Updated from the original blog entry
The Anti-Candidate's Position on PATRIOTISM
Patriotism -- by which I mean the love of one's country and the willingness to sacrifice for it -- shouldn't be an issue for any citizen. It should be automatic, like breathing.
I love my country and always have: one of my earliest, faintest memories is of holding the flag for a kindergarten ceremony, and a heartfelt rendition of "God Bless America" or "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" or "The Star Spangled Banner" is a sure way to dampen my eyeballs.
So I am bothered by and vehemently disagree with those who say -- and those who just imply -- that the U.S. is somehow a fount of evil. Some try to cloak the harshest criticism in patriotism itself, with the non-sequitur that it's somehow patriotic to speak ill of one's country; for many of them, criticizing certain policies and positions is not enough as they move quickly to condemnation, effectively hiding behind the flag they're trying to burn.
Some try to condemn those of us who are openly patriotic by equating our heartfelt devotion with blind obeisance. Precious few have put their disdain for the U.S. into action and gone elsewhere, and I actually have more respect for them than those who rage against their own country while they enjoy the benefits of the freedoms and economic, social, and personal possibilities the country provides.
One of my old bosses once challenged me to identify a place on the earth and a time in history I would rather live in than in the U.S.A. right now. I thought of a few possibilities -- one in particular that crossed my mind was Florence under the Medici family -- but none of them could compare to the United States. I don't mean in terms of material or resource wealth, since in individual terms that's not the best indicator of happiness or contentment (cf. St. Paul), but in terms of possibilities: nowhere else at any time in history has afforded so many possibilities to so many people. Every patriot should recognize and celebrate that as the mark of a great nation. Not perfect, necessarily, but great.