Happy Fourth
written on 2004-07-04, @ 10:29 p.m..
Well look at that, it's July and it's the US's b-day too. How cool but where has all the time gone?
Well in honor of it being the fourth of July and all I'll write about this day, especially about what I interpret the meaning of patriotism as.
In this country, today, there is this attempt to basically label all different types of behavior or modes of though as being 'patriotic' or 'unpatriotic'. I'm sick and tired of having those people who stand by and shout at people who are using their first amendment right to free speech and to assemble. Um, in case you haven't noticed they are basically doing what the founders did. They didn't like what the king was doing so they decided to protest and when that didn't work well then they decided that hey, why don't we try to run this country ourselves. In the document that laid the foundation for this country the citizens were guaranteed a voice in how the government was run and if there was something that the citizens didn't like about the government it was basically understood that they could change their government when the elections came around or by protesting. So what, you're going to call them 'unpatriotic' for doing exactly what the founders intended for the citizens in case they didn't like what the government was doing. Leaders aren't infallible you know, the founders knew that so that's why we have the series of checks and balances. They saw how having basically all the power concentrated in one area and distributed amongst a select few can go wrong.
Those people who call others who have contrary views to their own 'unpatriotic'. If I don't support the war I'm unpatriotic. If I don't support Bush I'm unpatriotic. If I don't give up my right to choose I'm unpatriotic. If I question the treatment of prisoners at Guantameno(sp?) Bay then I'm unpatriotic. Hello, do you even get democracy? In a democracy the majority's rights are basically all guaranteed by default of being the majority but in a democracy the minorities rights are protected, or at least in theory they are. Okay so their view isn't yours and it may not even be shared by the majority but in democracy it's really the minorities who's right are to be protected.
As for the people wo are all up in arms over new immigrants 'taking' their jobs that's not being patriotic, no matter how they try to dress it up by saying that they have America's best interest at heart. It seems that someone didn't learn their hisotry properly. Do they actually know the history of America? If they did then they'd realize that America really is a nation of immigranrts because everyone, well except for Native Americans (I think), came from some other place. So when people say that all immigrants should just go back home then doesn't that include you too? Unless you're a Native American, i.e. someone who was here before the Europeans came and colonized America. What bothers me so much about all this bitching and moaning over the new immigrants is that they're taking jobs that like no one seems to want but yet they still ahve problems when they're filled not 'non-Americans'. Give me a break. People complain about the people who cross the border and help pick the crops so that they can send the money back home for basic things like food or new shoes but hey, those jobs are there and I don't see any of you jumping out of your seat for them. All that bitching and rude loud comments are the tings that are ruining America's image, not those new people. I mean have you ever noticed that it's those new immigrants who seem to embody the spirit of America the best? They seem to holdfast to those beliefs and ideals that thic country was founded on when people who've been here for a while seem to have forgotten them. So on this anniversary of America's independence maybe we should take a closr look at those new people from (insert proper country) and look for the spirit of America that we seem to have lost.
Ginmar wrote a much more articulate essay on this subject and it can be found here.