Is Getting a Passport Patriotic?

John Flinn thinks so, and he’s baffled that only 20 to 25 percent of Americans have passports, especially given their illustrious history in the U.S. “After the revolution…citizens of the newly minted United States of America considered foreign travel to be one of their inalienable rights. Just about any public official—even mayors—could, and did, issue passports,” he writes in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle. While a right to a passport is not covered in the Constitution, Flinn notes that courts have always upheld a citizen’s right to travel. “As an American in 2007,” he writes,” you have the freedom and ability to see more of the world than even the crowned heads of Europe could in the 19th century. Don’t blow this opportunity. Go get your passport. Now.” Hear, hear.
Related on World Hum:
* It’s Jan. 23. Do You Know Where Your Passport Is?
* Need a New Passport? Bill the Caribbean.
* National Passport Month: It’s About Time, No?

Photo by Michael Yessis.

©2026 World Hum, All Rights Reserved