And real patriots understand that the rule of law and the Constitution are not merely words used in speeches to get a warm fuzzy from the crowd — but require tending and respect to maintain the foundations of our government.
We will not stop in the face of adversity. And we do not surrender the rule of law, the values that form the foundation of American government, or respect for the Constitution to anyone.
The fight for "a more perfect union" continues anew…every single day. Loss only comes when the last patriot surrenders.
Sometimes it seems as though the corruption, mendacity, and outright self-dealing thievery inside the Beltway are beyond anything this nation has ever seen. But students of history know that it’s more of the same, just an ever-changing set of smarm merchants after their own personal agenda and chunk of the tax dollar pie. From an Atlantic Monthly article in 1860, found in the compilation volume "The American Idea:"
How very far practice is from any likeness to theory a week’s experience of our politics suffices to convince us. The very government itself seems an organized scramble, and Congress a boys’ debating-club, with the disadvantage of being reported. As our party-creeds are commonly represented less by ideas than by persons (who are assumed, without too close scrutiny, to be exponents of certain ideas), our politics become personal and narrow to a degree never paralleled, unless in ancient Athens or mediaeval Florence. Our Congress debates and our newspapers discuss, sometimes for day after day, not questions of national interest, not what is wise or right, but what the Honorable Lafayette Skreemer said on the stump, or bad whiskey said for him, half a dozen years ago. The next Presidential election looms always in advance, so that we seem never to have an actual chief Magistrate, but a prospective one, looking to the chance of reelection, and mingling in all the dirty intrigues of provincial politics with an unhappy talent for making them dirtier. We are kept normally in that unhappiest of predicaments, a state of transition, and politicians measure their words and deeds by a standard of immediate and temporary expediency — an expediency not as concerning the nation, but which, if more than merely personal, is no wider than the interests of party.
– James Russell Lowell, The Election In November, 1860. pp. 3-4.
Same battle for better government, just new names on the national program.
What it requires is that citizens keep demanding better, and doing the work to get just that. Let me just take a moment to thank all of you for all the calls, faxes, in person discussions and every other bit of work that all of you have put in the last few years. Standing up for the rule of law and the Constitution is important, and you are all patriots for standing for what the Founders risked their lives to establish. Bravo to all of you — and thank you.
Here is to more sunshine in the days ahead…
(Seemed like a Mr. Smith Goes To Washington sort of day to me.)
Related posts:
- The Last House Committee Standing On The Hill
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes Howard Dean, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform
- Late Night: He’s Your President, Not Your Boyfriend
- “Certain Officers”: Putting Reyes, Panetta, HPSCI Democrats, and 2 + 2 Together
- Four People Face Federal Prison for Passing Out Leaflets and Chalking Slogans
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me?
You.
Howard Dean is still an election cycle ahead of the Democratic Party!
Merry Christmas, Mr Potter!
Morning Christy…
Chris Dodd got some pretty good airtime over the holidays for actually *moving* to Iowa for the primary. I’m trying to feel optimistic…
Good AM Christy and All.
Speaking of standing up, we are reading Fair Game (finally).
I hope the Wilsons are happy in their new home.
They deserve some after what they’ve been through.
We do hold any hope for some justice? Will there be any accountablility on the part of those who betrayed them?
How is Dodd polling in Iowa?
Most of the battle will be won when the great unwashed remember that they are citizens rather just consumers. It is the difference between the active and the passive.
Sobering how well that quote applies from 150 years ago.
And thus was born the pundit class….
How is Dodd polling in Iowa?
I’m looking around…can’t find anything new.
A call to “arms” – in the sense of arms at the keyboard! And a cautionary note… that the problems today are longstanding ones. Thanks for both notes on the scale, Christy!
It doesn’t look good…
http://politicalhumor.about.co…..n-Iowa.htm
egregious — It is sobering. The interesting thing is that this quote was pulled from an article calling for vast national support for change — in favor of ending slavery and supporting the Lincoln candidacy for President. And it was one of the touchstones for the national referendum that swept Lincoln into office.
Funny how a few people, committed to doing better and to speaking up for a “more perfect union,” can be the spark that ingnites a nation, isn’t it?
How to battle the catapult of propaganda? Go around it, direct to the people…power to the blogs. And the hometown LTEs. And the freewayblogger signs. And the door knocking and phone calling.
Let people see the bandwagon of change forming and growing right where they live. Empowerment is power.
I received a copy of Chris Hedges “War is a Force that Give Us Meaning” for Christmas. I think at least Chapter One should be on everyone’s reading list. The way he splits the concept of myth reality vs sensory reality, particularly in times of war, and how this myth reality shapes nationaliam and patriotism says much about where we are right now, and forces examination of individual beliefs, both pro and con, our national picture.
I seem to recall references to this book over the last few months or so, and perhaps it was on the Book Salon?
If not, it needs to be.
amen.
and thank you, Christy.
Funny how a few people, committed to doing better and to speaking up for a “more perfect union,” can be the spark that ingnites a nation, isn’t it?
It’s the only way, I think. Look how many people found this site during the Libby Trial.
People came here because of your ability to explain to us non-lawyer types what was going on. And for Jane and Emptywheels coverage.
And, then we stayed and you directed and inspired us to fax, write and call, expecting and demanding better.
Franklin’s “a republic if you can keep it” and Jefferson’s “eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty” come to mind for this activity. Thanks
to all writers and commentors here.
One great Christmas present I got this year was actually a twofer. The first watching Orin Hatch’s mouth dripping venom on CSPAN over the bloggers getting in the way of telcom immunity. The second, on the same day, was the defeated look on Harry Reid’s face when Chris Dodd kicked his ass.
The victories of the last year may seem small, but that’s only because the MSM doesn’t report them. Progressives now have considerable clout, as evidenced by the media’s constant denial of it.
And to this I cite:
One of the best books I read last year. Really opened my eyes about how many people feel about war, which is entirely foreign to me.
Seconded…avec beaucoup de sympathie… With strong feelings…
A couple of well-known quotes by Mark Twain:
“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
“All Congresses and Parliaments have a kindly feeling for idiots, and a compassion for them, on account of personal experience and heredity.”
I don’t care for the term “patriot”, but I do believe citizens need to struggle for a more perfect democracy. The one we have now with THIS constitution is not working for the PEOPLE, the citizens.
Patriot seems to be more a chauvinistic term. I don’t think one country needs to be is is better than another. France has a lot going for it and I do see that we have to be better than another nation. All people around the world should enjoy the same freedoms and rights.
A right is not something someone gives you, but something no one can take away.
Good to know us dirty hippies are still good for something.
This is OT, but does anyone (green) here know the better way to get rid of all this used wrapping paper I’ve got in my livingroom?
Is it better to throw it in the recycling bin or can I burn it in the fireplace? I’m just worried that the ink on the paper could be dangerous to the air.
recycling bin…
You have survived another Christmas in spite of the Bush administration.
Pat yourself on the back.
Looking forward to the events in the coming new year, I hope to bear witness to a blizzard of subpoenas and a steady increase in resignations of the fumbling idiots that are currently in the process of eliminating the vestiges of our country.
demi, you can stuff your purses & shoes with the paper & keep them in good shape.
Patriot seems to be more a chauvinistic term.
How so? Not sure why you feel this way?
others must lose.
Reading through the comments thus far, and setting aside all the very real obstacles we face, I think it is the totality of the blogosphere on the left that is making such a huge, huge difference… finally. And I think the reason it’s causing these little earthquakes for legislators and bushco/cheneydom is that the left is not a force you can “control,” but more like a force of nature. Several million, extremely committed people, willing to read and converse and open to new ideas, respectful of free speech, paying attention to the news, trying to influence legislators and candidates. I think ultimately this will have an impact.
Then you have another force. And this really makes me smile and laugh. And that is the fundamentalists, empowered by the right, but now finally noticing that they’ve been “used,” they’ve been “snookered” – and beginning to think for themselves. Noticing, on their own, that indeed the bible speaks to the environment and to caring for the poor, and against the high and mighty, against usury, etc.
So, I honestly think that when you put these two forces together, whether they actually work together or not, it undermines the power that has accrued to the republicans and the wealthy.
Change is in the air. We need to notice that it’s coming not just from the left.. but also from the right.
He really illuminated that which has been nagging at me for several years, maybe longer. It’s why I pursued the inner life examination as I wanted to find a point of reference which allowed me to stand aside what I read and am told is true. Seeing the perspective of others like in Bosnia, Argentina and other places he experienced drove home the notion that what I experience has at least as much to say as whatever others say is true. Maybe more. And sometimes, the only truth. The truth beyond ego and rooted in that part that sees, but does not judge.
yes….
This is true — how else to explain surge of Paul and Huckabee?
Christy, Will there ever be a Mrs. Smith Goes To Washington sort of day for you?
Thanks Bio. Will do.
Diane, the kinds of shoes I wear don’t need to stay in shape. *G*
BUSTED! DUDE! You survived too.
The changes on the right are frightening.
oldgold — No idea. At this point, I’m needed at home with The Peanut more than anything else, for various reasons that would take too long to detail here. Suffice it to say, it’s not the right time for us, and it may never be, but it’s good to be able to direct my energy toward pushing for better policy from here nonetheless. How about you? An oldgold goes to Washington day in your future?
Yes, and we need to find ways to reach out to these people. There is a tremendous value in what undergirds the search for spiritual meaning. Even if we do not share a fundamentalist view, most of us feel a strong allegiance to values which transcend us personally and speak to something larger, deeper, more important than our own tiny existence.
We need to value that search, however it may appear, and to reach out in solidarity to anyone sharing our ultimate concerns.
Heh.
Yeah,I survived Christmas too.
You are frightened? Or the right is frightened? And it depends which changes you refer to. Fascism, yes, frighting. But people seeking to really plumb the meaning of their faith. That’s a good to me!
Patriot … A person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country.
I associate patriots with literally fighting invaders, and that empty flag waving variety associated with people who stick ribbon magnets on their SUVs.
I don’t see that we have to defend our country because we are not being attacked.
I don’t support what this country does to most of its citizens nor those of other nations.
I don’t love my country as distinct from the planet. A country is only something which makes me have a passport to travel.
I used to have your view of patriots. But the Dean campaign changed that for me. I came to see anyone willing to stand up for the Constitution and work for the betterment of the country as a patriot. It literally changed the landscape for me. I have a sense it did that for many others as well. It may have been a short-lived political phenomenon. But I suspect it has had a powerful social impact.
Our rights are being taken away from us by a corporatocracy and a MIC.
I want both of those downsized and taken away.
Sander — I see patriots as people who stand up for what is right, whether that be through speaking up publicly or working toward a more perfect union. Which is pretty much what I said above — nothing to do with attacking other nations, so the read you are getting on the word is not what was intended in the writing. Just FYI.
I think your definition has more to do with militaristic nationalism than what I meant by patriotism, but maybe that’s just me.
You can use whatever you want when you struggle for your rights. Patriot is not one that appeals to me.
Why do you need such a label?
Well said. Nevertheless, the desire to bring the US back into the family of nations and to its ideals in the Constitution etc. can be termed that act of a patriot. IMHO
Our country might not be under physical attack but it has most certainly been infiltrated by individuals with access to the levers of power that do not share the visions of our founders.
I prefer the term Citizen to Patriot, since it implies more sober, deliberate rational responsibility, and less passion.
World Citizen is more like it.
You are right!
Patriotism is too often associated with militiaristic nationalism and that is why using the word disturbs me.
I do think we need to be vigilant to protect and defend our rights… and I am on board on that one.
A right is not something someone gives you, but something no one can take away.
Passion’s a plus, though. Hysteria more appropriate for the current fearmongering climate?
What Bush, Cheney, Addington, Rumsfeld, et al. have done to the Constitution and to the nation qualify as an attack on our country in my book — and I, for one, am not about to give in to that attack without fighting back.
I think there is a growing confluence between right and left on the inhumanity of corporate control. This creeping fascism is sensed by many but it is hard to label with the baggage of language.
It’s a word in the English language. Not that I needed it. But it was given to me when I learned English.
Oxford English Dictionary: patriot “fellow countryman” “person devoted to his or her country” but it does also have connotations of “patrician” – of those originally from the early Roman families, those who may be a “cut above.”
I totally respect your take on this. I think it all depends on how the word feels to you. Then again, I hope you will respect the take of others.
I don’t believe it has to mean that if you are trying to make the US be the “best it can be” – that you are denigrating other nations or people.
Patriot is something you are?
Citizen is something you do.
I did read CHS comment about standing up for what is right as a Right as you describe it. Standing for your Rights is very different from standing up for what is right, as that can and usually does have an overlay of judgement, which in turn can be derived from expediency.
Hi folks…..
I agree it is an attack from within the core of our country…
Our very values are at stake if we do not take and continue to take a stand….
Here’s the thing: the Frank Luntz’s of the GOP have spent a lot of time pulling an Orwell on the public, and reassigning meaning to common terms in an effort to push our buttons for conservatism. I refuse to allow them to assign definitions to words and/or terms that I have been using my whole life to specific and open meaning.
They don’t get to tell me how to think or what words mean when I know full well exactly what they mean to me as I am writing them down. And they no more get to define “patriot” as “militant nationalist” in the Pat Buchanon sense of the term or in the Dick Cheney sense than they do anything else.
And I’ll be damned if Frank Luntz or anyone else gets to control my vocabulary any more than they get to tell me what is or is not meant by the “rule of law” as it applies to their cronies.
No, there isn’t. Although, I once considerded it.
I hope you keep the option open of serving in the future.
You would be dynamite.
Actually, I find it frightening that the Republics push farther and farther each elecion to establish a theocracy in the US.
So what do you make of the Patriot Act, or calling missiles Patriot missiles?
Boy, howdy, has he ever. This is going to be a constant challenge. Restoring the framing. Protecting the language.
Luntz may fancy himself a wordsmith and scholar.
He is a propagandist and destructor.
To judge a book by its cover, I think Glenn Greenwald agrees with you.
Starbuck at 68 — See above on the GOP misappropriation of terminology a la Frank Luntz. And why I’ll be damned if they get to manipulate me by misuse of language for push-button political purposes. PR crap aside, it’s snowjob, surface marketing for them.
calling missiles Patriot?
befouling the landscape.
bearing false witness.
cynically manipulating the gullible masses.
All of the above.
Well put. I’ll summarize what I’ve said here before many times: Please don’t let the right appropriate and define and use terms and the US flag for their own ends and benefits.
Words don’t mean, people do.
In effective communication, the speaker should be aware if the listener is understanding them, and adjust sufficiently.
That is for personal communication.
At this site, the Poster, in this case Christy, is writing to an audience, so she gets to use whatever words, labels, terms she likes. Just how it is, in my opinion.
If it’s important to the listener, or in this case the reader, to get the big picture of what the poster is relaying, than the reader can choose to step away from their own “prejudices” about particular words.
Precisely my point in 73. They’ve appropriated defined and used “Patriot” here for their own purposes. We need to get the term back. We just can’t sit back and let them get away with it.
Bush has redefined the meaning of “Harvard MBA”.
Strong leadership…Dems have no pilot running the ship right now. Strong leadership…in Congress when Dodd replaces Reid. Strong leadership in presidential race when Dems coalesce behind the better candidate: Edwards.
Some of us view him as the anomaly. Money changed hands I imagine, no gentleman’s C there.
Heard on CNN this am that Hah-vahd and other Ivies are having to set up special rate discounts for middle class families.
Kill the middle class and you kill democracy…and the corporation’s consumers.
I truly hope those things come to pass.
FWIW, Jane did a series on PR presentations, image and word use that really hits the how the GOP manipulates image and language to its advantage by hitting folks at the gut level. See On Image and On Image Part II. Digby’s also had an ongoing series of posts on Luntz and his misuse and misappropriation of language. This post is one of my particular recent favorites on that score.
Prairie Sunshine @ 77:
Yep. We’ll see what happens next week in Iowa. Please let it snow…
Daily Howler has also been a frequent documenter of Luntz idiocy. Here’s a good example from there as well.
The Civil War was the inexorable outcome of the Second Act of American History — the Revolution and the Constitutional Republic were Act One, and the Civil War was the resolution of the peculiar institution of Slavery. How ever unsatisfactory the outcome, it was an attempt to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence — The truths we hold self evident, that ALL Men are created equal.
James Russell Lowell was the first editor of the Atlantic Monthly (1857) — he was a poet, satirist, and ardent Abolitionist. Despite the decades long effort to find a political solution, the Pro-Slavery and Abolitionist factions were at loggerheads. It took the bold action of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and his letters from the shadow of the gallows, to finally force the issue — and bring on the Civil War.
That Reconstruction was botched by the Radical Republicans does not diminish the sacrifice of those who gave their all in service of the cause.
Hamid Karzai pledges to share intelligence.
In a related story George W. Bush has pledged to continue sharing his ignorance.
-G
Zero plus zero equals zero, yes?
I know nothing about that.
Agreed. But we also need to be careful for the use of the term “Citizen” as a form of address has some bad connotations associated with it. In re: French Revolution.
(BTW, Prairie Sunshine, left you and Mr Sunshine a response at end of last thread)
John Ciardi wrote a book called “How Does a Poem Mean?”, which could be extended to “How Does a Word Mean?”. I use that concept even in photography: How Does a Photograph Mean?. It opens up vast possibilities to understanding meaning.
Re: digby link in 81:
And they definitely don’t also get to define what torture means…
I had to chuckle when I heard Stupie was headed out on a world tour for his last year to spread his version of democracy and kick the dead horse that is his legacy.
At least the miserable failure won’t be around here .
He’ll return in time to veto.
Christy @ 65 – speaking of Frank Luntz, did you get a chance to see the presentation at the NY Public Library with Luntz? Interesting that he does not agree with the “war on terra” and actually admitted it was created by the GOP to confuse the country.
Nor do they also get to define Democracy…
Yes, I’m sure his international world democracy-palooza will be just as successful as its predecessor: The Karen Hughes Big Foot Your Way Around the World Democracy-Palooza. Playing to undersold crowds everywhere…
That should be good for Diebold since their machines are required to implement Bush style democracy.
Diane — No, I haven’t seen that. Wonder if it’s available online? Anyone have a link?
The guy is desperate for any legacy – but the one he’s already created!
His world tour….. will lead to no good and no benefit.
G-Dubs, Bring It On Tour 2008.
He’s going to have the whole she-bang produced by Vince McMahon of the WWE. Complete with pyrotechnics and lots of spandex.
-G
GSD — Blergh. Never, ever use W and spandex in the same sentence again. *g*
Starbuck @ 89:
There’s also the politics of meaning, which Jonah Goldberg misused and misconceived in and for the title of his forthcoming stupid book on the latent and historical fascist underpinnings of liberalism.
Sorry ’bout that. At least I didn’t mention Karen Hughes.
-G
Mwahahahahahaha…yeah, that’s a visual no one ever needs to have. Ever. *g*
God, I have been reading some of the excerpts. I mean you would think an adult would be embarrassed to offer up such patently false, propagandistic shit.
Then again, the current rightwing leadership in this nation knows no shame.
-G
It’s the my country right or wrong notion (to me).
Jonah’s going for the Ann Coulter audience. She’s going to be mad.
Rotten eggs is all he will get.
sounds good to me! or even just runny ones would be fine!
I know there is a new thread and this is off subject but has anybody asked the prez candidates regarding what exactly is their game plan regarding retaining military operations such Blackwater on the payroll?
how’d the remodel turn out? i think the craziest part of this equation is how easily the american public can be duped. it’s one thing piled on top of another creating a never ending stack of unbelievable crap. if we get into the way back machine we can see the same families popping up again and again. and still the american public welcomes them with open arms.
Christy, check CSPAN – the lineup also included language scholars with a dem philosophy – very interesting presentation.
There is also this:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler……erner.html
The Chickenlivered Congress, spineless non-Patriots, composed almost exclusively of “whatever Bush needs” Republicans and gutless “ditto head” Democrats should start the new year by renaming DOJ to UEDOJ for Unitary Executive DOJ”.
The list of DOJ cover-ups and White House Coverups complements of the law firm of Addington, Fielding, and Gillespie grows by the hour.
As Greenwald says there is “a cackling screed proclaiming “schadenfreude” (the very un-Christmas emotion of deriving pleasure from others’ misery) over the failure of the “Unhinged,” “Petulant,” “Back-stabbing” Democrats to stop the war in Iraq.”
It is being whole-heartedly embraced by both parties–the Republican lemmings and their Democratic facilitators to continue a dysfunctional bloodbath in Iraq where Americans are in the middle of a civil war that continues to rage.
Harry Reid, the so-called Democratic Majority Leader, is gearing up to try to crush Dodd and the few Democrats with enough spine to keep immunity out of S. 2248, which (and this is all but neglected everywhere) leaves a shitstorm of a bill that will essentially eliminate FISA which has been entirely a rubberstamp for UEDOJ and the administration since its inception, and will put UEDOJ and UEDNI in charge of watching Americans’ every move, data mining their bank accounts, emails, phone conversations, and health records and boggying them into endless matrixes to amass power over the citizens of “the U.S. Kingdom.”
Glenn Greenwald: Former Clinton Officials Lobby for amnesty for FISA lawbreaking
Reid and company target the true enemy: “Dodd and his allies”
As we welcome in the new year, we find the Democratic candidates mouthing platitudes, and the Republicans simply looking like mentally ill clowns and intrepid liars. Rudy 911 wants to push the Unitary Executive to extreme never before reached, and Romney lies everytime he draws a breath. The rest of the Republicans are purely parodies of an election, like something out of a George Bernard Shaw play gone sour.
The “I’m so full of Christ I can’t see straight” Republicans are totally frustrated because they can’t find a viable candidate who is right wing and full of blind religious hate who is extreme enough to suit them.
The bumbling, chain fuck-up FBI has been unable to revamp their computer program twice in the last six years, spending nearly 200 million of your dollars for each of two revamps that never got off the ground. Now abandoning constructing a working computer system, because they are too stupid to do so, they have decided to launch another screwup-palooza with a biometric program to ID all Americans by their shape and the way they walk, and to attempt to get iris readings.
The only problem, duh is that this program has as much as a 40% inaccuracy rate in ideal lighting situations, and an 80% inaccuracy rate at night. But then, all the attorneys who have ever been at DOJ strived to achieve a 20% on every exam they ever took, and want that for their children of course:
FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics
“In the world’s first large-scale, scientific study on how well face recognition works in a crowd, the German government this year found that the technology, while promising, was not yet effective enough to allow its use by police. The study was conducted from October 2006 through January at a train station in Mainz, Germany, which draws 23,000 passengers daily. The study found that the technology was able to match travelers’ faces against a database of volunteers more than 60 percent of the time during the day, when the lighting was best. But the rate fell to 10 to 20 percent at night.
To achieve those rates, the German police agency said it would tolerate a false positive rate of 0.1 percent, or the erroneous identification of 23 people a day. In real life, those 23 people would be subjected to further screening measures, the report said.
Accuracy improves as techniques are combined, said Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI’s biometric services section chief. The Next Generation database is intended to “fuse” fingerprint, face, iris and palm matching capabilities by 2013, she said.
In 2004, the Electronic Privacy Information Center objected to the FBI’s exemption of the National Crime Information Center database from the Privacy Act requirement that records be accurate. The group noted that the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2001 found that information in the system was “not fully reliable” and that files “may be incomplete or inaccurate.” FBI officials justified that exemption by claiming that in law enforcement data collection, “it is impossible to determine in advance what information is accurate, relevant, timely and complete.”
Privacy advocates worry about the ability of people to correct false information. “Unlike say, a credit card number, biometric data is forever,” said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology forecaster. He said he feared that the FBI, whose computer technology record has been marred by expensive failures, could not guarantee the data’s security. “If someone steals and spoofs your iris image, you can’t just get a new eyeball,” Saffo said.”
MSNBC celebrated Christmas day and night by running Crime and Punishment shows for 24 hours. Is this a great America or what?
If we strive to keep this milieu going, we can all achieve the ideal of putting every American man, woman, and child in prison by the year 2015.
Graciousness and logic, an ideal combination. you have added something to my day here and on TNH.
Stupie? Which one? Help me here?
You and I have had this discussion before. Obviously, we need language to communicate. Nationalism, Chauvanism, Militarism, xenophobia, supremecisist, militarists all have some of the meaning you ascribe to patriotism. Again, I’m not willing to surrender the language to the right wing and let them destroy good terms. Ultimately, you may be right about loyalty to a nation, rather than mankind, but it’s been the way of the world since the rise of nation states and in terms of human rights is probably a better arrangement than its predecessors, feudalism, empire, city states, tribalism, and barbarism.
I have a similar feeling. “Patriot” for me is synonymous with nationalism which sometimes leads to a feeling of superiority. Arrogance is not far away. Also, it seems to me there is a kind of blindness that plays in here, an idea that “we are good” which is an obstacle and perhaps a defense against seeing ourselves as we are, rather than as we imagine ourselves to be.
I think there is also an element of reclaiming the word from the Republicans who have used it as a bludgeon against its perceived enemies, people who like Christy and many of us who care deeply about justice and have a love for our founding principles, our constitution, and the rule of law, which defines the essence of our country.
Having said this, I try not to make a blanket judgment about others who have positive feelings and for whom patriot brings up noble or uplifting ideas.
Indeed, our country has been under the worst attack in its history, starting with the Supreme Court stealing the election in 2000. Good reasoning, if the Supreme Court does it, it must be legal? It will be over before anyone notices the heist and more destruction can commence.
Our entire government has been decimated, decapitated and rendered ineffective by a cabal of the most heinous.
The attack on our Treasury was pre-planned and swift, leaving domestic programs destitute and war profiteers overwhelmed with exce$$ bounty. Move over Captain Hook, theres a new pirate brigade called Bushco.
When this president invited everyone in the world to now view our country as “The Devil” he attacked us at our very core. Our domestic enemies are fatter cats with thinnest conscience, that rob from the sick and poor and grin in their faces doing it.
We are being attacked on so many fronts at home “over here” but they tell us our attention should be “over there” where they slaughter Iraqis by the MILLION in our name…and are damn proud they’re doing it.
There is no USA as we knew it, the “attack” has ruined it.
And I thought this was EPUland :-)
re ‘patriot’ — there’s connotation, denotation, Umberto Eco’s interpretation and over-interpretation and ‘the intent of the text’.
Language is funny — just think how ‘conversation’ and ‘intercourse’ reversed meaning from medieval times to modern.
Well, before riding off on our high horses here, I saw the program on
The Science of Propaganda (New York Public Library, Humanities and Social Sciences Library) with
* Luntz, Frank I. (Pollster, Republican Party)
* Lemann, Nicholas (Dean, Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism)
* Lakoff, George P. (Professor, University of California, Berkeley, Linguistics)
* Westen, Drew (Professor, Emory University, Psychology)
* Szanto, Andras (Faculty, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York, NY)
Anyway, the takeaway message for me was that we don’t do ourselves any favors by using words that the majority of Americans associate with bad stuff. Take the word “liberal.” Now, I’m a proud liberal meself, but by sheer dint of repetition a gazillion times, Republicans have succeeded in rebranding liberals with such phrases as “tax and spend” and other misrepresentations that are false, but are stuck in the heads of millions of Americans. So, OK, while I agree with the plea to “Please don’t let the right appropriate and define and use terms and the US flag for their own ends and benefits,” in some cases we have to recognize the fact that with some words, the Rightards have already appropriated and redefined some terms for their own ends and benefits, and we just have to recognize when that is so, and work around it. Furthermore, we need to raise our own chorus to re-brand words we want to resurrect.
In other words, it doesn’t matter worth a damn if the dictionary definition agrees with our usage, if 100,000,000 Americans don’t know and don’t follow the dictionary definition, and instead “know” some other crap that has been funneled into their brains. Like Fritz Mondale said, it ain’t what they know that bothers me; its what they know that ain’t so.
Bob in HI