To be a Paine patriot

From the LAT

Paine believed, the chief measure of Americans' patriotism was their willingness to sacrifice in proportion to their means and abilities. A patriot would forgo maximizing profits — even forgo profits altogether — if they came at the expense of the soldiery, the poor or the national debt. Paine was adamant that propertied men should contribute a fair share of their wealth to keep the government solvent. "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it," he wrote in 1777. It was vital to counter the imminent danger that Americans might lose faith in one another.

Is it hard to remember that patriotism used to mean putting a collective good before private profit? That it meant refusing to leave the burden to those who served in arms, or to other states or to those who were most defenseless in hard times?

Today, some Americans call themselves patriots even as they offer a paltry unity, declining a connection with any they deem unqualified as "real Americans." Some spread disinformation to divide the nation, believing that their partisan purposes outweigh the goal of solving our country's actual, substantial problems. With America at war, private interests again grow wealthy on the taxpayers' dime. And, while many Americans are without jobs, homes or health insurance, the richest are excused the burdens of even trivial patriotic sacrifice.

Paine's "Crisis" papers echoed the vision of 1776, urging Americans to make the sustained commitment called patriotism. "I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel.... Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it."

Paine's generation rose to that challenge. Will ours?