Tag: Patriotism

Who Was The Real Patriot?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  American History

Today is the 4th of July or what we like to call Independence Day (the holiday, not the movie)….actually Constitution Day, 17 September, should be celebrated more…why?  the DoI was basically a list of grievances against the King and what could happen if not addressed……the Constitution is far more important because it set up a system of government that has been copied the world over……but that is another post for another day……….

Okay my gripe has been addressed……onward……

In these days of rabid patriotism (see my page on patriotism)…….one group or another is beating their chest like oversexed, crazed primates….and of these groups we hear names of our Founders, like Jefferson or Adams or Hamilton or……well the list goes on and on……we are told just how patriotic they were in their defense of the Declaration of Independence and the war of said subject……but what made them these shining beacons of patriotism?  I can tell you that some catchy little slogan is NOT patriotism!

Was it their work to found a new independent country…..or maybe it was their rhetoric or how about their contributions, monetarily that is, to the war effort….Just what makes them so patriotic?

Men like Jefferson and Madison and Adams and on and on….were excellent wordsmiths, which by the way were NOT that interested in independence as much as reconciliation…..they wrote about all the things they thought were important….another BTW…..all their writings were NOT that original but rather continuations of other political philosophers of the past like Locke……but beyond all that….what made these men patriotic…….was it their words?  Or maybe it was their deeds……but keep in mind these were, for the most part, wealthy land owners and businessmen….so what made them these shining beacons of patriotism?

Like today, rabid patriotism is in the mind of the beholder…..but true patriotism is doing what is best for the country with all your resources…..so, I ask again….what makes these people patriotic?  Did these men offer up their wealth?  Maybe if the insurrection had failed they might have been paupers in the end…..but did they offer up their wealth in support of the country and the cause?  To my knowledge, as limited as it may be, the answer is NO………they wrote opinions and the met and the argued, but none threw their cash at the cause……NONE, with the exception of one…..Thomas Paine.

I will bet that all read this are just a bit miffed at my accusation……I shall explain why I say this…..

Common Sense which is known as the start of the demand for independence, was written by Thomas Paine after his arrival in the Colonies from England…the publishing house of Robert Bell…..the agreement was that they would split the profits…Paine did not want to profit from his work and instructed the publishers to donate the money to the used to buy mittens for the troops…….and he was not finished…..in 1779, when working for the Pennsylvania Assembly, he gave $500 to the relief of the hard pressed troops…..his example helped raise three hundred thousand pounds from private donations…..the welfare of the troops and the success of the cause were everything to Paine…..BY the way, Paine was NOT a wealthy person by any stretch of the imagination….so his patriotism came from the heart.

Now think back through your historical learning….any other Founders so inclined?

To my way of thinking…Paine is the best example of what a patriot is all about….and this is the man that has been all but ignored as a Founder….he deserves much more from a country that he helped to create and supported…….

A true patriot is not someone with flashy words and flying a flag or a wealth of magnets on one’s car….a true patriot is someone who does all he/she can in support of their country….even it the country ignores you…..with that I close with a quote from Paine’s The Crisis…….it is as true today as it was in the 18th century…….

“These are times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.”  and I would like to add….those that shrink from service become the most rabid patriots…….

Now that I have given a short history lesson, enjoy your fun, food and family…..and tomorrow begins it all again….

Calling All Patriots!

So many people think that they are patriotic because they know the Paul Revere could ride a horse or that the Marines stormed Normandy…..and these same people write endlessly about the direction of the country, the badness of the Dems and the awfulness of the president……I read a lot of stuff and check out different blogs and so far I have NOT seen anything that mentions 14 June….lots about whose candidate did well in the debate but not much about the day……

I guess you are wondering what I am goin g on about….right?

n the United States, Flag Day is celebrated on June 14. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States, which happened that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.  The June 14 date is also when Congress adopted “the American continental army” after reaching a consensus position in The Committee of the Whole.In 1916, PresidentWoodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.  (Thanx Wikipedia)

Today is FLAG DAY!  Should all you sunshine patriots have something to say about the flag?  Wrap yourself in it and charge into some building ranting about how the country is going to Hell?

This is what I mean when I say that when I hear people talk about patriotism I want to PUKE!  Not one of them has any idea what it means to be a patriot!  Peace! Out!

Why Not Use Patriotism To Help The Economy?

Politicians have used patriotism for everything from going to war to selling stupid little magnets…..maybe they should try it to sell the recovery of the economy…….China is!

China’s securities watchdog has resorted to investors’ patriotism to help stabilise volatile markets, urging firms not to let diving stocks tarnish the 60th anniversary of the Communist Party‘s rule.Brokerages and fund managers have been told their “top duty” was to protect social stability by helping the market keep an even keel, a memo distributed by the Shanghai branch of the China Securities Regulatory Commission said.

“A stable and safe capital market is related to vital interests of investors, stability of the economy and financial market and the overall situation of social harmony and stability,” it said in the memo seen by AFP and dated Thursday. National Day takes place on October 1.

The notice was issued after the benchmark index slumped 6.74 percent on Monday, the biggest single fall in 14 months as concerns mount over slowing lending growth and a new share supply glut.

Analysts have said policy decisions, rather than economic fundamentals or company balance sheets, are often the main drivers in the nation’s stock markets.

If  it works for China will the politicians try and repackage a Communist policy to fit the capitalism of the US?  Interesting question huh?

Biden On Taxes

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden acknowledged yesterday the wealthy would pay more taxes if he and Barack Obama are in the White House, but he put an interesting spin on it.

It’s time to be patriotic . . . time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut,” Biden said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Republican John McCain pounced on the remark. “Raising taxes in a tough economy isn’t patriotic,” he said in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “It’s not a badge of honor. It’s just dumb policy.”

Trying to find the right tone on the Wall Street crisis, McCain also went for the tried and true in a new TV ad yesterday: Warn voters that his Democratic opponent is a tax-and-spend liberal. The ad warns of huge spending increases, pork-barrel projects, and “painful taxes.” “Can your family afford that?” the announcer concludes.

I do not know if I can stretch it enopugh to say that higher taxes is patriotic, but it is an election cycle and the term is used liberally.

Obama’s proposals, however, would lower the tax bill for the vast majority of taxpayers, and by letting President Bush’s tax cuts lapse would raise income taxes on those earning $250,000 or more a year.

I am sure that soimewhere someone can make the case that the wealthy need to keep more of their money, but I cannot defend that.

About Had Enough Of McCain–Commentary

I have been reading on the stuff that legends are made, one John mcCain. He has been called by some as a “national hero” or a “patriot” and then others have not been so kind. I understand the idea behind the legend thingy—it is to get him elected. But I want to know what makes him a “national hero? Because he was a prisoner of war? Then what about those that were held with him in the Hanoi Hilton? Are they national heroes also? If so, without Google, name two of those who were released at the same time as McCain.

Now let us move on to the “patriot” title. What makes him a “patriot” where others are not? Could it be that he was in the military? If he wore a uniform, then he was a soldier, not necessarily a patriot. Is it because he serves in the Senate? That only makes him a politician, not patriot. With all the drama that has come out of Washington in the past and probably the future, I would say that they, Senators, are self-serving individuals; none I would consider patriots.

The hero thingy! Whenever we start labeling everyone as a hero, then you diminish the “real” heroes, who do heroic things. No one calls a trash man a hero for doing his job. So to label anyone performing a service for what they are paid for is nothing more than a PR campaign. Do not get me wrong, there are many people who do heroic deeds, but few are ever recognized. The soldier that dives onto a grenade to save his fellow soldiers, is definitely a hero. But because a person wears a certain uniform does not make them a hero.

McCain is a politician trying to win an election—nothing more than that. To imply anything else is just a lame attempt to create a cult of personality around him. But unfortunately, many Americans are prone to the worshipping at the alters of false “patriots and heroes”.

This candidate cannot remember how many houses he owns. He thinks that one is wealthy if they have over $5 miilion. Spends way too much time questioning another Americans patriotism. He has chosen negativity over a discussion on “real” issues. Just a short list of the many reasons I will not vote for McCain. For me Bullwinkle Moose is a better choice.

NOTE: Before I get a wealth of hate mail, let me say that I am not belittling McCain; I am however, belittling the use of labels to sell a person to the public. Peace! Out!

Obama’s Patriotic Tour

Barely one month after sealing his victory in the primaries and with four months to go before the general election, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has embarked on a campaign swing that has the declared aim of proving his patriotism.

Obama kicked off his patriotism tour—set to run through the July 4th holiday—with a speech entitled “The America We Love,” delivered in Independence, Missouri. The site was chosen not merely for the town’s name, but to establish Obama’s connection with its most famous son—Harry Truman, the Democratic president who ordered atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Obama’s speech, ostensibly a reflection upon patriotism and “American values” in the run-up to July 4th, was a thoroughly reactionary address, in which words were carefully chosen to identify with themes generally associated with the Republican right and, at key points, to deliver a kick in the teeth to sections of left-liberal Democrats who have deluded themselves and sought to generate illusions in others about the real political character of his campaign.

Obama began his speech with a ritualistic reference to the “men of Lexington and Concord … our first patriots,” without a word to acknowledge that the democratic ideals embodied in the American Revolution and the guarantees of democratic rights written into the US Constitution have been subjected to a wholesale repudiation in practice by the current Republican administration in Washington.

Of course, the Democrats and Obama himself are fully complicit in this process. “How do we keep ourselves safe and secure while preserving our liberties?” the Democratic candidate asked rhetorically at one point in the speech. Obama offered no answer, but just the week before he announced his support for a bill legalizing the Bush administration’s domestic spying program, while offering blanket immunity to telecommunications companies that collaborated in the massive illegal warrantless wiretapping operation.

To me it is a little silly for anyone to have to prove their patriotism to anyone.  I guess this makes good copy for the 24 hour news stations.  It is either this or some car chase in Peoria.

Politics Of Patriotism

Susan Estrich wrote an interesting article on patriotism:

Should John McCain have to “defend” his military record? Of course not. But the fact that he served in the military, with distinction, does not mean he’s qualified to be president.

Should Barack Obama have to explain why he didn’t serve in the military or somehow apologize for it? Of course not. Most people of his generation did not serve in the military. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condi Rice did not see any active duty, although all of them are older. So what?

Democrats learned four years ago that choosing a candidate with a record of service in combat is no guarantee of anything. John Kerry’s military record became one more piece of ammunition for the supposedly independent mud fight that defined the election. The defenders of the mud fight said it was Kerry’s own fault because he interjected his military record front and center into the campaign. (Remember that line at the convention about Lt. Kerry “reporting for duty”?) By that logic, Democrats have a right to question McCain, who makes Kerry look like a piker when it comes to playing the military card, but Republicans have no right to question Obama, who has hewn to the George W. Bush approach of talking about other things.

This week’s round of punching and counterpunching began with comments by retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an Obama supporter, that made the very same point I just did: Serving in the military, as honorable as it is, doesn’t mean that you’re more qualified to be president. “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark said.

I think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth said something very much like that about John Kerry captaining a Swift boat. Actually, what they said was much worse. They questioned John Kerry’s record and turned it into an issue of character. No one has done that to McCain, at least no one with any association to Obama. Can you imagine what McCain would say if someone did?

In politics, we always spend more time on the question of who started the fight and whether it’s actually an intentional fight than whether there is anything worth fighting about. So it is with the candidates’ patriotism. In other contexts, one might point out fairly that experience as a prisoner of war leaves scars that last for a lifetime. But if any Democrat within a mile of Barack Obama even suggests as much, that person will be thrown overboard faster than you can say Samantha Power (who was thrown overboard, you may remember, for telling a foreign newspaper that she thought Hillary Clinton was “a monster”). If Gen. Wesley Clark can’t make what should be the obvious point — that military service doesn’t qualify a person for the presidency — imagine the backlash if anyone actually raised questions about the impact of McCain’s stint as a POW?

Obama and Patriotism

Stanley Crouch writes in the NY Daily News on this subject.

The most interesting, even thrilling and inspiring thing about what Barack Obama has done to American political discourse is to redefine patriotism. He has taken the definition beyond the familiar body of platitudes that the phoniest of our conservative broadcast journalists and talk show hosts have made their stock in trade. As an extremely sophisticated man and law school graduate, Obama has mastered the basic skill of those in his profession. That is, the ability to create an easily comprehended narrative with compelling facts whenever possible

Instead of bridling at the question, Obama has remade patriotism with the proof that remains in high profile and is easily accessible to those who would like to know or to challenge it. He embraces all of the tragic elements of American history instead of pretending that they are either exaggerated or no more than radical distortions. Obama steps up to them with examples of tough-minded goodwill, courageous action and optimistic foresight that are right there on the historical record.

Yes, we had slavery, but we also had the abolition movement, Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Yes, we had the terrible treatment of blue-collar workers by fat cats who were not above hiring ruffians and killers to either assault or murder the men who complained about working conditions and bad pay. Yes, the right to unionize and use collective bargaining also emerged, as did women getting the vote, the defeat of European fascism during World War II and the destruction of unconstitutional law.

Memory of our social tragedies or those periods when our most despicable beliefs perverted our national principles is a subject that conservatives don’t like to talk about or even hear brought up. Those who do will be accused of being unpatriotic, ungrateful or hating America.

Such people will never understand the new patriotism of this startling Democrat who has snatched the flag from them and is waving it in a new way. As I have said before, doctors who either have a cure or are on the verge of discovering one never fear public discussion of a terrible disease. They know that they can either handle it right now or will soon be able to. That is what makes Barack Obama so impressive at this moment.

Why Cannot Vets Get Any Justice?

The federal government is subjecting veterans to long delays in obtaining mental health care and medical benefits, but the power to change the system rests with officials and Congress, not the courts, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday in dismissing a lawsuit by veterans’ advocates.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti said veterans’ groups had failed to show a “systemwide crisis” in mental health care that would justify the courts intervening in the workings of the Department of Veterans Affairs. And he said courts lack authority to order the sweeping changes the plaintiffs seek, such as forcing the VA to make quick decisions on whether veterans are eligible for care and ordering the agency to promptly improve suicide prevention programs and mental health care.

You may fly your flag and you may thump your chest proudly, but until we give the veterans the attention they deserve–NO one is patriotic.  This country sent these people into harms way and then turn our backs on them–IT IS PATHETIC AND SICKENING!

We Have Ways Of Making You Patriotic

For months I had been bitching that MSNBC was misleading the public in several ways.  Theyt nwere on board with Romeny and Huckabee and then with Clinton and now this story has come out about the reporting to assist in patriotic fervor.

CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin said Thursday she was referring to her time spent at MSNBC when she said she felt pressure not to report stories critical of the Bush administration during the time leading up to the Iraq war.

Yellin’s initial comments, made during a discussion with Anderson Cooper on CNN Wednesday, shifted attention to the news media’s performance following release of a critical assessment of the Bush administration by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. He wrote that Bush’s strategy for selling the war was less than candid and honest.

During her CNN appearance, Yellin said the press corps was under enormous pressure from corporate executives to make sure the war was presented “in a way that was consistent with the patriotic fever in the nation and the president’s high approval ratings.”

The higher Bush’s approval ratings, the more pressure she felt from news executives to put on positive stories about the president, she said. Pushed by Cooper to explain, Yellin said her bosses would turn down critical stories about the administration and try to put on positive pieces.

She said she didn’t mean to leave the impression that corporate leadership edited her work; she was referring to senior producers who “wanted their coverage to reflect the mood of the country.” She didn’t identify any of the producers or give a specific example about how things were changed because of this.

MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said Yellin was a “freelance overnight news reader at MSNBC for one year who was not renewed.” But he didn’t dispute Yellin’s claim that she did some Washington and Pentagon reports while there.

Back in the 1920’s Italian political theorist, Gramsci predicted that the mass media would become the leader in the formation of political thought of the people.  He was so accurate.