The people with power to govern a country may claim to act on behalf of those governed in that country, but it is quite possible for the former to go against the interest of the latter. Furthermore, citizens are entitled to disagree with and repudiate what their government do in their name.
Yet there is a common political Con trick that tries to make people think that the government is identical with the governed. For example, if you criticise your government for not providing reliable public services, you are condemned for being negative about your country. If you point out the dangerous lies perpetrated by your government, you are accused of being unpatriotic. If you denounce the military actions of a foreign government, you are censured for being racist towards that foreign country.
In practice, we see this trick played all the time. US Republicans, when in power, are ever ready to brush aside ‘un-American’ criticisms of their failings along with a mass chanting of ‘USA, USA’. British Conservatives have repeatedly defended their mismanagement of the economy by steadfastly insisting that people should not talk down the UK. And anyone (Jewish or otherwise) who strongly disagrees with the tactics of Benjamin Netanyahu over decades is deemed ‘anti-Israel’, ‘antisemitic’.
We must remember that one of the most important elements of democratic politics is that those who are entrusted with the power to govern do NOT personify the governed. Indeed, the people are the ones who ultimately hold the power and they only let the govern use it on a time-limited basis on the condition they use it wisely for the benefit of the country. It is precisely because what a government does may not match what a country seeks that members of the country can criticise and reject a government.
To conflate a government with the governed is to hollow out democracy. And that unsurprisingly is what authoritarian politicians are inclined to do. Once they have secured the power to govern, they present themselves as the voice of the people, the embodiment of the country. Anyone criticising them is an enemy of the people, denigrator of the country – and should not be trusted or listened to.
We must expose this trick and make sure those who govern badly cannot hide behind the flag of their country. The condemnation of political leaders who order the mass killing of people across their borders is not to be confused with animosity towards the people they have ruling power over. In many cases, it is because we care deeply about a country and the people who live there, that we want to point out the ill-intent and damaging behaviour of the individuals governing that country.
People who give their full backing to a ruler no matter what they do is not a patriot, but a patron of dictatorship.
