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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about patriotism: what it means, who defines it, and how it survives moments like the one we are living through.
When I sat down with Senator Ruben Gallego, that question was at the heart of our conversation. Gallego is a US Marine combat veteran, the son of immigrants, and the first in his family to graduate from college. He grew up on the South Side of Chicago—my hometown—and like me, he’s been watching what’s happening there with a mix of sorrow and resolve.
His family still lives in the city. His nieces and nephews ride the L to school. “They’re afraid,” he told me. “Their parents are afraid. The Supreme Court has allowed racial profiling to happen in a city that’s part of Latino history and culture. Why are we pulling in the National Guard? This isn’t about safety. It’s about a show of power.”
So this is not an abstraction for Ruben Gallego (and, frankly, I can’t see how it could be an abstraction for anyone). Gallego talked about what happens when the abusive display of government power—think ICE agents snatching mothers from their children, or falsely detaining US citizens because of the color of their skin—meets real lives. Kids too scared to walk outside. Neighbors turning against each other. The dangerous normalization of soldiers on American streets. “It has an ick factor,” he said plainly. “It’s anti-American.”
And yet when I asked him if all this made him feel less patriotic, Senator Gallego didn’t hesitate.
“You don’t stop loving your country,” he said. “I’m disappointed they’re using the military this way. But I’m worried more about what it does to us — that we’re turning the last institution people trust, the military, into a political weapon.”
Gallego—a veteran of urban combat and the occupation of cities in Iraq—knows what that looks like. He’s seen what happens when young soldiers, barely out of high school, are ordered to do something they shouldn’t—and when civilians, pushed too far, push back. “It’s always the same story,” he said. “Whenever leaders act above their authority, when they break the social contract with citizens, things go bad. They don’t have to—but they do.”
And still, despite all that, Ruben Gallego believes our country can right itself. “Real leaders,” he said, “don’t create problems so they can solve them later. They face the ones that already exist.”
It’s a simple sentence, but it felt profound to me, especially coming from someone who’s seen both the best and worst of America, in war and in politics.
For me, this conversation, like so many I’ve had recently about Chicago, hit home. I was born there. I know those neighborhoods. I know the people he’s talking about. And like Gallego, I still believe they’re stronger than the fear being sown among them. I know it; I’ve seen it. (Look for our full report on Chicago, out next Tuesday.)
Watch our full interview above, and let me know what you think: Will Trump succeed in changing the nature and norms of the American democracy?
If you value this work, subscribe to the YouTube channel and share this story. Because, as Senator Gallego reminded me, you don’t stop loving your country — you fight for it.
— Terry