What is a Patriot in the United States of America in 2025?
There are patriots everywhere
This Fourth of July, Day of Independence, gave me pause as I pondered what is the definition of a patriot? I could easily discard the requirement of flag-waving, hate-speaking, violence-defending “freedom” lovers. I know a fake patriot when I see him or her.
None of my friends are “celebrating” anything this holiday weekend. Progressives recognize the fascist coup wiping away our democratic republic right before our eyes this summer. We’re asking ourselves “What can we do to stop this?” “Is violence inevitable, like a Revolutionary War or Civil War?” In these dark days, the future appears bleak, and the way forward is anything but clear.
And then I realized, a patriot is someone imagining a future beyond our current fears and intimidations. While some Americans are pulling up the bedcovers in despair, and others are retrenching into their own nightmares of doom, patriots are warriors for truth and justice, envisioning a better, brighter future for all of us. They carry the weight of responsibility to carve out the path forward.
Make no mistake, a patriot isn’t a naïve dreamer but someone totally engaged and invested in the world around them. While imagining what the future could be, patriots are capable of holding on to both optimism and somber realism. I suspect the delegates to the Second Continental Congress in 1776 carried these same conflicting but very necessary qualities.[1] Thinking about the future, a patriot seizes the opportunity as it unfolds to cultivate the renewal of our broken nation, whether or not they will live to see the result.
“Those who plant trees, knowing that only others will enjoy the shade, are public benefactors.” [2]
Fortunately, as I scan the horizon I see many patriots. Dr. Deborah Potter, a retired scientist who lives in Bernalillo County, drafted a resolution – “Defending Our U.S. Constitution and Separation of Powers” – which both the Bernalillo County Commission and Santa Fe County Commission adopted in June. Dona Ana County Commissioners will be considering this resolution in August. Dr. Potter reports that this resolutions project has evolved its own legs and started running!!! As of today, there are 13 states with 38 total resolutions that are in planning, submitted, sponsored by local jurisdiction, or passed: NM (3), AZ (2), WA(2), NJ(2), NC, MA (7), CA(10), MN(1), IA, GA, PA(3), CO(1), NY(4). A new goal is to have resolutions in every state in the nation. Progressive Democrats of America – Central New Mexico was pleased to support Dr. Potter’s resolution. One person with determination and fire in the belly can really make a difference.
Many of our New Mexico elected leaders are patriots. A shout out to three – NM Attorney General Raúl Torrez who has filed multiple lawsuits against the Trump Administration;[3] NM House of Representatives Speaker Javier Martínez who lives in Albuquerque but is a champion for all New Mexicans;[4] and U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (CD-1) who is a fierce advocate in Congress.[5] Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison recently said, “we must use all the tools in the toolbox to stop this fascist regime, including the courts, our allies in Congress, mass protests and marches, art, music, everything. But only a community in radical solidarity will lead to a successful transformation.” (paraphrasing)
Everywhere I turn, I see patriots – people who know the nitty gritty (and many times tedious) work involved to build that future we are imagining. N.M. Representative Eleanor Chavez comes to mind. A long-time labor union organizer, she is on the frontline protecting immigrant rights and advocating for Palestinian human rights. Eleanor recommended the Organizing for Power training[6] that a number of us in PDA-CNM participated in this Spring so that we could level up our skills from merely mobilizing people to actually organizing and centering the community in building the future together.
Anthony Flaccavento, founder of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative,[7] also comes to mind because he understands the critical linkage between all of our communities and how our political parties have divided us to the detriment of everyone. Anthony doesn’t consider the “other” as different or less; he wants us to see the common struggle and challenges that we all face and work together to heal those divisions. Anthony wrote a letter to DNC Chair Ken Martin[8] this Spring hoping to motivate the Democratic Party to heal the rural-urban divide. His letter was signed by many Democratic leaders across the country, including NM Speaker Javier Martinez.
What qualities make a patriot in 2025?
As described above, a patriot is a visionary, a person who builds community by connecting the best in each of us. A patriot’s actions are centered from the heart and spirit, while recognizing the necessity of thinking strategically and smartly. A patriot need not believe themselves to be a leader but more importantly, has the courage to take initiative and build community as a role model. A patriot may get discouraged but never gives up, even if the goal is so far into a future that he/she may never see. Come to think of it, the patriot I’ve described in 2025 sounds an awful lot like the patriots that probably saddled up to make their way to Philadelphia in 1776.
[2] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2020/04/29/tree-shade/
[3] https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/
[4] Follow Speaker Martinez on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/javierfornm/
[5] Actually, the entire New Mexico Congressional delegation has been strong, not perfect, in standing up for New Mexicans.
[6] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qYfUw1BaT0qcSe5b3zgnfaf4WyIxnybXhzd5buLQawA/edit?tab=t.0
[7] https://ruralurbanbridge.org/
I was raised to appreciate the Declaration of Independence and to recognize the US Constitution as a roadmap for managing our progress towards that "more Perfect Union." During "normal" times, we disagree with each other a lot about what constitutes perfection, but up to the present time, we've agreed on the basics. Widespread rejection of "DEI," fostered by deliberate misrepresentations of what it's intended to do, are indicative of a fundamental rejection of the life force of Democracy: our essential core value as human persons.
Democracies cannot work if we do not power them. We are all supposed to be helping with navigating toward that more perfect union that draws the best from every one of us. If we only "turn to the right (or to the left)" we'll not get anywhere! Democracy does not allow us to "take our marbles and go home." We must (in Franklin's words) "all hang together or we shall all hang separately."
A Patriot, as I understand it, is committed to keeping us on track toward that more perfect union, or at least to raising an alarm when we're headed in the wrong direction. Our nation can be no stronger than the people in it. All the people.