Real Patriotism

Rupert N. Urquhart

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Published in:

This must have been printed earlier, since Rupert Urquhart died some years before this was published. Presumably it was first published in Technocracy Digest
The Northwest Technocrat, 1st quarter 1997, No. 346

Patriotism means many things to many people. While Noah Webster defines it as "love of country," or "devotion to the welfare of one's country," it has otherwise somewhat contemptuously been described as "the last refuge of the scoundrel." Certainly, more national and international chicanery is perpetrated in the name of "patriotism" than any other word in the dictionary.

Most people want to be patriotic. Most of them think they are. But the term has been bandied around so loosely by political self-seekers, propagandists and other status quo champions that its real meaning has been lost to them.

To the average person, patriotism infers loyalty to a politically-defined area and its prevailing ideological form of government within a usually larger geographical mass of land. This concept demands an almost fanatical devotion to that political realm from its residents, even though, because of a too large population within a too-small or mismanaged land area, they may be experiencing severe physical discomfort.

In the course of time, certain nations have established parliamentarian forms of political government wherein opposing parties -- only superficially different -- strive for control through the ballot. During their campaigns to induce the electorate to vote them into positions of national responsibility, candidates will stop at nothing to vilify or castigate their opponents. Then, having called their opponents national traitors, they fervidly declare their own unshakeable patriotism. This is a negative and destructive technique.

Fundamentally, patriotism is a much deeper thing. In its most profound sense, it is undivided loyalty to the physical entity of the land from which one derives their living -- not to the superimposed form of governance. This governance merits support only so long as it effectively produces and distributes vital goods and services to all citizens. When it fails to perform this basic purpose to all of society, though the means to do it are abundantly at hand, it should be discarded. It is unpatriotic to support it.

Humans being physical organisms, derive their sustenance from the earth. Our vast and intricate web of productive and distributive equipment, that provides us with food, clothing, shelter, transportation and communication, had its roots in the earth -- aided by all-important sunlight. Somewhere along the line, we've got our wires crossed. Whereas society was originally and primarily designed to serve the needs of its members, we now see this fundamental purpose being subverted to the point where its members live -- and die -- for the aggrandizement and glorification of that society. We have become enslaved to the very instrument contrived for our benefit. Our present society, far from being recognized as a means to an end, is considered as an end in itself.

We have the incongruous picture of people swearing allegiance to mere symbols of political entities that wear the guise of the nations within which they reside. Frequently, those nations, being mere outgrowths of small societies, are too small for the land therein to support the existing population, yet the same hysteria for national sovereignty is maintained. It assumes an even more ridiculous aspect, with citizens showing narrower "patriotism" toward smaller segments of a nation, such as provinces or states, municipalities, cities or even tiny villages.

Pride of development is a natural inclination and should be encouraged, but since the so-called "patriotism" is more of a political than a physical nature, it achieves no worthwhile purpose. The smaller the unit, the more dependent it is upon the facilities of the rest of the land area for its necessities, and of course this situation reaches its ultimate phase in urban centers that are totally dependent upon outside resources and their development. Accordingly, it is nonsensical to display allegiance toward the political administrations of these small political areas, for they form obstructions to the free flow of physical commodities.

Cities and towns, within limits, at least afford some degree of physical and social advantage to their residents who, for the most part, prefer community existence. Provinces, states and other subdivisions cannot claim even this distinction. A Continental concept of patriotism on a physical basis is the only one completely adequate to the needs of the people living within that area.

For the most part, our congenital and social stupidity prevents us from abandoning our attitudes of nationalism and even imperialism. Empires have arisen partly because more land was required to support growing populations at home, but more-so to bolster the weakening economic positions of financial interests. Those captains of industry, being the chief beneficiaries of the low-cost raw materials received by military and political pressure from third-world countries, control the economies and hence the future aspirations of these respective countries. Naturally, they indulge in propaganda campaigns to imbue those people with "patriotic" fervor for the continued progression and enrichment of their business empires.

North America today has the most highly integrated social mechanism and the greatest array of technological equipment for the production of goods and services that has ever existed anywhere at any time. If it were to cease operating for an extended period of time, 85% of the population would shortly perish -- irrespective of the futile manipulations of business and politics. All the ingredients are here to provide a standard of living for everyone many times higher than the present average and to ensure its maintenance for an indefinitely long time into the future.

Yet most people, including many in fairly remunerative positions, are constantly haunted by the specter of insecurity. Society has failed us. Despite our physical ability to supply all citizens with abundant shelter, food and clothing -- plus many luxuries -- our society has muffed its responsibility. None too efficient even under the scarcity conditions that for natural physical reasons prevailed when it started, our Price System society is totally incapable of coping with the abundance that our science and technology has produced. Why, then, do we persist treasonably in trying to maintain it when for many years a design of operation especially tailored to the requirements of a high-energy, technological mechanism has been available and ready for use?

Adoption of this design will once again place society in it's proper relationship. It hardly need be added that with the citizens' needs and comforts being of prime consideration, careful, scientific husbandry of the land and all natural resources will automatically result. Technocracy's program for the North American Continent is one of foremost intelligence and patriotism.