We’re coming up on our nation’s 241st birthday, so I thought to celebrate by reading the Declaration of Independence. 
Its second sentence is perhaps the most familiar to us: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The thirteen colonies, then at war with Great Britain, sent 56 delegates to the Continental Congress that formed a new nation of sovereign states — the United States of America — and voted to declare independence from Great Britain.
It is the last sentence that draws my attention: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” 
It’s hard to imagine today’s Congress taking such a bold move on behalf of our nation.
There are times when our delegates have been bold. In 1966, Vermont’s progressive Republican Senator George D. Aiken said that the United States should declare victory and bring the troops home from Vietnam. In 2001, moderate Republican Senator Jim Jeffords, upon learning that President Bush’s budget did not secure funding for special education — as was promised for his endorsement in the 2000 presidential race — declared himself an independent in a 50-50 split Senate and gave the majority to the Democrats.
If we think of Ethan Allen as a patriot in the Revolutionary War, I think of Aiken and Jeffords as contemporary patriots. I include Madeleine Kunin, seeking to be the first woman governor. 
A good citizen loves, supports, and defends her country and its interests with devotion. In the thesaurus, a good citizen is a synonym for a patriot.
In the family photo taken when I was 5 years old, my mother, father, sister and I are dressed in bathing suits, ready to go for a swim. I am wearing a plastic tube around my neck. My mother said, “that was you, Johanna, always prepared.” 
Three years later, I joined the Girl Scouts. The motto — “Be prepared” — is defined in the 1947 Girl Scout Handbook: “A Girl Scout is ready to help out wherever she is needed. Willingness to serve is not enough; you must know how to do the job well, even in an emergency.”
I promised, on my honor, to live by the Girl Scout Law: “I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.” 
Ann Ross, a long time resident of Addison County, was also a Girl Scout Leader. Before I met Ann, she had helped to establish the Children’s Art Exchange with the goal, she says, of “improving relations between our country and the former Soviet Union through an exchange of children’s art. After ten years of continual exchanges and annual visits to the USSR to deliver ours and pick up their kids’ work, just maybe the project was on some level part of improving the relationship between the two countries.”
Ann has devoted herself to causes promoting peace, joining peace marches, standing vigil Saturday mornings in Triangle park and organizing Addison County Citizens for Alternatives to Military Service, ACCAMS. Yet, Ann doesn’t call herself a patriot. She says, “I would be a World citizen from the USA by choice. “
The current administration and the Congress in Washington, D.C. are heading an effort to dismantle 40 years of social structure and institutions that guarantee the majority of Americans some level of safety and quality of life.
I harken back to the Girl Scout Law: be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring. Be responsible for what you say and do, and respect yourself and others. 
If the Democrats and Republicans can play ball nicely, they can work together to protect our institutions and defend our democracy. 
The delegates to the Continental Congress set an example for us to resist tyranny by a government or a ruler. The times call for new courageous patriots to love, support and defend our country and its interests with devotion. We must stand up. 
Johanna Nichols is a grandmother, writer, and Unitarian Universalist minister emerita. She welcomes responses to these columns at [email protected].
 
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