Melinda Fulton

Yet another column from a regular, everyday American. This one is from Melinda Fulton concerning the term "patriot."

I don’t care how many flags you fly off your truck. I don’t care how many hats you own, how many bumper stickers you’ve slapped on your tailgate, or how loud you sing the anthem at the ballgame.

Your “patriotism” means nothing when you cheer for a dictator.

Patriotism isn’t a costume. It isn’t merch. You can’t buy it at a rally booth for $45 and wear it like armor against every hard question. Real love of country is loyalty to an idea that’s bigger than any one man: no one is above the law, power answers to the people, and nobody gets a crown in America. Not ever.

You want to talk about the founders? They fought a war so this country would never have to bow to a king again. They wrote a Constitution full of checks and balances because they understood something you seem to have forgotten. Power corrupts, and anyone who demands total loyalty doesn’t deserve any.

So when you defend a leader who mocks the courts, attacks the free press, treats elections as legitimate only when he wins, and wants punishment for anyone who disagrees with him, don’t call it patriotism. 

That’s surrender. You’ve traded the republic for a personality cult and wrapped it in red, white, and blue so you don’t have to look at what you’ve done.

Plenty of people in this country’s history paid for freedom with everything they had. Soldiers who never came home. Organizers who were beaten on bridges. Voters who stood in line for hours so their voices would count. Journalists who told the truth when it was dangerous. They didn’t sacrifice so you could hand it all to one man because he says what you want to hear.

The flag doesn’t belong to you because you wave it the hardest. It belongs to everyone who believes in what it’s supposed to stand for. And it was never supposed to stand for obedience.

A patriot asks questions. A patriot holds leaders accountable, especially the ones they voted for. A patriot knows that loving your country sometimes means telling it the truth, even when that’s uncomfortable.

A patriot would never cheer as the guardrails come down one by one.

What you’re doing is worship, and America was never meant to have an idol.

So keep the hats. Keep the flags. Keep the slogans. None of it changes the facts. When the moment came to choose between the Constitution and a strongman, you chose the strongman.

History has a name for people who did that, and it has never been “patriot.”

Melinda Fulton