on the ground that in it “Each individual, of whatever condition, has the consciousness of living under known laws, which secure equal rights, and guarantee to each whatever portion of the goods of life, be it great or small, chance or talent or industry may have bestowed.”[74]
The civilized life itself at present depends upon the state. The word civilization is derived from a stem meaning “state.” Civilization is that which is possible to men in states, that is, where peace, law, and order prevail. The state has been a tremendous gain because it has been a larger integration of men, a larger unit of coöperation. Just that is its primary function,—to make it possible for men to live together. And without the exercise of that function by the state, we should be likely to be plunged back again into the chaos of petty warring factions. Now patriotism gets connected with this desire that government be preserved. The patriot is very apt to feel that if his country should be destroyed, it would be a blow at the very foundations of all government and safety. He connects civilization with his own state, and feels that, “... they who assail the idea, the ideal, of the country itself, assail all civilized life and, so far forth, are suicides as well as traitors.”[75]
But the state does not stop with the bare maintenance of law and order. It does other things which are believed to be for the general welfare. It looks out for education, transportation, sanitation, the care of the infirm, and so forth; it works for better social, industrial, and class conditions. The state, in other words, is felt to have a right to do all those things which will promote the welfare of mankind. Mill said, “... it is not admissible that the protection of persons and that of property are the sole purposes of government. The ends of government are as comprehensive as those of the social union.”[76] And Aristotle[77] intimated that the state should not only make bare existence possible, but should promote the good life.
The result has been that men have taken an attitude toward the state very much like the attitude that they have taken toward God. To many people the state has become God. They feel that all the values of life depend upon it, as Plato[78] felt that all the values of life depended upon the state that he described. That does not mean that they go directly to the state for everything that they want; they do not do that with God. They simply expect the state somehow to guarantee these values, and to supply them only as a last resort. But they will go to it for everything that they want and which they can secure in no other way. In the following quotation, the state is described in terms that might almost refer to Providence: “No American boy or girl ... lived a day, even, at the beginning of his life, when he was not protected by the law of the United-States. From that moment the United-States watched over him in ways perhaps which he never thought of. Perhaps the school in which these words are read would not have existed except for the United-States laws with regard to education. Very likely the bread and butter which the boy had for breakfast could never have existed but that the country called the United-States had made laws and carried on government in such ways that the grain could be raised, that the cattle could be fed, and the butter made. It is in a thousand such ways as this that the country in which we live takes care of us in every hour of our lives.... The tie which binds you and me to the country which takes care of us is a tie as real and it involves duties as distinct as the ties which bind a boy to his mother to whom he owes his life and who has always taken care of him.”[79] What happens when a country towards which men have felt in this way, calls for the allegiance of its citizens? Their loyalty will be accorded it in the same measure as the completeness with which they have trusted to it.