There is a country with one of the most powerful military forces is the world where on any given day, its citizens fill stadiums where all 50,000 people in attendance stand in unison and silence to pay tribute to their country. This country has its school children saluting the flag and reciting lyrical poems to it every morning. On the streets of most towns you will see neatly manicured lawns sitting in front of rows of identical brick stone building each displaying flags from their porches. This country talks about being a 'democracy' but there are only two choices on any ballot. They talk about freedom of speech but most people repeat the lines that are fed to them over their 8pm 'news' commentary. They claim to have religious freedom but protest when a religious temple would be built in neighborhoods they deem sacred. They help fund the most radical views by consuming vasts amount of fuel mostly harvested in places with self-righteous ideologies. This country invades countries on obviously faulty premises dragging hundreds of thousands of soldiers through wars based on imperial machismo while funneling money through back-doors to fuel the very same people they are trying to 'defeat'. They try to put laws on the books which take away freedoms because those freedoms conflict with what their religious leaders tell them is moral and right.
Sadly this isn't an oppressive society like Iran or North Korea but rather our very own US of A.
Nobody is a bigger Patriot than me, I love this country and the freedoms it affords us. I love the fact that my gay friends can by gay, straight friends can be miserable and the Religious Right is all bent out of shape about it. I also appreciate small-town values even if they aren't always aligned with my own.
But what has always gotten me was the thought that you have to wear a flag on your lapel to be considered a true patriot, as if a $2 memento tells you anything about sacrifice.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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