A different understanding of American patriotism | Deval Patrick

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2022

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

American democracy cannot be great until it is good, says lawyer, Harvard professor and former governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick. A self-identified patriot, Patrick stands behind the fundamental values and civic ideals that he believes make the US unique -- and outlines how the country has strayed from those same edicts. Calling for a collective patriotism free from cynicism and fatalism, Patrick underlines the urgency to reset national aspirations in order to save democracy.

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0:00.0	You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hugh. American democracy is in peril,
0:10.1	warns Deval Patrick, the former governor of Massachusetts. He's not alone in this deep concern about the country's civic fabric.
0:18.2	In his 2021 talk from TEDx Berkshires, Patrick explains why we should be so concerned
0:24.2	and what it's going to take going forward to maintain our democratic pillars.
0:31.9	Listen, I'm worried about our democracy. Nowadays, we have leaders who use division itself as a political
0:40.3	tool. They downplay or even encourage in some cases a deadly assault to overturn an election,
0:48.3	and a bunch of them are working really hard to make it harder to vote. The retreat from these processes of democracy,
0:58.3	no ballot access or legislative debate, judicial review,
1:03.0	they are worrisome enough.
1:05.4	But what's even more concerning to me
1:07.8	is the retreat from the purposes of democracy. These old-fashioned notions of
1:15.6	government of, by, and for the people, the rule of law as superior to the rule of anyone personality,
1:26.7	liberty and justice for all.
1:31.1	COVID made it harder to overlook deep disparities among us in health and wealth and education
1:38.1	and deep unfairness in too much of our policing,
1:42.3	leaving a lot of Americans questioning whether our national commitment
1:45.8	to social and economic justice is real. For some time now, in the words of one friend of
1:52.9	mine, the self-evident truth that all people deserve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
1:59.8	seems a long way from settled in the American mind.
2:05.2	So to me, American democracy, the supposed model of the form,
2:11.5	is up for grabs.
2:13.8	I'm worried not just as a lawyer or a former public official, but also and mainly as a patriot.
	...

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