More fun beating a dead horse
If you’ve read any of my posts relating to the presidential race you probably have a pretty good idea that I’m not the biggest W supporter out there and if you have a keen eye for detail you may have also noticed that I recently added a link to the US Constitution to my site. I added the link because more and more I get the impression that we forget what our rights are and what it means to be an American. These days taking issue with the president’s policies and still claiming to be a proud American may seem contradictory. I don’t think anything could be further from the truth.
Our ability to openly support or disagree with our government is a right guaranteed to us in the US Constitution (Amendment 1). The current administration seems unusually gifted at using the “us against them” argument to garner support (and therefore power) by essentially playing on our patriotism in an effort to suggest that real Americans must always support the president’s policies without question. After all it’s us against them, right? I find it amusing, ironic, and frightening that by today’s standards a patriot is at least partially measured by their ability to give up freedoms and rights given to them under the Constitution.
That was all a long winded introduction to this quote by Roosevelt that I came across today. I posted a similar quote from Lincoln a few weeks ago. I think they’re both particularly relevant today.
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. – Theodore Roosevelt
Patriotism is commonly defined as a “love for or devotion to one’s country”; country not president, not government, but country.
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- Published:
- 12.1.04 / 9am
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- Politics
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