If we understand that anarchism means abolishing authority, hierarchy, privilege, and coercion from human relations, and "patriots" talk condemn anarchism as being "anti-American", does that mean that being "pro-American" means supporting authority, hierarchy, privilege, and coercion?
The confusion arises around the false idea of "Americanism" -- what does it mean to be an American? Does it mean valuing freedom and democracy, or privilege and property? Is it for us, the American people, to decide what it means, or do we trust the government to decide for us?
I do not confuse the US government with the American country -- that is, with the community -- these are two very different things. Governments everywhere seek to weld themselves to the country -- to say, in effect, that the government IS the country.
This usurpation provides governments with enormous clout that is decidedly undeserved -- by dressing themselves in the traditions and ideals of a country, a government is able to deflect criticism as saying that a criticism of the government is a criticism of the country.
This is a lie! Any government seeks only one thing: absolute obedience -- unquestioning submission to the authority of those who rule. Anything that fosters disobedience to the ultimate authority of the government is seen as seditious -- criminal -- worthy of punishment.
However, it is foolish and dangerous to believe that the government is always right -- this is a fascist idea. The government is very often very wrong -- it isn't wrong to question and challenge and vigorously oppose the dictates of a government; particularly when a government is pursuing an evil policy that is contrary to the interests of a country.
But governments take any challenge to their authority as a threat, and use patriotrism -- love of country -- to defend themselves from attack and to retaliate.
A true patriot does not blindly follow the government -- that person is a fool. The true patriot -- the true lover of a country -- defends what the country, and not the government, stands for.
For example, Woodrow Wilson was extremely eager to get the US into World War I; however, the vast majority of the radical populace, including the socialists (under Eugene Debs), the anarchists, and others spoke out vigorously against the war -- seeing it as a rich man's war fought by poor men (as are all wars). The radicals fought the draft tooth and nail, urging citizens to evade it.
The US government then turned its full power on these "traitors" with the Espionage and the Sedition Acts, which made it criminal to speak out against the government policy. Anti-war protestors were beaten, brutalized, and killed for daring to oppose government policy -- free speech was effectively nullified during this period (and, of course, the laws remain on the books).
And because of this, protest was crushed, Woodrow Wilson got his Great War, and thousands of Americans were killed (and a handful of tycoons made a fortune). And for what? To have its war, the US government crushed democracy -- is democracy a convenience, a privilege the government affords us in time of peace, and which it swiftly revokes in time of war? Or is it our birthright as Americans, as human beings?
So we return to the idea -- what does it mean to be an American? Does it mean to value democracy as a realizable ideal? Does it mean to resist tyranny?
For example, how does the reality that the US government supports fascist regimes around the world -- lending military and economic aid to ruthless, brutal regimes -- play in with the democratic ideal we hear invoked endlessly by those who hold power?
Either America stands for democracy, or it opposes it -- the question is not whether the US government does -- its record on this matter is very clear -- the question is whether the American people -- who comprise the country -- stand for democracy or oppose it.
Is it "anti-American" to seek the abolition of funds to fascist regimes -- is it "anti-American" to go against US government policy on this matter? The fanatic would agree -- they would say that they support their country, right or wrong.
But really they're supporting their government, right or wrong -- this blind faith extended to those in power is deeply authoritarian and downright stupid.
The US government KNOWS the American people -- the country -- doesn't support funding of fascist regimes. That's why so much of it occurs quietly, and why the US government, through the CIA, relies so much on covert -- that is, secret -- action. Secrecy is used only when what is being attempted goes against the ideas of democracy.
If an idea cannot withstand scrutiny, it is obviously an idea contrary to the interests of democracy.
Only that which is indefensible requires secrecy to defend it -- which amounts to censorship in the public sector. The US government tirelessly invokes national security as the excuse for the secrecy it uses to thwart democracy.
But there is nothing more destructive of national security than secrecy -- than the manipulation and distortion and outright lies perpetrated by the ruling elite on the majority of the populace.
Secrecy prevents the American people from knowing what the US government is doing in THEIR name -- how the government is abusing the country for the benefit of capitalistic elites.
It is testimony to the strength of the democratic ideal that the US government works so hard to thwart, hinder, and undermine it whenever it can. If the American people honestly did support the fascist regimes the government props up, the government wouldn't need to rely on so much secrecy to push this policy.
Love of country and love of government are two very different ideas, although people confuse the two. The American people love democracy -- the US government loves power.
The government and the country are NOT synonymous, and never have been.
The idea of Americanism is offensive -- the idea that America stands for a particular set of ideas held by those in power, versus the idea of democracy. By the standards of the jingoist, I am suspect because I stand opposed to the US government. To that fool, I am an an anarchist, a commie, a fanatic, an extremist.
But my complaint with the US government is that it is an obstacle to true democracy -- moreover, that it actively kills democracy around the world through money and guns. All anarchists are passionate direct democrats -- we want no one deciding FOR us what we can and cannot do. You can see why the US government dislikes us so much -- I mean, when enough people are anarchists, government is untenable!
Patriotism, in the authoritarian sense, requires the quelling of dissent; it requires the negation of discussion and the blind obedience to authority -- to the government. It is for this reason that those who think they are "all-American" are really just fascists -- they are mirror images of the masses of everyday Germans who hailed Hitler and the Nazi Party.
It is these people who beat and kill protestors and radicals, people who are challenging the government as being untrue to the ideals of the country. It is these goons who say that they are loyal to the flag of the United States -- when what they SHOULD be loyal to is the ideal of democracy.
But they aren't. They think that the US government stands for democracy -- they confuse the government with the country, the reality with the ideal. They see, wrongly, them as synonymous -- that everything the government does MUST further democracy, freedom, and justice.
So to the fool, if the US government is bombing children in Vietnam, they obviously deserve it. Or when the US government overthrows a democratic election and assassinates foreign leaders, they obviously had it coming. In fact, every atrocity committed by the US government must, of course, further democracy, freedom, and justice. The US government is inherently democratic, free, and just.
Or is it? Where do mass murders, assassinations, coups, and propaganda campaigns fit in with the ideas of democracy, freedom, and justice? In truth, they are more akin to tyranny, slavery, and injustice! If being an American means being a person who values democracy, freedom, and justice, then it is anti-American to support covert actions against foreign (and domestic) peoples, anti-American to support a standing army deployed and used around the world, anti-American to defend secret police (FBI, CIA, NSA, SS, DIA, BATF), anti-American to use secrecy and censorship to protect wrongdoing by the government, anti-American to possess a huge nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons arsenal, anti-American to use things like satellites and the Hubble telescope to spy on other countries.
If these things are somehow conducive with the American people's conception of what it means to be American, then what it means to be American must have precious little to do with democracy, freedom, and justice, and everything to do with tyranny, slavery, and injustice.
What it means to be an American is up to the American people themselves to decide -- NOT the US government. This is the basis of self-determination, or democracy -- the inalienable right of a people to decide for themselves who they are, rather than have it imposed upon them by an elite.
The US government says that the American people are: 1) propertarian; 2) anti-communist. If that is the case, then why does the US government work so hard to attack Americans who oppose property and support true communism? If there weren't significant support for these ideas, the government wouldn't have had to attack them. For example, right after WWII, New York City briefly experimented with proportional representation -- and two communists were voted into City Council. This proportional representation was never again tried. If people could vote in communists, proportional representation must be a bad idea -- or so the government would have you believe!
Where do you think it says, "from each according to his ability, from each according to his need"? Most Americans accept this statement, and think it's somewhere in the Constitution -- but anyone looking there will not find it! It was written by Karl Marx!
I don't think the American people are bad; conversely, I think, like all people, they are, in aggregate, quite good. It is their governments which are bad; the governments which usurp love of country as love of government in order to attack those who rightly question its policies.
Governments like to link their fate with that of the country -- to say that, without the US government, the American people would simply fade into oblivion. But this is yet another lie perpetrated by those in power, for their benefit.
Humanity created government; it is a tool that, ideally, is supposed to serve the interests of all people -- government did not create humanity, no matter how much authoritarians would like to believe it did!
Of course, the fact that government was created by a powerful minority as a way of protecting themselves from a weak majority is the real purpose for government. The myth of government as country was perpetuated by that powerful minority to get the weak majority to accept this unjust state of affairs!
I guarantee that the American people will continue in the absence of the US government -- the government needs the people, the people do not need the government, just as capitalists need workers, workers do not need capitalists. People are not dependent on governments for survival -- people are dependent on people for survival -- that is, community. But community and government are not synonymous.
This is the unspoken truth of any society. It is this truth that anarchists everywhere seek to communicate.