Chapter 35

Initially the broadened conversations with Richard got off to a slow start. I made the first two or three myself and attempted to sound him out on a few subjects, but he was clearly uncomfortable in his new role; he'd respond, but for the most part only briefly and cautiously, and he seemed relieved when I let the calls end fairly soon.

But the tips made him still eager to take my calls; we nailed a religious nut who planned to bomb abortion clinics, a racist who was going to "kill me a bunch of niggers," another terrorist who was setting up to mail stolen plague germs around the country, and two or three assorted others who sought violent redress for this or that perceived wrong done to them or to some group or cause with which they'd chosen to affiliate themselves. I kept at it, and was beginning to let Spook make some of the calls while I monitored.

I kept hoping he'd begin to open up. And suddenly he did, so fast and so much that I was astonished.

It was patriotism that made the breakthrough. I'd been unable to explain the concept to Spook very well. I didn't consider myself unpatriotic, but neither could I get emotionally behind the idea of love for my country being worth completely subordinating my own personal values for, and I couldn't explain the thinking of those who did.

So Spook broached the question in one of his tip calls, got a quite heated response, and then gave him Alexander Pope's quote about a patriot being "a fool in every age" and Dr. Sam Johnson's about patriotism being "the last refuge of a scoundrel." There was a sharp intake of breath, and then Richard simply said "we can talk about that another time" and broke the connection.

It was code for he'd call back later on another line—the first time he'd used it—so we waited, Spook because he always did and me because I wasn't about to miss this one. Sure enough, Spook reported an incoming call three hours later, and I told him to take it but let me listen.

"Jack, how can you possibly put down patriotism with those cheap phrases?" he burst out instantly. "I don't care who wrote them, patriotism is one of the noblest feelings men are capable of!"

"Who is calling, please?" asked Spook in my telephone voice. Richard had been supposed to identify himself first, and while I wouldn't have insisted on it—I recognized his voice, and his remark was apropos of the earlier conversation—Spook took the instruction literally, as he invariably did.

"It's Richard, of course," he said. Then he evidently remembered. "Oh. Sorry, I should have said that to start. But Jack, if you're going to start with quotes, how about Adlai Stevenson: 'Patriotism puts country ahead of self?' How about Oliver Goldsmith: 'Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, his first, best country ever, is at home?' And Kennedy: 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.'"

I was impressed, evidently Richard had consulted some quotation dictionaries before returning the call. The caller ID was a strange one, I supposed a friend's phone. Evidently he hadn't trusted this call to his home line. Or, of course, he could be doing it as a trap hoping against hope to expose Spook, but he could have done that from home.

There was little time for such thoughts, though, because Spook was answering him.

"We can each, I am sure, cite many supposed 'authorities' for our respective views," he was saying. "But in the end is patriotism not a divisive feeling among humans?"

"No!" Richard exclaimed. "Just the opposite. It's the sense that unites us as a country, that ensures that we move forward together without division among ourselves."

"How can this be the case when opinion within the country may itself be divided?" Spook persisted.

"That's the point! Sure opinion is divided, it always is, but that has to end sometime. You fight for what you think is right up until then, but when a decision is made, then patriotism is to get behind that decision even if you personally disagreed. That's how we remain a unified coun­try."

"Do you mean when the decision is taken by those empowered to do so on behalf of the country?" By now I was pretty sure Richard realized he was talking to Spook this time; I might have said the same thing, but not in the same words.

"Yes, that's right," Richard agreed.

"Then by that measure were the Germans during World War II not patriots in their support of the Nazi regime, including the Jewish holocaust and other such ills?" Spook asked. "Yet many were tried after that war for 'crimes against humanity' and imprisoned, even executed for such crimes, were they not?"

"Umm," Richard hemmed. I could sympathize; Spook had a way of taking even your deepest convictions and turning them logically on their head. He'd hung me up many times the same way.

"Further, what of the American Revolution?" Spook kept at him. "The American colonists were at that time British subjects, were they not? Therefore would patriotism not have dictated that they remain loyal despite their differences with British policies, rather than entering into warfare against their country?"

"You're carrying it much too far, Sp— uh, Jack," Richard said. Yep, he knew who he was talking to all right. "Patriotism is love for your country, not slavish obedience to whatever regime rules the country. Your examples don't draw that distinction."

"How then may the distinction be drawn?" Spook pressed. "When may it be said that love for the country diverges from loyalty to those who rule it?"

"It's a matter of judgment," Richard answered. "When your country starts murdering millions of people just because of their religion it's time to draw the line. But it's not your country doing that, just the leaders; you can still love the country but rebel against the leadership. You can start a revolution when your country oppresses you and your fellows, as America did. That doesn't mean you're unpatriotic, it just means you're a man first and a patriot second."

"Then it is your view that patriotism must be tempered with personal judgment?" Spook asked. Listening in, I wanted to warn Richard that he was on slippery ground, but after years of coping with Spook's challenges it was kind of fun to hear somebody else in the hot seat.

Richard clearly sensed that he was in a little deeper than he'd expected, but he wasn't about to give up. "I think there are times when there's a moral imperative that has to take priority," he temporized. "It's a fine line." But it was a bit lame and I could hear in his voice that he knew it.

"Then patriotism takes precedence over personal judgment only on some occasions but not all?" Spook persisted. "Is that what you mean?"

Give Richard credit, he was game. "No, patriotism means you still love your country, you just think what the current regime is doing is something wrong."