And now, does the presence of the instinct of pugnacity compel at once an unfavorable verdict on patriotism? There is no doubt that pugnacity may lead to what is undesirable; it does become “dark butchery without a soul.” Is patriotism for that to be condemned? In answer to this two things may be said. To begin with, militancy may be a good, and can no more be condemned in the abstract than can pacifism. There is no ground for saying that pacifism is a virtue in itself. One might be pacifistic simply because he did not care about his fellow men, or simply because he was afraid to fight. Nonresistance is indeed under some conditions a good, and so is the impulse of pugnacity. Totally devoid of it, neither the individual nor the nation can live in other than pusillanimous cowardice; their ideals will not be much, and from them shall be taken even the little that they have. In the second place, patriotism does not issue exclusively in war. It has already been shown that it has a positive character of attachment, and may develop without reference to war, but wholly with reference to the pursuits of peace.
The analysis of the impulses of patriotism has emphasized the truth of a proposition that was stated at the beginning; patriotism is a complex phenomenon. It is, as it actually appears, composed of a wide variety of impulses, which appear in shifting combinations, and show themselves now in one person and time and now in another.
The conclusion may also be drawn that there has been found here no ground for passing a final verdict either favorable or unfavorable upon patriotism. There has been found in the instinctive basis of patriotism an element which gives it its tremendous power, but that result does not answer the question regarding the moral worth of patriotism. Instincts are just tendencies that taken simply as instincts have no moral character at all. Their moral worth depends upon the way in which they are used. Consequently, before one can estimate the worth of patriotism, he must see how these impulses are used in it.
The impulses themselves are not patriotism. They form raw material for and give character to it, but they themselves are not patriotism. They serve equally well as raw material for other human interests far removed from this one. Instincts alone are unorganized, and are capable of being shaped into an indefinite number of meanings. The further question that will ultimately have to be answered is that concerning what the organizing factor is that can ever give to any combination of impulses the meaning,—patriotism. That investigation will next be entered upon.
PART II
THE HABITUATION OF PATRIOTISM
CHAPTER III
The Deliberate Habituation
One way by which the impulses and dispositions of human character are amalgamated in patriotism is by habituation. The habits of patriotism are just as powerful and important as the impulses. The impulses, in fact, are molded into habits, and are profoundly modified by the environment and regimen to which they are subjected. The habits become the masters of the impulses. Thought at this point enters into the problem, but it is not the individual’s own thought; it is the thought of the society which surrounds him. His articles of faith are habits acquired from society. “... It is through habit that the influence of intelligence has most control over the lives of the majority of civilized men.”[29] On the part of the individual, the thought is involuntary, or at least unvoluntary, and is accompanied by like action. Most of man’s beliefs are nonrational, even though he supposes that he has come to hold them by his own free and deliberate choice. Society holds tremendous power over the building of character; in large measure, it controls the material that the mind has to work on. And this control is of primary importance. “... The essential fact which has made the Great Society possible is the discovery, handed down by tradition and instruction, that Thought can be fed by deliberately collected material, and stimulated, sustained, and to a certain extent, controlled by an effort of will.”[30]
Now, the patriotic spirit, along with other dispositions, may be acquired as a habit, and the mold into which patriotism runs is notoriously with most men a matter of circumstances and habituation. Along this line, it is interesting to speculate as to what American patriotism would be if this country had never separated from England, if the thirteen colonies had not been able to form a federation, or if the South had been successful in the Civil War. The loyalty of Americans would have been totally different, but no doubt would be just as devoted as it actually is. It is a historical fact that English patriotism has modified itself to correspond to the expansion of the empire. In view of all this, one can hardly resist the conclusion that patriotism depends quite largely upon habituation and use and wont. Patriotism is a national habit; and it is a habit which even were it proved to be nothing but evil, would not be easily broken, since it is acquired from life’s earliest years onward.
“The superstitions of our early years,
E’en when we know them to be nothing more,
Lose not for that their hold upon our hearts;
Not all are free who ridicule their chains.”[31]
There are two kinds of the habituation of patriotism, deliberate and spontaneous, conscious and unconscious, direct and indirect. The more obvious of the two is that of conscious and deliberate habituation. There are agencies that are constantly being used with deliberate purpose towards the regimentation of the populace in patriotism. “Patriotism is systematically cultivated by anniversaries, pilgrimages, symbols, songs, recitations, etc.”[32] There are numerous patriotic societies, such as the Grand Army of the Republic, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Sons of Veterans, the Woman’s Relief Corps, the Daughters of the Confederacy, and others.[33]