Yeah, there's something to be said for that. At an Austin FC match last year, Gina Chavez sang the anthem. And goddammit, I teared up a bit. That's MY anthem, for MY country. It belongs to all of us. And if a fucking hispanic lesbian -- so utterly hated by half our country for no fucking good reason whatsoever -- can stand up their and sing it, and own it, because this is HER country too...then goddammit, I can own it too.
That's the hell of it. I love this country. I am a real, actual patriot. Not a performative lying piece of shit. How can you claim to be a patriot but hate half the people in this country for no good reason, be okay with sodomizing the Constitution, and support installing a monarch? Fuck them. I'm a patriot. I believe in what this country can be, that it can be better, that it is capable of moving forward. I've got generations of my family standing behind me who risked it all for this country. We literally fought as anti-fascists.
No, the fascists can't have my country. They can't have my anthem, my flag. Fuck them for daring to claim it as they betray it.