A Free Born Man of the USA
May. 9th, 2006 01:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forsythOne of the things I most resent about the jingoists and fundamentalists who run around yelling all the time is how they constantly conflate patriotism with nationalism and jingoism. If you question the government, you're a traitor and hate America. (well, when THEIR guys are in power, when the OTHER guys are in power, they suddenly find dissent patriotic again) If you mention things we've done wrong (and we've got some doozies), you're a traitor and hate America. And so on. Well, fuck them.
The government isn't the country The land isn't the country. The people are the country. The ideas are the country. A country is an idea, when it comes down to it. But an idea is nothing without people to make it real. Government in America is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are the government.
And you can love your country greatly, and think it's a wonderful place and even think it's better than most other places to live, and still think it can be improved. You can love your country and hate the bad things that have been done in it, or in its name. You can love the country, without fooling yourself into thinking it (and we) are perfect. In a lot of ways, that's kinda like loving a person, people aren't perfect. You have to love them despite their mistakes, and try and help them fix them, and avoid making them again. That's part of loving somebody. And of loving a country. If you love it, you want it to be better, as good as it can be.
People who completely misunderstand the ideals of this country have no room to be questioning anyone else's patriotism.
The government isn't the country The land isn't the country. The people are the country. The ideas are the country. A country is an idea, when it comes down to it. But an idea is nothing without people to make it real. Government in America is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are the government.
And you can love your country greatly, and think it's a wonderful place and even think it's better than most other places to live, and still think it can be improved. You can love your country and hate the bad things that have been done in it, or in its name. You can love the country, without fooling yourself into thinking it (and we) are perfect. In a lot of ways, that's kinda like loving a person, people aren't perfect. You have to love them despite their mistakes, and try and help them fix them, and avoid making them again. That's part of loving somebody. And of loving a country. If you love it, you want it to be better, as good as it can be.
People who completely misunderstand the ideals of this country have no room to be questioning anyone else's patriotism.
