Why Care About Anything But Yourself?
The newest bon mot from Dixie Chick Natalie Maines:
"I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."
The statement resonates with such profound ignorance that it boggles the mind. Maines obviously can't conceptualize caring about anything but her own life and her own petty concerns. And she obviously has not an inkling about what makes America so blessed and so special.
Thankfully, the men and women who are willing to sacrifice -- and possibly even give the lives that they, too, doubtless "like" -- to protect the country as a whole have a deeper and more generous understanding of their fellow Americans and of what this country stands for.
Every single American -- from the President to the most vituperative commenter at Huffington Post shares a bond because we are fellow citizens of the freest, most generous, most compassionate nation on earth. We may disagree on policies and issues, but we share a heritage which, albeit imperfect and flawed, nonetheless is an ongoing narrative of a country that has tried to honor the inalienable, God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
When Natalie Maines looks at America -- its compassionate people, its history of freedom, its continuing efforts to live up to the highest ideals of the Founding Fathers and even the incredible opportunities she herself has been given because of her American citizenship -- and nonetheless finds nothing to love or to celebrate, that says something profoundly sad.
Not about America. About her.
"I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."
The statement resonates with such profound ignorance that it boggles the mind. Maines obviously can't conceptualize caring about anything but her own life and her own petty concerns. And she obviously has not an inkling about what makes America so blessed and so special.
Thankfully, the men and women who are willing to sacrifice -- and possibly even give the lives that they, too, doubtless "like" -- to protect the country as a whole have a deeper and more generous understanding of their fellow Americans and of what this country stands for.
Every single American -- from the President to the most vituperative commenter at Huffington Post shares a bond because we are fellow citizens of the freest, most generous, most compassionate nation on earth. We may disagree on policies and issues, but we share a heritage which, albeit imperfect and flawed, nonetheless is an ongoing narrative of a country that has tried to honor the inalienable, God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
When Natalie Maines looks at America -- its compassionate people, its history of freedom, its continuing efforts to live up to the highest ideals of the Founding Fathers and even the incredible opportunities she herself has been given because of her American citizenship -- and nonetheless finds nothing to love or to celebrate, that says something profoundly sad.
Not about America. About her.
posted by LadybugUSA at 12:20 PM
12 Comments:
... ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
~ John F. Kennedy
A politician will do anything to keep his job -- even become a patriot.
~ William Randolph Hearst (that one makes me think of Hillary)
Patriotism is easy to understand in America; it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.
~ Calvin Coolidge
A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle.
~ George William Curtis
A thoughtful mind, when it sees a Nation's flag, sees not the flag only, but the Nation itself; and whatever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the flag the Government, the principles, the truths, the history which belongs to the Nation that sets it forth.
~ Henry Ward Beecher
Clearly, dithead is reading the wrong literature.
I do not mean to exclude altogether the idea of patriotism. I know it exists, and I know it has done much in the present contest. But I will venture to assert, that a great and lasting war can never be supported on this principle alone. It must be aided by a prospect of interest, or some reward. -- George Washington
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
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. -- Edward R. Murrow
"My country, right or wrong" is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying "My mother, drunk or sober." -- G.K. Chesterton
On the other hand, I am sure that CoPioneer would agree with the following sentiment...
But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. -- Hermann Goering
Welome, Dittohead.
I've missed you, Mr. Twister.
Good job both.
Carol,
When you state that "we are fellow citizens of the freest, most generous, most compassionate nation on earth" you are essentially saying that other nations around the world are worse than America.
America is the best. The rest of the world sucks.
I think that there's a fine line between patriotism and racism.
OSO -- How is that statement racist? America is made up of people from all races, so I am unclear on how saying America is the best country in the world has ANYTHING at all to do with racism.
The United States of America IS the best country in the world. I make no apologies for it. Other countries are good and have wonderful people in them. We help and support other countries out of our love and compassion for them. I have a great desire to see the world and its treasures and beauties. But I will always return to the United States, my home.
Dodger, I am sorry to disagree with you but I do not think being a patriot means supporting every policy that is passed. I support the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. There are several policies in place in this great nation of ours which fall far short of the ideas presented in these documents. I think a true patriot works to better our country and will not accept anything less than what is best for her and her people. We must all try to work against policies that hurt the United States -- just not through treachery or treason.
For that reason, as much as I disagree with the views of liberals, some of them must be considered patriots for their willingness to fight for what they BELIEVE is best for our country. They're wrong, but their courage in defending their convictions is admirable. If those of us who are right would be as courageous, we would have little to fear about the direction our country is headed in.
Natalie Maines' statement, however, is just a sad, sad example of how pampered, spoiled and blind some Americans can be.
Dittohead: Yes, yes, yes.
Many of these same vicious partisans are now feigning shock (!) over how ANYONE could POSSIBLY not fall in lock step with the worst president in our history, lest they be gutlessly unpatriotic villains.
More hypocrisy from the right.
I can't say I give a rat's rear-end what Natalie Maines says about any topic. Sorry. I just don't.
But it's great to see Democrats standing up for military intervention abroad. I haven't heard about Kosovo in a long time. How are things there today? How about Bosnia?
I'm sorry, but are you talking about Kosovo still? Or Bosnia? Or what?
Dodger, what you and so many others are trying (unsuccessfully) to do is conflate disagreement with our government's inept, even counterproductive, "war on terror" with siding with of the terrorists. This is simpleminded rubbish and deep in your heart, you know it.
wrabkin's point is an accurate one, including the silence of the average German citizen who watched as his fellow countrymen, some of whom fought for Germany in WWI, were being taken to "relocation" camps as the Nazis began to cement their grip on the state apparatus. The existence of these camps, though they did not begin as death camps per se, was no secret as they were used by the state as a coercive tool to keep the as-yet undetained Jews in a state of fearful submission.
Vilification, stripping citizens of their rights, followed by their property, and then their lives, required the quiet aquiescence of the average German who probably considered their "looking the other way" to be their duty.
Germany has been slowly coming to terms with this harsh truth in the intervening decades.
dodger, I am NOT saying do not fight the terrorists. I AM saying: fight smarter; find bin Laden (hint to Bush: AFGHANISTAN!); and find a way out of Iraq that IS NOT "CUTTING AND RUNNING" but also does not continue to create more new terrorists than we can possibly kill.
Bush and Cheney's blunder has left us no choice BUT to leave Iraq a stable country. You can scour every bit of Carol's site for the past seven or eight months and you will find no record of me advocating "cutting and running," as the guileful wordsmiths of your party are fond of characterizing it.
But even if I am trapped into supporting some sort of continuation of engagement in Iraq, it will NEVER be a moot point as to how we were misled into this debacle. And I will repeatedly speak truth to power until this whole episode is accurately portrayed in our history books for future generations to learn from, if only they will.
find bin Laden (hint to Bush: AFGHANISTAN!
I don't think that's necessarily true. He could be anywhere from North Waziristan to The Sudan. At any rate, if he can't even pick up a sat-phone for fear of finding a J-DAM on top of his head, that's not a bad start.
find a way out of Iraq that IS NOT "CUTTING AND RUNNING" but also does not continue to create more new terrorists than we can possibly kill.
While I don't accept your premise that we are creating more terrorists than [the US] can possibly kill, I would like to hear what your definition of Victory in Iraq is. Seriously.
Dodger,
I guess I was unclear when you talked about "policy". That was a general term to me and did not refer specifically to military policy. In the current War on Terror, I think the best thing for our country is for people to support our operations since to go back on them now would be folly. I agreed with going to Iraq from the get go, but even if one didn't, I think now is the time to shut up about it and do whatever we need to do to succeed. But this is a specific argument about a specific case and says nothing about a general idea that one should always support every policy passed by their government. If every "patriot" did that, nothing would ever change in this country and there is a lot that needs to be changed.
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