In my decades long career as a youth minister, I have had the honor to facilitate the BSA’s God and Country badge a couple of times. Parents noticed the Girl Scouts on my church bio, I suppose, and asked me to be their children’s teacher. There were many ways in which this was somewhat of a surreal experience for me. A friend has long called me the most patriotic liberal he knows, but I have always been what is called a Patriot of Principle, someone who loves what we could be.