Did someone revise the English dictionary while I wasn’t looking?
Reading and watching the news is disconcerting and disorienting.
Liz Cheney, a graduate of law school and self-proclaimed patriot, calls the Department of Justice the Department of Jihad. Why? Because seven attorneys in that department once represented terror suspects before the courts.
This law school graduate says that lawyers agree with their clients. She thinks some people should not have a right to an attorney. I must have misread or misunderstood our Constitution and legal system because Liz shouts quite loudly and clearly that she is a patriot. Should I have put that in all caps?
Who is a patriot? Is Liz, who has no understanding or appreciation of our Constitution a patriot? How about her father? He violated the Constitution more times than he received deferments to avoid serving the country he loves so much.
Patriotic teabaggers call our president a Nazi. They blather about how inept our government is; how much they distrust it; how much they hate it.
Patriots want to take away your right to redress, your right to sue. They want to give businesses and corporations immunity from responsibility for ruining your life.
I am beginning to believe that I no longer understand my mother tongue. Let me explain what I think patriotism is, or used to be, and what Joe Main Street thought it was.
Most people probably thought patriotism was a virtue. They thought it was simply a love of country. They thought it was exemplified by soldiers who sacrificed their life and limb for our country, for his fellow countryman.
Watching the teabaggers and their ilk, I see no love of anything. I see hatred of minorities. I see hatred of fellow Americans. I see hatred of anyone different. Really, we are seeing hatred of themselves.
There is another word that people throw around. Nationalism. People, not just in this country, usually see patriotism as a positive and nationalism as a negative trait. Actually, they are the same. People like to portray themselves as patriots and furriners as nationalists. Many word carry emotional baggage. These are just two.
Is patriotism really a positive thing? Many thinkers over the centuries have not necessarily thought so. Let me list a few quotes on the subject. The first is what we used to like to think of it as, when we were in junior high civics class.
“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” – Adlai E. Stevenson
But far more observers held a less favorable view.
“Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.” – Oscar Wilde
“Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy” – George Bernard Shaw
“You’ll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” – Samuel Johnson
“Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles.” – George Jean Nathan
“Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country.” – Bertrand Russell
“Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen” – Ambrose Bierce
Most of those quoted must have missed civics class. They likely do not differentiate between patriotism and nationalism.
So, maybe we can’t define it as love of country but does that mean the teabaggers are right? Is patriotism merely hate of your government and your fellow man?
The word has an unarguable hold on us, regardless of how it is defined. Those of the lunatic right know this. They jumped out in front to wear it as a badge of honor. Whatever its real meaning or their lack of devotion to its commonly accepted tenets, it has a political value.
But, one should always remember that admonition, “Never trust anyone who wears his religion or his patriotism on his sleeve.” If you love your fellow man and the ideals for which your country stands, there is no need to advertise it. People will know. If you abide by the teachings of your religion, showing the love and morality of that god, there is no need to advertise it. People will know.
If you see any love for you or me coming from the Cheneys, check to see if there has been an invasion from outer space by creatures using our bodies as hosts. If you see a teabagger or Republican politician having a kind word for Obama, your are likely having an implausible dream.
Is our country perfect? No. Are our leaders motivated by our best interest? Seldom. Are our Congressmen and Senators intelligent, reputable people? I’ll have to get back to you on that. No luck so far.
My last word of warning. Distrust and avoid anyone wearing this underwear.
It is becoming ever more difficult to claim your American citizenship when traveling abroad. The teabaggers and others of that ilk are a cause of either consternation or bemusement or amusement among those looking at us from outside these borders. I care enough about my country and fellow countrymen to not enjoy others seeing us as the global village idiot.
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Excellent read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive. – Thomas Jefferson
Very true.
That is not quite the same as constantly bashing the very concept of government because of some juvenile ideology or harboring a seemingly unlimited hatred for ones fellow citizens while claiming some level of super patriotism.
Very true.
That’s why most conservatives have condemned Keep America Safe and Liz Cheney for attacking Eric Holder.
That condemnation is much appreciated but also a bit unexpected after so many uncritically support someone they think is on their side, whatever they may say. The Cheneys never were on the side of conservatives. That’s why they have been so frequently, by me and others, termed neocons. Simply because that is a contraction of neo-conservative doesn’t really mean that they share more than a few peripheral tenets and the word conservative in common. They are the enemy of Americans, of whatever stripe, to no less extent than the guy motivated by the promise of 72 virgins.
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