Patriotism

I am a passionate person. I'm not lying; I am. I'm passionate about politics, about anthropology, about science. I work hard to do my own "fact finding," rather than let some network tell me what I should know.

And I am an angry person. I'm infuriated by a lot of things- bad drivers, ignorance, old people.

But you know what makes me angrier than anything else?

Being told I'm not American.

This just blows me away. How can anyone tell me I'm not American? I have the birth certificate, driver's license, and passport to prove it. My ancestors got here on the damned Mayflower, people. I'm about as American as they get.

But no, because I have certain political beliefs, I hear that I'm not American. I worked for the ACLU for years. Somehow, that makes me un-American. I believe in taxes. That makes me un-American, too. I think we should make it easier for people to become citizens, rather than having to sneak into the country. That makes me un-American, too.

Who are the people who are making these designations, exactly? Sarah Palin? John Boehner? Mitch McConnell? Rush Limbaugh?

Who the hell died and crowned them oligarchs of America? Who the hell made them the people that decide what patriotism is?

Patriotism is love for and devotion to one's country; it is not the blind following of those who are backed by multi-million dollar campaign funds. In my mind, the highest act of patriotism in our country is to work for the benefit and protection of the people. Funny how easily they forget that whole "of the people, for the people, by the people" thing. How dare they be against public health care? What, are they against the health of the American people?

And what about taxes? How can they call themselves "patriots," and then give tax cuts to the top twenty percent of incomes? Or did they not realize that taxes are how we pay for public programs, like Butch Otter's transportation bill he wanted last year?

Or how about them criticizing Obama for vacationing in Maine, instead of the Gulf area? Isn't that valuing one state over another? Isn't it good that they spent money in the US, in general?

And last time I checked, these people were pretty quick to throw the Katrina refugees under the bus, even though we're still talking about the same area of the country.

No, these "champions of patriotism" are doing a pretty spectacular job of working against Americans. It sickens me that they have run, unchecked, for such a long time. Republicans and Democrats are not looking out for the good of the people; they're looking out for the good of the party. We're so caught up in party politics that we sometimes forget that we all have one thing in common- this is just as much the Democrats' country as it is the Republicans'.

No party has dibs over patriotism.

My best friend in the entire world is a Christian, and a Republican. He and I disagree on a wide range of things, and we are close enough that we can discuss those differences. This is the problem with politics today- we address one another on a group basis, not an individual one. If we stripped away the money, the affiliations, the parties, and just made representatives talk to each other, we would see better results. I make fun of Mormons, Christians, Republicans, et cetera, but it's a lot harder to do so when you know them on a personal basis. I met a woman who was a devout Mormon, and she was also intelligent, considerate, and fairly open-minded. She was not the brainless automaton that I expected to find, even if she was my age and married. I related to her on a personal level, and my biases faded away. She became an individual with a face and a name.

If we all took a little more time to get to know our opposing viewpoints from a personal stance, we could discuss real issues and leave the misinformation and name-calling out of the discussion. In the end, as I've said, we are all still Americans. We all felt pain on 9/11. We all celebrate the Fourth of July. We all share some aspects of life in common, regardless of our party affiliation, our denomination, or our education. We all share about 99.9% of the same DNA. When we get down to it, there is a way to be civil and have real discussions. Everyone simply needs to be willing to reach that point- and I mean everyone. The conservatives, the liberals, the moderates, the Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, the rich, the poor, and everyone in between. No more bullshit. No more trying to designate who is patriotic and who isn't.

Hopefully our collective blood pressure can hold out till then.